Justine Elinor Frischmann (born 16 September 1969) is an English artist and retired musician. She was the lead singer of the
Britpop band
Elastica after forming
Suede, before retiring from the music industry and pursuing a career as a painter.
Early years
Frischmann was born on 16 September 1969 in
Kensington, London
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...
, the daughter of
Wilem Frischmann, a
Hungarian Holocaust survivor
Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...
who is the former chairman of the
Pell Frischmann
Pell Frischmann (PF) is a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy based in London that provides structural and civil engineering, planning, design, and consulting services. Pell Frischmann employs over 1000 staff worldwide with 8 offices acros ...
company of consulting engineers, and a
Russian mother.
Her parents are both
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
. She grew up in
Twickenham, London, and attended
St Paul's Girls School,
before studying at the
Bartlett School of Architecture
Bartlett may refer to:
Places
*Bartlett Bay, Canada, Arctic waterway
* Wharerata, New Zealand, also known as Bartletts
United States
* Bartlett, Illinois
** Bartlett station, a commuter railroad station
* Bartlett, Iowa
* Bartlett, Kansas
* ...
at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
.
Career
Music
Frischmann began writing and studying music at the age of eleven.
She was a founding member of the band
Suede with
Brett Anderson
Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004-2 ...
, whom she met at UCL in 1988. She left the band in October 1991.
In the 2018 documentary "The Insatiable Ones", Anderson cites her as a huge influence on the band's first album.
Frischmann later founded and fronted her own band,
Elastica. Their first album, ''
Elastica'', released in 1995, became the fastest selling debut album in UK history. They were signed to
Deceptive Records
Deceptive Records was a British independent record label formed in 1993 by Steve Lamacq, Tony Smith and Alan James, which concentrated on rock and alternative rock. The most famous group signed to the label were Elastica.
Steve Lamacq lef ...
in the UK, and later with
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label established by David Geffen and owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M Records imprint.
Founded in 1980, Geffen Records has been a part of Interscope Geffen A&M since 1999 and h ...
in Europe and the US. In 1994, Elastica were voted Best New Band by NME readers at the Brit awards. In 1995, Elastica were nominated for the
Mercury Music Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
for their album ''
Elastica''. The album went on to sell over a million copies worldwide. In 2001 the band announced an amicable breakup, citing, in part, burnout from a grueling touring schedule.
Frischmann spent the next few years developing artist
M.I.A., whom she discovered. M.I.A. was Frischmann's friend and flatmate. Frischmann co-wrote and produced M.I.A.'s demos for her first album, ''
Arular
''Arular'' is the debut studio album by British recording artist M.I.A. (rapper), M.I.A. It was released on 22 March 2005 in the United States, and one month later in the United Kingdom, with a slightly different track listing. In 2004, the albu ...
'', most notably its 2003 single "
Galang".
In 2017,
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pu ...
released a remastered version of Elastica's first eponymously titled album. That year, there were rumours that Elastica had been asked to perform at M.I.A.'s Meltdown at the Southbank. In 2019, Rough Trade released a limited edition Elastica BBC sessions album on UK Record Store Day.
Television
In 2003, Frischmann co-presented a series called ''
Dreamspaces'' for the
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
about
modern architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...
. In 2004, she presented ''
The South Bank Show
''The South Bank Show'' is a British television arts magazine series originally produced by London Weekend Television and broadcast on ITV between 1978 and 2010. A new version of the series began 27 May 2012 on Sky Arts. Conceived, written, ...
'' and was a judge for the RIBA
Stirling Prize for Architecture.
Art
In 2005, Frischmann moved to
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Colora ...
, to enroll in a masters program in
visual arts
The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...
at
Naropa University
Naropa University is a private university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1974 by Tibetan Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa, it is named for the 11th-century Indian Buddhist sage Naropa, an abbot of Nalanda. The university describes itself a ...
, a small,
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
-inspired liberal arts college, and "become a nobody". In 2012 her work was shortlisted for the UK's Marmite Prize for painting, and she has been included in The Amsterdam List of 1000 Living Painters.
In a 2016 interview regarding her art career, Frischmann stated, "I don't really have any desire to make music, to be honest."
Frischmann has said, "The themes and ideas I am working with are in direct relation to an ongoing personal narrative; the big questions are reflected in the choices I make in my art ...
ncludingmy ever-evolving relationship with my spiritual faith. I think my approach and aesthetics reveal internal struggles and speak to my family origins and history."
Personal life
Frischmann previously dated her
Suede bandmate
Brett Anderson
Brett Lewis Anderson (born 29 September 1967) is an English singer best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted The Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004-2 ...
.
She then dated
Blur lead singer
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn (; born 23 March 1968) is an English-Icelandic musician, singer-songwriter and composer, best known as the frontman and primary lyricist of the rock band Blur and as the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtua ...
from 1991 until the couple broke up in 1998, which served as inspiration for Blur's 1999 singles "
No Distance Left to Run" and "
Tender". She is now married to a meteorologist, Professor Ian Faloona,
and lives and works in the United States.
References
External links
Extensive interview with The ObserverIndie Rock Chicks of the 90s
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frischmann, Justine
1969 births
Alumni of University College London
British expatriates in the United States
Elastica members
English women guitarists
English Jews
English rock guitarists
Women rock singers
Jewish British musicians
Living people
Musicians from London
Musicians from San Rafael, California
People from Twickenham
Suede (band) members
Britpop musicians
English people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
English people of Russian-Jewish descent
Jewish rock musicians
Guitarists from California
20th-century American guitarists
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
20th-century English women musicians
20th-century American women guitarists
21st-century American women