Biography
This page uses content from the David A. Stewart biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
David Allan Stewart, often known as Dave Stewart (born September 9, 1952 in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear), is an English musician and record producer best known for his work with Eurythmics. He is normally credited as David A. Stewart, to avoid confusion with another musician also named Dave Stewart.
Biography
In 1971, whilst still in his teens, Dave Stewart secured a record deal as part of folk-rock band Longdancer, but they did not achieve commercial success. In the mid-1970s he was promoted through the progressive rock band "Child" just as the market for progressive rock died. Stewart then spent several years living in squats in London, taking copious amounts of recreational drugs.
Promotional literature released in 2006 states that Stewart belonged to a band named Platinum Weird in 1973-1974. This group was in fact formed in 2004, with the 1970s history a story recently admitted to by Stewart as "80% true".
In late 1976, he was introduced to Annie Lennox by a mutual friend. Soon Stewart and Lennox became lovers. By 1977, the pair had teamed up with Sunderland musician Peet Coombes, releasing a single on Logo Records as The Catch. This band developed into The Tourists who enjoyed modest success, including a hit with a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit "I Only Want to Be With You".
Eurythmics period
Both the Tourists and Stewart & Lennox's romantic liaison ended in 1980. At this point, Stewart began a new musical project with Lennox, Eurythmics. Eurythmics (often incorrectly referred to as "The Eurythmics") proved to be one of the most consistent pop-rock duos of the 1980s. When Eurythmics dissolved in 1990, Stewart immediately released a solo album with the Spiritual Cowboys. Throughout the 1990s, Stewart released albums, including a solo album. Stewart was married for several years to Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama with whom he has two children. When Fahey left Bananarama and formed Shakespears Sister, Stewart co-wrote some of the songs on Shakespears Sister album Hormonally Yours—including their biggest international hit "Stay"—under the pseudonym Manu Guiot.
In 1999, Eurythmics reunited to release Peace. Stewart continues to be involved in a variety of projects, recently relocating to the United States.
Dave Stewart's entire catalogue, from Eurythmics classics, to hits he has written for other artists, to film scores, has been published by BMG Music Publishing since 1982, with the sole exception of Eurythmics' 1984 soundtrack album 1984 (For The Love of Big Brother), which was released by Virgin Records as the film was released by Virgin Films.
Other projects
Dave Stewart started his involvement in the film industry in 1989 by writing the soundtrack Lily Was Here for the Dutch movie De Kassière. The single with the same name topped the Dutch charts at number one for five weeks and was a collaboration with saxophone player Candy Dulfer, who upto then had not released any of her material.
Stewart, a soi disant "cultural engineer", appeared in an Apple Computer advertisement in 1993 for the Power Macintosh in which he riffed on the word "power".
He made his directorial debut in (2000) with Honest, a black comedy set in Swinging London in the late 1960s featuring members of the British/Canadian girl group All Saints. The movie received abysmal reviews, with one critic remarking, "It is the worst kind of rubbish, the kind that makes you angry you have wasted 105 minutes of your life." Some grant it the dubious distinction of being one of the films considered the worst ever. However connoisseurs of nudity in film gave the movie a fervid "thumbs" up. Celebrity nudity database Honest movie
In November 2002, former South African president Nelson Mandela gave his prison number 466/64 to Dave Stewart so that he could use it to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa by raising money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, leading to the 46664 campaign and series of concerts.
Recently Stewart wrote a musical, Barbarella, based on the 1968 movie. The musical premiered in Vienna on March 11, 2004. On 4 April 2005 a Bechstein grand piano owned by Stewart was auctioned by Bonhams for £3,600. The piano had been used by Bob Dylan and Sir Paul McCartney.
Stewart collaborated with The Rolling Stones vocalist Mick Jagger to record songs which appear on the soundtrack to the movie Alfie, released in 2004. The soundtrack includes the critically acclaimed "Old Habits Die Hard", which won a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song from a Motion Picture. He also recently co-wrote "Friend or Foe" for the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u., which is on their 2005 album Dangerous and Moving.
He has been described by friend and collaborator, Bob Dylan, as a "fearless innovator". intentblog.com biography by Dave Stewart. Accessed: Sept 4, 2006
Platinum Weird
In 2006, Stewart resurrected Platinum Weird, a band he allegedly formed in the early 1970s in London with singer Erin Grace, but which was in reality created in 2004 . According to the fictional account, Erin was moody and mysterious, and disappeared shortly before the band's eponymous album was due to be released in 1974. Platinum Weird features noted songwriter Kara DioGuardi on vocals and the band has re-recorded some of the fictional original band's songs and some new ones as well for an upcoming album. The album was produced by John Shanks.
In July of 2006, VH1 premiered a mockumentary entitled Rock Legends – Platinum Weird, an examination of the band’s unusual story, complete with cameo appearances from such rock legends as Mick Jagger, Annie Lennox, Elton John, and Ringo Starr, all reminiscing about the former band’s short-lived heyday and their impressions of the mysterious Erin Grace. The album was further promoted by a series of bogus World Wide Web fan sites, some of which are registered by the New Media Department of Interscope Records and hosted on the same server as interscope.com weirdos.info WHOIS record. Hosted on 216.193.195.52 (iscopelvw.fullerene.com), the same server as interscope.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06 weirdshit.biz WHOIS record. Hosted on 216.193.195.52 (iscopelvw.fullerene.com), the same server as interscope.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06 platinumweirdos.com WHOIS record. Hosted on 216.193.195.52 (iscopelvw.fullerene.com), the same server as interscope.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06, and related false documents for the "lost" group.
Much of the Platinum Weird story line is apparently identical to an earlier promotion by the unrelated band Unicorn.
Anxious Records
David's record label, Anxious Records, signed the following acts:
- Pleasure*
- Londonbeat
- Terry Hall
- Freaks of Desire
- JC-001
- Toni Halliday
- Curve
- Jonathan Perkins
- Miss World
Trivia
- David A. Stewart may have been the inspiration for the character Doug Rocket in the cult sitcom, Nathan Barley. The Variphonics may be a reference to The Eurythmics.
Notes
Interviews
External links
- David A. Stewart official site
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify the biographical information on this page under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
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