Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Declan Patrick MacManus, better known by his stage name Elvis Costello, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as part of London's pub rock scene in the early 1970s and later became associated with the first wave of the British punk and new wave movement of the mid-to-late 1970s. His critically acclaimed debut album, My Aim Is True, was recorded in 1977. Shortly after recording it he formed the Attractions as his backing band. His...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth25 August 1954
CityLondon, England
My family calls me Declan. But most people call me E.C. I think it comes from my dad. It's an Irish convention. You usually call the first child by the initials.
My family calls me Declan. But most people call me E.C. I think it comes from my dad. It's an Irish convention. You usually call the first child by the initials.
My dad's father was a White Star Line trumpet player in the '20s. It shaped the way that I think about music. My grandfather was classically trained, military trained. He was an orphan who ended up in the Military School of Music in Kneller Hall.
My dad had a steady job with a really major dance band from '54 till '68, and then quit because he wanted to play different music. He wanted to sing about peace. He believed in these things.
My grandfather and my father disagreed about music, not least of all because my dad wanted to improvise. It wasn't just that he wanted to play different music; it was just that he came off the dots.
We were really looking for a fresh sound, and I think you can hear that with the use of electronics on the record, ... It makes it fun to play loud music without it being a retro thing at all.
Well, I've had a lot of different experiences in music over the years. And not everything you do can satisfy everybody's idealised version of you.
I found with this record I had to really be strong-willed, because in the past I've tended to tinker and add a thing or take a thing away, and nearly always been wrong.
There was not a lot of rock n' roll in the house. Our parents didn't think it was very groovy, and I tend to agree with them. If you grew up with Charlie Parker, Bill Haley wasn't very hip.
This record may explain what I've been doing during the last 12 years when I haven't had an electric guitar in my hands.
I didn't want it to sound like a pastiche of Andersen,
Very similar experience happened last year when we released this album, North. It was on Deutsche Grammophon, it was very, very honest. It was the most honest record I've ever written.
When the media attention switches away from this story onto the next thing that happens in the world, the circumstances will still be there.
It would be a surprise if people thought I would be playing a lot of rock 'n' roll.