Rob Diament

Robert Diament
Background information
Birth name	Robert Diament
Also known as	Temposhark
Born	1980
Origin	Berkshire, England
Genres	Electronica, Alternative, Indie, Pop, Rock, contemporary art
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer-songwriter, writer, gallerist
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Paper and Glue
Associated acts	Temposhark
Website	Temposhark.com

Robert Diament (born 1980 in Reading, Berkshire, England) is an English singer-songwriter best known as the lead singer of UK electronic rock band Temposhark. In 2010, Diament began working as a gallerist with Carl Freedman, a contemporary art gallery in East London.

Early life

Diament grew up in Berkshire^[1] and began to play classical piano (his first instrument) at the age of four. Diament's classical training continued in piano and violin, whilst at the same time he learnt to sing in a local church choir.^[2] Songwriting soon followed but Diament only began to record his music at the age of thirteen. At his secondary school in Reading, Diament met Luke Busby for the first time, his later collaborator in Temposhark, but interestingly the two never collaborated until leaving school many years later.^[3] Diament and Busby also studied alongside Hollywood actress Natalie Dormer.^[4] However, Diament sang in a number of rock bands and became a regular concertgoer in the town, best known for the annual rock festival Reading Festival. In his later teens, Diament's live performances in London and Reading had attracted much interest from both high profile musicians and music industry professionals alike, which led to the recording of his debut EP.^[5]

Early musical career

Diament first arrived on the music scene in 1999 with his debut piano-oriented solo EP 'Seven Years Running' produced by Anthony Amos.^[5] Following this release, he further developed his sound on tour in North America and returned to London in 2000 to record a selection of new songs with producer Stuart Epps (Elton John/Robbie Williams) before spending the following two years writing and recording with Killing Joke member and award winning producer, Youth aka Martin Glover.^[6] In 2000, British pop culture magazine The Face highlighted Diament as an artist to watch and "songwriter of genius".^[7] Around this time, Diament began to spend time in Brighton collaborating on a number of art, music and performance projects with old Reading school friend Luke Busby and Busby's fellow art student Natasha Kahn, now known for her project Bat for Lashes.^[8] This led Diament and Busby to study music in London at University of Westminster where Temposhark was formed in 2004. Diament and Busby both graduated in 2005 with First Class Honours. Other key bands/artists that studied alongside them were The Departure, Pure Reason Revolution, Kevin Mark Trail (The Streets) and Emmy The Great.

Temposhark

In 2004, Diament emerged as lead singer/principal songwriter with Temposhark, the critically acclaimed UK electronic rock band. Diament formed the band developing a distinctive blend of epic filmscore and late 70s/early 80s synth pop. His first nationwide released UK single It's Better To Have Loved came out on 12 December 2005 produced by acclaimed producer Guy Sigsworth (Madonna/Björk/Frou Frou) on Diament's own record label Paper and Glue.

Temposhark finished recording their debut album The Invisible Line during February 2007 in London with producer Sean McGhee as well as recording a new song with Guy Sigsworth.^[9] The album will be released worldwide in early March 2008. Temposhark were in New York on a UK music industry trade mission in June 2006 and started performing live in Europe including a sold out headline gig in Paris the following July.^[10] In November 2006, Temposhark began performing with their live band, Mathis Richet on drums and Mark Ferguson on bass. The four live musicians travelled to the USA to Austin, Texas in March 2007 for two live showcases at the SXSW festival. Temposhark head out on their first USA clubs and theatre tour in June 2007 performing alongside Diament's friend, the popstar Darren Hayes^[11]

As part of Temposhark, Diament has written songs and sung with a diverse array of musicians from Frou Frou's Guy Sigsworth and Imogen Heap, Kate Havnevik, Sophie Solomon, Morgan Page, MaJiKer, Sean McGhee, Cursor Miner, Avril (FCommunications), Metronomy, Mark Moore (S'Express), MIA, Camille, Hellogoodbye, Matthew Jay, Akira The Don, Noblesse Oblige, Princess Julia, Richard Norris (The Grid), Melnyk, Kevin Freeman, Border Crossing and Masashi Naka (Escalator Records, Japan).^[12]

In 2005, Diament said that his band name Temposhark was thought up when he "woke up in the midst of a dream one night, at like 4am, and just said the word Temposhark. So it came from my subconscious I guess. Honestly it was that simple. I wanted a name that sounded strong. I liked the idea that music could be a weapon. Something powerful."^[13]

Temposhark's second album Threads was released in April 2010 including the singles The World Does Not Revolve Around You and Bye Bye Baby. It reached number 15 on the UK iTunes Top 20 electronic album chart.

Writer

As well as a songwriter, Diament has written for music magazines such as Blowback^[14] in the UK and BPM^[15] and Redefine^[16] magazines in the USA. In December 2007 and January 2008, he wrote as guest blogger on the USA music blog ArjanWrites.com^[17] including the exclusive first review of Alanis Morissette's album Flavors of Entanglement.^[18] He is also credited as contributing interviews and research for Lucy O'Brien's music-focused biography Madonna: Like An Icon^[19] about Madonna published in 2007 by Bantam Press.^[20]

Art

Diament has mentioned in interviews that another passion for him is modern and contemporary art. He is a patron of public art spaces in London including South London Gallery,^[21] Chisenhale Gallery,^[22] The Showroom,^[23] Studio Voltaire,^[24] Camden Arts Centre where he supports the Outset Residency Programme,^[25] and also Institute of Contemporary Arts, performing live at their 2010 fundraising gala.^[26]

He is an art collector^[27] with a keen interest^[28] particularly in women in art.^[29] Between 2008–2012, Diament loaned works from his collection by artists such as Tracey Emin^[30] to public galleries in Europe including Tate Britain, Hayward Gallery, Turner Contemporary, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga and Kunstmuseum Bern. In June 2011, Modern Painters magazine listed Diament as one of their 50 under 50, an annual list of young art collectors from around the world.^[31]

In 2010, Diament began working as a gallerist with Carl Freedman Gallery, a contemporary art gallery based in East London.

Discography

CD EPs

• Sketches (January 2000 promo 3 track EP · RDM
• Seven Years Running ( July 1999 5 track EP produced by Anthony Amos · RDM

Temposhark

• Threads (2010 second album)
• Remixes & Rarities (2009 remix and b-sides album)
• The Invisible Line (2008 debut album)

External links

• Robert Diament's official MySpace page
• Temposhark's official band website
• Temposhark's official MySpace page
• Robert Diament from Temposhark interviewed on Nokia's free Podcast, November 2006

References