Gavin Friday

Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes.

Early life

Friday was born in Dublin and attended primary and post-primary schools in Ballygall, a neighbourhood on Dublin's Northside located in Glasnevin. When he was fourteen years old and living on Cedarwood Road, he met Bono and Guggi at a party to which he had not been invited. Bono said: "We caught him trying to steal something of the house. Classic teenage stuff... but we became friends."

Career

He was a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes and has recorded several solo albums and soundtracks.

In 1986, after the demise of Virgin Prunes, Friday devoted himself to painting for a while, sharing a studio with Bono, Guggi and Charlie Whisker. This resulted in the exhibition ''Four Artists – Many Wednesdays'' (1988) at Dublin's Hendricks Gallery. Friday, Guggi and Whisker showed paintings, while Bono opted to exhibit photos taken in Ethiopia. Friday's part of the show was entitled ''I didn't come up the Liffey in a bubble'', an expression often used by Friday's father.

His main collaborator between 1987 and 2005 was multi-instrumentalist, Maurice Seezer. They signed to Island Records in 1988 and released three albums together, before parting with the company in 1996. Since then Friday and Seezer composed the score for the Jim Sheridan films ''The Boxer'' and '' In America'' which was nominated for Best Original Film Score in the 2004 Ivor Novello Awards.

He has maintained a close friendship with U2's Bono since both were children, and they collaborated on the soundtrack for the Jim Sheridan film '' In the Name of the Father'', including the title track, "Billy Boola" and "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart", which was sung by Sinéad O'Connor and nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Original Song. In 2003 they wrote "Time Enough for Tears", the original theme tune for Sheridan's film '' In America'', as sung by Andrea Corr. The song was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.

In 1995 he performed "Look What You've Done (To My Skin)," one of two songs (the other sung by P.J. Harvey) written by Philip Ridley and Nick Bicat for Ridley's second feature film as writer and director, '' The Passion of Darkly Noon''.

In 2005 Friday and Seezer collaborated with Quincy Jones on incidental music for the 50 Cent biopic ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'''. In 2001 they scored the film ''Disco Pigs'' by Kirsten Sheridan. Two years later Friday and Seezer and their ensemble also collaborated with Bono on ''Peter & the Wolf'' in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation.

In September 2006 a 2-CD collection of sea shanties called '' Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys'', produced by Hal Willner, was released on the ANTI- label. Friday contributes to two tracks including the lewd "Baltimore Whores" and "Bully in the Alley" with ex- Virgin Prunes bandmates Guggi and Dave-id. The reunion of Friday, Guggi and Dave-id was the first time they had recorded together since the Virgin Prunes broke up in 1985.

Friday worked again with Hal Willner in June 2007, appearing in the concert "Forest of No Return – the Vintage Disney Songbook" as part of the Meltdown Festival presented at London's newly reopened Royal Festival Hall. Sharing a stage with artists such as Grace Jones, Nick Cave, Pete Doherty and curator Jarvis Cocker, Friday performed the Disney songs " The Siamese Cat Song" and "Castle in Spain".

Taking time out from work on his fourth solo album with Herb Macken, Friday teamed up with English composer, Gavin Bryars, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North for a new interpretation of Shakespeare's Sonnets touring as part of the 2007 Complete Works Festival. Opening in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Friday presented his take on Sonnet 40 ('Take all my loves, my love, yea, take them all') and narrated Bryars' 40-minute piece 'Nothing Like The Sun'. Friday and Macken composed the music for the Patrick McCabe play, ''The Revenant''. ''The Revenant'' opened as part of the 2007 Galway Arts Festival. The play's main theme is entitled 'Dreamland'.

In 2009, Friday and Macken worked on Gavin's fourth studio album, set for release in 2010. On 6 April 2010 Record company Rubyworks announced they signed Gavin Friday and that a new album was on its way. The new CD was titled ''catholic'' and was released in Ireland on Good Friday: 22 April 2011.

Filmography

After contributing to the documentary '' Aidan Walsh: Master of the Universe'' (2000), Friday's first acting experience was in the Kirsten Sheridan film ''Disco Pigs'' (2001), in which he had a bit part.

In 2005 Gavin Friday played Billy Hatchett in the Neil Jordan film ''Breakfast on Pluto'' based on Irish author Patrick McCabe's book, which had been influenced by Friday's album ''Shag Tobacco''. On the soundtrack he sings " Wig Wam Bam" and "Sand", a duet with Cillian Murphy.

Discography

Albums

* '' Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves'' (1989)
* '' Adam 'n' Eve'' (1992)
* ''Shag Tobacco'' (1995)
* ''Peter and the Wolf'' (2002)
* ''Catholic'' (2011)

Singles

* "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (1987)
* "Each Man Kills The Things He Loves" (1988)
* "You Take Away the Sun" (1989)
* "Man of Misfortune" (1989)
* "I Want to Live" (1992)
* "King of Trash" (1992)
* "Falling off the Edge of the World" (1993)
* "In the Name of the Father" with Bono (1994) – IRE No. 15, AUS No. 56
* "Angel" (1995) – soundtrack from the film ''William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet''
* "You, Me and World War III" (1996)

Soundtracks

* '' Bad Influence'' (1990)
* ''Short Cuts'' (1993)
* '' In the Name of the Father'' (1993)
* ''William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet'' (1996)
* '' Mission: Impossible'' (1996)
* '' Basquiat'' (1996)
* ''The Boxer'' (1997)
* ''Moulin Rouge!'' (2001)
* ''Breakfast on Pluto'' (2005)

Scores

* '' Angel Baby'' (1996)
* ''The Boxer'' (1997)
* '' In America'' (2003)
* ''Get Rich or Die Tryin''' (2005)

Collaborations

In 1983 Friday appeared on the title track of Dave Ball's ''In Strict Tempo''.

In 1984, Friday collaborated with cult English post-punk group The Fall, on three tracks: "Copped It" and "Stephen Song" appeared on the album '' The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall'', and "Clear Off!" was a track on the "Call For Escape Route" EP. On all three tracks, Friday and Fall singer Mark E. Smith alternated vocals, occasionally backing each other up. In the same year Friday provided vocals for the track "The Tenderness of Wolves" on the album ''Scatology'' by Coil.

Twelve years later, Friday collaborated with The Heads (former members of the Talking Heads minus David Byrne) on a song called "Blue Blue Moon." This was included as the last of 12 tracks on The Heads' 1996 album '' No Talking, Just Head''. The song is credited to Gavin Friday, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison, T. "Blast" Murray and Tina Weymouth.

In 2010, Friday collaborated with David Ball again on a cover of Suicide's "Ghost Rider" for the ''Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series''.

In 2011, he contributed a cover version of " The Fly" to ''AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered'', a tribute album to U2's ''Achtung Baby''.

In 2013, Friday collaborated with Shannon McNally on the traditional "Tom's Gone to Hilo" for the Sea shanty-compilation '' Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys'' (2013).

References

External links

Official Site

Official Virgin Prunes Site

Official MySpace profile

Official Facebook page

Last.fm Gavin Friday group

{{DEFAULTSORT:Friday, Gavin
1959 births
Ballygall
Living people
Musicians from Dublin (city)
Irish male singer-songwriters
Post-punk musicians
Gothic rock musicians
Island Records artists
21st-century Irish male actors
Irish male film actors
20th-century Irish painters
21st-century Irish painters
Irish male painters
Virgin Prunes members
Bono