BYRNE, David 1952–

PERSONAL

Born May 14, 1952, in Dumbarton, Scotland; immigrated to the United States, 1958; British citizen; son of Thomas (an electrical engineer) and Emily Anderson (a special education teacher; maiden name, Brown) Byrne; married Adelle Ann Lutz (a costume designer and actress), July 8, 1987; children: Malu Abeni Valentine. Education: Attended Rhode Island School of Design, 1970–71, and Maryland Institute College of Art, 1971–72.

Addresses: Contact— c/o Luaka Bop, Warner Brothers Records, 75 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY, 10019–6908; 110 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

Career: Actor, musician, composer, producer, director, and screenwriter. Talking Heads (a rock group), song-writer, singer, and guitarist, 1975–92; Index Video, director and producer, 1983—; Luaka Bop (a record label), founder, c. 1988. Designer for the concert stage, lighting, album covers, and posters, 1977—; producer of record albums, 1980—; producer and director of music videos, with several in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York City; photographer, with work exhibited in solo shows in Belgium, The Netherlands, and New York City, 1994; illustrator, including art for Talking Heads albums.

Member: Screen Actors Guild, Writers Guild of America East, Musicians Union, Texas Accordion Association (charter member, 1987).

Awards, Honors: National Society of Film Critics Award, best documentary, 1984, for Stop Making Sense; Video Vanguard Award, MTV, 1985, for directing Talking Heads rock videos; New York Dance and Performance (Bessie) Award, best choreographer or creator, Dance Theatre Workshop, 1987, for The Knee Plays; Independent Spirit Award nomination, best first feature, 1987, for True Stories; MTV Music Video Award (with Talking Heads), group video, and MTV Music Video Award, video from a film, 1987, both for "Wild Wild Life" from True Stories; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award (with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su), best music, 1987, Academy Award (with Sakamoto and Su) and Golden Globe Award (with Sakamoto and Su), best original score, both 1988, Film Award nomination, best score, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, Grammy Award, best album, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, 1989, all for The Last Emperor; Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Talking Heads), inductee, 2002.

CREDITS

Film Appearances:

The True Story of Eskimo Nell (also known as Dick Down Under ), Filmways, 1975.

The Blank Generation, 1976.

Felix, Victor Frankenstein (also known as Terror of Frankenstein ), 1977.

Performer with Talking Heads, Stop Making Sense (concert film), Cinecom International, 1983.

Narrator, True Stories, Warner Bros., 1986.

The Kitchen Presents Two Moon July (also known as Two Moon July ), 1986.

Performer, Dead End Kids, Ikon, 1986.

Completely Pogued, 1988.

Heavy Petting, 1988.

Bartender, Checking Out, Warner Bros., 1989.

(Uncredited) Bis ans Ende der Welt (also known as Jusqu'au bout du monde and Until the End of the World ), 1991.

Between the Teeth (concert film), Todo Mundo, 1994.

'Laughing Man' escort, Lulu on the Bridge, 1998.

Introduction, The Art of Amalia (also known as A arte de Amalia ), Avatar, 1999.

In the Bathtub of the World, 2001.

Film Director:

True Stories, Warner Bros., 1986.

(With David Wild) April 16, 1989 (short film), 1988.

(With Wild) Between the Teeth (concert film), Todo Mundo, 1994.

Film Executive Producer:

Umbabarauma, 1989.

Film Work:

Stage lighting designer, Stop Making Sense (concert film), Cinecom International, 1983.

Song producer, Airheads, 1994.

Executive music producer, Blue in the Face, 1995.

Television Appearances; Specials:

Rolling Stone Magazine's 20 Years of Rock and Roll (also known as Rolling Stone Magazine's 20th Anniversary Special and Rolling Stone Presents 20 Years of Rock 'n' Roll ), ABC, 1987.

Decade (also known as MTV's Decade ), syndicated, 1989.

Red, Hot, and Blue, ABC, 1990.

Racism: Points of View, syndicated, 1991.

An Astronaut's View of Earth, PBS, 1992.

Dancing Barefoot, 1995.

Lou Reed: Rock and Roll Heart, PBS, 1998.

Interviewee, Video Killed the Radio Star (documentary), VH1, 2000.

Interviewee, Rock and Roll Moments: Super Star Artists and Groups (documentary), The Learning Channel, 2001.

25 Years of Punk, VH1, 2001.

(Uncredited) Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s, 2002.

Television Appearances; Series:

Host, Sessions at West 54th, PBS, 1998–1999.

Television Appearances; Episodic:

(With Talking Heads) Saturday Night Live, 1979.

Byron, "A Family Tree," Trying Times, PBS, 1987.

Alive from Off–Center, PBS, 1987.

Survival Guides, PBS, 1987.

Himself, "Fire Drill," Space Ghost Coast to Coast, 1995.

Sen kvaell med Luuk, 1997.

Voice, "Dude, Where's My Ranch?," The Simpsons (animated), Fox, 2003.

Also appeared in Austin City Limits, PBS; Rock & Roll.

Television Work; Specials:

Segment director, Red, Hot, and Blue, ABC, 1990.

Television Director; Episodic:

"Ile Aiye/The House of Life," Alive from Off Center, PBS, 1989.

RECORDINGS

Albums; with Talking Heads:

Talking Heads: 77, Sire, 1977.

More Songs about Buildings and Food, Sire, 1978.

Fear of Music, Sire, 1979.

Remain in Light, Sire, 1980.

The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads, Sire, 1982.

Speaking in Tongues, Sire, 1983.

Stop Making Sense (soundtrack album), Sire, 1984.

Little Creatures, Sire, 1985.

True Stories, Sire, 1986.

Naked, Sire, 1988.

Popular Favorites 1976–1991/Sand in the Vaseline, 1992.

Albums:

(With Brian Eno) My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, Sire, 1981.

David Byrne: Songs from the Broadway Production of "The Catherine Wheel, " Sire, 1982.

Music for the Knee Plays, Sire, 1985.

The Making of The Last Emperor, Virgin, 1988.

Rei Momo, Luaka Bop/Sire, 1989.

The Forest, Sire, 1991.

Uh–Oh, Warner Bros. Records, 1992.

David Byrne, 1994.

Feelings, Luaka Bop/Warner Bros., 1997.

Look into the Eyeball, 2001.

Album Producer:

O Samba, Luaka Bop/Sire, 1989.

Beleza Tropical: Brazil Classics I, Sire/Fly, 1989.

Canciones urgentes, 1991.

Visible Mas, Imprint, 1999.

Videos:

Producer, director, and performer, Storytelling Giant, 1988.

Music Videos:

(With Toni Basil) Director, "Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads, 1980.

Director, "Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads, 1982.

Director, "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" by Talking Heads, 1982.

(With Steven Johnson) Director, "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads, 1985.

Executive producer, "Blind" by Talking Heads, 1988.

Executive producer, "Nothing But Flowers" by Talking Heads, 1988.

WRITINGS

Screenplays:

(With Beth Henley and Stephan Tobolowsky) True Stories, Warner Bros., 1986, published by Penguin with photographs by Byrne, 1986.

Television Episodes:

"Ile Aiye/The House of Life," Alive from Off Center, PBS, 1989.

Film Composer:

(With Talking Heads) Stop Making Sense, Cinecom International, 1983.

(With Talking Heads) True Stories, Warner Bros., 1986.

(With Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su) The Last Emperor, Columbia, 1987.

Songs by Byrne and Talking Heads have appeared in numerous films, including "Burning Down the House," Revenge of the Nerds; "And She Was," Look Who's Talking; "Heaven," Philadelphia; "Road to Nowhere," Reality Bites; "Burning Down the House," Someone Like You (also known as Animal Attraction ); "Once in a Lifetime," Down and Out in Beverly Hills; "Burning Down the House," The Banger Sisters; Dead End Kids (also known as Dead End Kids: A Story of Nuclear Power ); Something Wild; Married to the Mob; and Until the End of the World.

Television Composer; Movies:

Magicians of the Earth: The Giant Woman and the Lightning Man, 1989.

Magicians of the Earth: A Young Man's Dream and a Woman's Secret, 1990.

The Catherine Wheel, 1992.

Television Composer; Specials:

An Astronaut's View of Earth, PBS, 1992.

Other Television Writing:

Lyricist, Songs from Liquid Days, CBS, 1987.

Stage Plays:

The Tourist Way of Knowledge (performance art), produced at Public Theatre, New York City, 1985.

(With Robert Wilson) The Forest, produced at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Opera House, Brooklyn, NY, then Berlin, Germany, both 1988.

Stage Plays; Composer:

(With Johnny Pacheco) The Catherine Wheel (dance piece), produced in New York City, 1981.

(With Robert Wilson) The Knee Plays (interludes from Wilson's epic opera The Civil Wars ), produced at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN, 1984, then Alice Tully Hall, New York City, 1986, published by Walker Art Center, 1984.

The Forest, produced at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Opera House, then Berlin, Germany, both 1988.

Music of the Spirits (concert), produced at Town Hall, New York City, 1989.

Nonfiction:

(Co–author and illustrator) What the Songs Look Like: The Illustrated Talking Heads (lyrics), Harper, 1987.

(With David Mellor and William A. Ewing) Occupied Territory (edited by Lynne Cohen), Aperture Foundation, 1987.

High Life for Nine Instruments, Argo, 1992.

Strange Ritual: Pictures and Words, Chronicle Books, 1995.

Your Action World: Winners and Losers with a New Attitude, Chronicle Books, 1999.

The New Sins, McSweeney's, 2001.

Contributor of cover illustrations to Time. Contributor to periodicals, including New York Times.

ADAPTATIONS

Byrne's song "Stay Up Late" was adapted for a children's book by Maira Kalman, published by Viking Kestrel, 1987.

OTHER SOURCES

Books:

Howell, John, David Byrne, Thunder's Mouth Press (New York City), 1992.

Periodicals:

Artforum International, January, 2002, p. 35.

Billboard, September 7, 1996, pp. 8–10; May 17, 1997, pp. 14–15.

Interview, April, 2001, p. 74.

New York Times, May 15, 2001, pp. E1–E2.

Rolling Stone, April 21, 1988, p. 42.