Elvis Brooke Perkins (born February 9, 1976) is an American folk-rock musician. He released his debut studio album, '' Ash Wednesday'', in 2007. He subsequently toured in support of the album with his band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, composed of Perkins alongside multi-instrumentalists Brigham Brough, Wyndham Boylan-Garnett and Nick Kinsey. The band released its self-titled debut, '' Elvis Perkins in Dearland'', in 2009. The band formed in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

around 2004 when Perkins moved to the East Coast upon completing ''Ash Wednesday'', although the members have been friends and collaborators for many years.

Early life

Perkins is the son of actor

Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influentia ...

(1932–1992), and photographer and actress Berry Berenson (1948–2001) who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks. He was raised in Los Angeles and

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

with his older brother, actor and director

Oz Perkins Osgood Robert "Oz" Perkins II (born February 2, 1974) is an American actor, screenwriter, and director. Early life Perkins was born in Manhattan, New York, the elder son of actor Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) and photog ...

. Perkins is a great-grandson of the fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who was a great-niece of

Giovanni Schiaparelli Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli ( , also , ; 14 March 1835 – 4 July 1910) was an Italian astronomer and science historian. Biography He studied at the University of Turin, graduating in 1854, and later did research at Berlin Observatory, ...

, the Italian astronomer who believed he had discovered the supposed canals of Mars, and a nephew of the actress

Marisa Berenson Vittoria Marisa Schiaparelli Berenson (born February 15, 1947) is an American actress and model. She appeared on the front covers of ''Vogue'' and ''Time'', and won the National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as ...

, Berry's sister. His paternal grandfather

Osgood Perkins James Ridley Osgood Perkins (May 16, 1892 – September 21, 1937) was an American actor. Life and career Perkins was born in West Newton, Massachusetts, son of Henry Phelps Perkins Jr., and his wife, Helen Virginia (née Anthony). His maternal g ...

, was also an actor. His maternal great-grandfather was Wilhelm de Wendt de Kerlor, a theosophist and psychic medium. His mother was a great-grandniece of art expert

Bernard Berenson Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book ''The Drawings of the Florentine Painters'' was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large ...

(1865–1959), whose sister Senda (1868–1954) was an athlete and educator and one of the first two women elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Perkins was named after

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, of whom his father was a fan. Perkins attended Brown University, in

, after graduating from high school at the

Harvard-Westlake School Harvard-Westlake School is an independent, co-educational university preparatory day school consisting of two campuses located in Los Angeles, California, with approximately 1,600 students enrolled in grades seven through twelve. Its two predec ...

in 1994. Perkins took to music at an early age, briefly learning the saxophone before picking up the guitar in high school and taking lessons with Prescott Niles, one-time bassist for

The Knack The Knack was an American rock band based in Los Angeles that rose to fame with its first single, " My Sharona", an international number-one hit in 1979. History Founding (1977–1978) Singer Doug Fieger was a native of Oak Park, Michigan, a ...

. While he played in rock bands, Perkins developed an interest in the classical guitar, and began to compose music in both idioms.

Career

Debut album '' Ash Wednesday'' was produced and arranged by recording artist and composer Ethan Gold, independently released in 2006, and subsequently released February 20, 2007, by

XL Recordings XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group. Although only releasing an average of six albu ...

. In 2007, he did a Take-Away Show acoustic video session shot by

Vincent Moon Vincent Moon (real name Mathieu Saura, born 25 August 1979) is an independent filmmaker, photographer, and sound artist from Paris. He was the main director of the Blogotheque's Take Away Shows, a web-based project recording field work music vid ...

. In 2008, Perkins in Dearland recorded a cover of the

Sacred Harp Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South. The name is derived from ''The Sacred Harp'', a ubiquitous and historically important tune ...

song "Weeping Pilgrim" for ''Awake My Soul, Help Me to Sing'' the soundtrack to the movie '' Awake My Soul''. His band released its debut album '' Elvis Perkins in Dearland'' on March 10, 2009. His song "Doomsday" from the ''Doomsday'' EP appeared on the second-season premiere of the HBO series ''Enlightened''. In 2009, he worked with the

Yellow Bird Project Yellow Bird Project (often abbreviated YBP) is a company that collaborates with indie bands to raise money for charity, primarily through the sale of T-shirts. They approach indie bands, asking them to choose a charity and submit an original desig ...

to create a T-shirt to raise money for the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...

. In the same year, on September 2, he performed an acoustic benefit concert in New York City at the

Housing Works Housing Works is a New York City-based non-profit fighting AIDS and homelessness. The charity is well known for its entrepreneurial businesses including a chain of thrift shops, which supports efforts to end AIDS and homelessness where they ...

Bookstore Café to help promote the project's first publication. On February 24, 2015, Perkins released his third full-length album, ''I Aubade'', on his newly established label MIR. It was manufactured and distributed by the music division of Isolation Network, INGrooves, and available outside the US on April 20, 2015. He toured in support of ''I Aubade'' in 2015. French indie label Microcultures released a session in October 2016 that was recorded for France Musique Radio's Label Pop, hosted by music journalist Vincent Theval. The album featured the first incarnation of his I Aubade touring band, multi-instrumentalists Mitchell Robe and Danielle Aykroyd, a songwriter who goes by the pseudonym Vera Sola. Sola credits the launch of her career to Elvis' support and encouragement. In recent years, Perkins has been collaborating with his brother, Osgood, on scores for the latter's films. The critically acclaimed score to "Blackcoat's Daughter" was released on DeathWaltz Recordings in March 2017. The New York Times writes: The Blackcoat's Daughter' bewitches with silky-smooth camera movements and a rolling, reverberating musical score (by Elvis Perkins, the director's brother)." Matt Fagerholm wrote of it that the score set the perfect atmospheric tone for the film.

Discography

Albums

*'' Ash Wednesday'' (February 20, 2007) *'' Elvis Perkins in Dearland'' (March 10, 2009) *''I Aubade'' (February 24, 2015) *''

The Blackcoat's Daughter ''The Blackcoat's Daughter'' (also known as ''February'') is a 2015 supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Osgood Perkins. The film stars Emma Roberts, Kiernan Shipka, Lucy Boynton, Lauren Holly, and James Remar. The fi ...

'' (March 31, 2017) *''Creation Myths'' (October 2, 2020)

Singles

*"While You Were Sleeping" (July 16, 2007) *"All the Night Without Love" (November 20, 2007)

EPs

*"The Doomsday EP" (October 20, 2009) *"Label Pop Session EP" (November 4, 2016)

References

External links

Official Elvis Perkins website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Perkins, Elvis 1976 births Living people American people of Egyptian descent American people of English descent American people of French descent American people of Italian descent American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American people of Swiss descent Brown University alumni Harvard-Westlake School alumni Singers from New York City Singer-songwriters from New York (state) XL Recordings artists 21st-century American singers