Thom Yorke: biography, personal life, songs, albums and photos of the singer

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Thom Yorke is a British rock musician, singer and songwriter, better known as the founder and frontman of the cult band Radiohead. The high poetry of the texts, the characteristic vocals with the use of vibrato and falsetto, as well as the ascetic lifestyle and clear civic position made him one of the most famous and influential musicians of the English rock scene. Biography of Thom Yorke, his work and personal life later in this article.

Early years

Thomas Edward York was born October 7, 1968 in Wellingborough (UK) in the family of a nuclear physicist, part-time seller of chemical equipment. Thomas' mother was a housewife, as the frequent moves associated with her husband's profession did not allow her to find a permanent job.

The future musician was born with a defect in the eyeball: his left eye was paralyzed for six years, during which time the boy underwent five surgeries. The last of them was unsuccessful, and in heras a result, Thomas's left eye was almost blind, and the eyelid above it barely lifted. Until the age of seven, the boy wore a black bandage and could only see dimly with his injured eye.

During this time, due to moving, Tom changed three elementary schools and could not find friends in any of them. Classmates laughed at him because of his eyes, the boy grew up withdrawn and felt constant loneliness. Tom's only consolation was music, he was very fond of Queen, and in order to somehow cheer up his son, his parents gave him a guitar on his seventh birthday.

The beginning of creativity

When York was 10 years old, he became a student at a private boys' school. He composed his first completed song at the age of 11, it was called Mushroom Cloud ("Cloud-mushroom") and talked about a nuclear explosion. At the same time, he joined a school rock band, meeting the future line-up of Radiohead - Ed O'Brian, brothers Colin and Jonny Greenwood, and Phil Salway.

The group was called On A Friday ("Friday"), because due to the tight study schedule, the boys could only rehearse on Fridays. This school group was the first to perform original music by Thom Yorke, since, in addition to performing the functions of a vocalist and guitarist, he independently composed most of the songs. Already at that time, Yorke was distinguished from his peers by musical preferences: if all his bandmates listened mainly to contemporaries of The Cure, R. E. M. and The Smiths, he himself favored Elvis Costello and The Beatles and Queen.

After graduating from school, Thom Yorke became a student at the University of Exeter, where he studied fine arts and English literature. After graduation, he worked as a DJ in a nightclub, sometimes performing as part of the Headless Chickens.

Radiohead

While studying at the university, Thom Yorke kept in touch with former On A Friday bandmates, and in 1991, when all the members graduated from their colleges and universities, it was decided to reunite and resurrect the group. The new title was chosen from the title of a Radiohead song by the American rock band Talking Heads. The very first single called Creep, released by the newly minted group in 1992, attracted the attention of not only the public, but also critics. On the band's debut album Pablo Honey (1993), the song Creep rose to number seven in the UK charts, despite the fact that many radio stations refused to play it on the air, considering it too depressing.

To this day, Creep is Thom Yorke and Radiohead's most famous song, although the musician rarely performs it and speaks negatively about the content. This was also influenced by personal experiences associated with writing the composition. Given the context, the title of the song can be translated as "scary". It sings about an angelically beautiful girl and a guy who considers himself a "scary" who does not dare to approach her.

In general, the translation of Thom Yorke's songs of that period gives an idea of his spiritualstate: all of Radiohead's early work is built on the musician's personal experiences and complexes that arose in him as a child.

The band's next big success was their third studio album, OK Computer, released in 1996. It was called a "epoch-making release" by many music publications, and the English magazine Q even called the record the best music album of all time. OK Computer included the second most popular (after Creep) composition by Thom Yorke - Karma Police. A video of a live performance of this song at one of the concerts in 1998 is presented below.

Thom Yorke himself was not happy with such massive success and recognition, and therefore tried to make the next album - Kid A (2000) - as different as possible from the previous one. Like its successors Amnesiac (2001) and Hail to the Thief (2003), Kid A became an electronic experiment, ending the era of classic guitar rock in Radiohead's repertoire forever. The band's latest album to date was A Moon Shaped Pool, released in 2016.

Solo and Atom for Peace

Despite the fact that the musician never left Radiohead, there is a place in his work for solo works and for another musical group. Thom Yorke's first solo album was The Eraser, released in 2006, an all-electronic album created without the use of live instruments.

In 2009, the musician formed the supergroup Atomsfor Peace, which, in addition to him, included Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, drummer from R. E. M. Joey Waronker, and percussionist Mauro Refosco. As part of this band, Thom Yorke recorded the album Amok, which was released in 2013 and took second place on the US Billboard 200. Yorke's second and last solo album Tomorrow's Modern Boxes was released in 2014.

Discography

Thom Yorke's studio discography, in addition to the aforementioned two solo albums and one with Atoms for Peace, includes nine Radiohead albums. Below is a list of the musician's studio records:

• Pablo Honey (Radiohead, 1993).
• The Bends (Radiohead, 1995).
• OK Computer (Radiohead, 1997).
• Kid A (Radiohead, 2000).
• Amnesiac (Radiohead, 2001).
• Hail to the Thief (Radiohead, 2003).
• The Eraser (Thom Yorke, 2006).
• In Rainbows (Radiohead, 2007).
• The King of Limbs (Radiohead, 2011).
• Amok (Atoms for Peace, 2013).
• Tomorrow's Modern Boxes (Thom Yorke, 2014).
• A Moon Shaped Pool (Radiohead, 2016).

Other hobbies and interesting facts

Thom Yorke has been actively practicing yoga, meditation and vegetarianism for more than a decade. In addition to music, he is fond of graphics, for example, all the covers for Radiohead albums were created by him (in collaboration with artist Stanley Donwood, a friend of York from university). Tom's other interests includecomputers: having first met the "Mac" during his student days, he became seriously interested in "smart machines". Since then, he dreamed of creating a music album using only a computer and, as mentioned above, he did this when recording his debut solo record.

A well-known fact is the fear of cars, which appeared in the musician at the age of 19 - at this age he had an accident while driving. Tom himself was practically not injured, but the girl sitting next to him was badly maimed. Since then, and to this day, York has a panic fear of cars, never gets behind the wheel, and even in the passenger seat is extremely rare.

Private life

Thom Yorke met his first wife, artist Rachel Owen, while still at university. Their friendship soon developed into a romantic relationship, and since 1992, Tom and Rachel began to live together. In 2001, the couple had a son, Noah. In 2003, after 11 years of marriage, the lovers decided to legalize their relationship and got married in Oxfordshire. A year later, their daughter Agnes was born. For an unknown reason, in 2015, Tom and Rachel, who seemed like an ideal couple to others, announced their separation. Rachel's death from cancer a year and a half after parting was a heavy blow for the musician. Thom Yorke is currently in a relationship with Italian actress Dayana Roncione - their joint photo is presented below.

Musician quotes

Thom Yorke speaks words not only in the lyrics of his songs, but also in real life: during speeches and interviews, he knows how to express his thoughts so accurately and succinctly that individual statements turn into quotes. Here, for example, how the musician spoke about himself in one of the interviews:

I'm a crazy paranoid neurotic. And I've built a career on it - hooray, damn it.

And this is what Yorke once said about the meaning of his music:

You know, I can get really drunk and hang out in some club on a Monday night, and then some dude will come up to me and buy me a drink and say that my last song changed his life. It means a lot, you can trust me.

In another statement, he is dismissive of his own creativity, which indicates self-criticism and a clear absence of star fever:

If I ever hear that people are going to burn my records, I'll bring them everything I have myself.

Thom Yorke's words often express his pessimism towards modern politics:

It seems to me that we are approaching very dangerous times. Having decided that he is at the helm, the West is trying to get comfortable, but not for the sake of the prosperity of mankind and not for the sake of good undertakings. Those who are at the helm are, strictly speaking, maniacs. And if we don't do something about it now, these people will take away our future.

And this quote expresses the experiences on the basis of which manysad songs of a musician:

I'm afraid of all women. Ever since school. I don't think it's misogyny. Quite the opposite - this is a wild fear, and it all happened because I went to a school for boys, and it happened that I did not communicate with girls for 5 months or even more.

Thom Yorke's work is generally considered to be very pessimistic and depressing, and he himself is a deeply unhappy person.

It's easy to be miserable. Being happy is harder and cooler.

With this statement, the musician informs the public that being a pitiful person is not at all his personal choice, and certainly not a stage image created for commercial purposes.