Jonathan Daniel Donahue (born May 6, 1966) is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musician. He is best known as the frontman and a founding member of Mercury Rev, with whom he has released nine studio albums since 1991. He is also a former member of

The Flaming Lips The Flaming Lips are an American psychedelic rock band formed in 1983 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The band currently consists of Wayne Coyne (vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards), Steven Drozd (guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, vocals), Derek Brown ...

and recorded two albums with the group in the early 1990s.

Career

Donahue helped form Mercury Rev, along with

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

David Baker,

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), keyboard bass (synth bass) or a low br ...

Dave Fridmann David Lawrence Fridmann is an American record producer and musician. Career From 1990 onwards he co-produced most releases by Mercury Rev and The Flaming Lips. Other bands he has worked with include Weezer, Saxon Shore (band), Saxon Shore, Neon ...

, guitarist and

clarinetist The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodw ...

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

(born Sean Mackowiak), rooster-tail bass flutist Suzanne Thorpe, and drummer Jimy Chambers, in the late 1980s as a source to create soundtracks to the members' personal student films. The members were further encouraged to explore their talents by their mentor,

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

composer and multimedia artist

Tony Conrad Anthony Schmalz Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both ...

. Donahue also doubled as a concert promoter in Buffalo. After billing the

Butthole Surfers Butthole Surfers are an American rock band formed in San Antonio, Texas, by singer Gibby Haynes and guitarist Paul Leary in 1981. The band has had numerous personnel changes, but its core lineup of Haynes, Leary, and drummer King Coffey has ...

and their opening act

, Donahue joined The Flaming Lips around 1989/1990 as their guitar technician. He later joined the band as the full-time lead guitarist and played on the albums '' In a Priest Driven Ambulance'' and ''

Hit to Death in the Future Head ''Hit to Death in the Future Head'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Flaming Lips, released on August 11, 1992, by Warner Bros. Records. "Talkin' 'Bout the Smiling Deathporn Immortality Blues (Everyone Wants to Live Forever)" ...

''. After being a member of The Flaming Lips for approximately two years, Donahue and The Flaming Lips frontman

Wayne Coyne Wayne Michael Coyne (born January 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the founder, lead vocalist, main songwriter, and only constant member of the psychedelic rock band the Flaming Lips. Early life Coyne was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ...

began to disagree over creative issues. Donahue left the band shortly after recording ''Hit to Death in the Future Head'' and was replaced by

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

guitarist Ronald Jones. After leaving The Flaming Lips, Donahue returned to Buffalo and focused his time on reforming Mercury Rev. Donahue was credited as having played the clarinet line for

The Chemical Brothers The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands in Manchester in 1992. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. Originally known as The Dust Brothers, th ...

' 1997 cult hit "

The Private Psychedelic Reel "The Private Psychedelic Reel" is a song by The Chemical Brothers. It was the closing track of their second album ''Dig Your Own Hole'' and was released as a numbered limited edition single. The B-side was a live version of " Setting Sun". An u ...

", which has been the on and off closing song to their shows ever since. The clarinet part was actually played by former Mercury Rev reed player, Mark Marinoff.

Personal life

Donahue was born in

Kingston, New York Kingston is the only Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in, and the county seat of, Ulster County, New York, United States. It is north of New York City and south of Albany, New York, Albany. The city's metropolitan area is grou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donahue, Jonathan American rock guitarists American male guitarists American rock singers American male singers The Flaming Lips members Mercury Rev members Living people 1966 births Musicians from Kingston, New York 20th-century American guitarists