Brendan Michael Perry (born 30 June 1959) is a British singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as half of the duo

Dead Can Dance Dead Can Dance are a British-Australian band founded in Melbourne in 1981 by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, before relocating to London the following year. The Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "const ...

with

Lisa Gerrard Lisa Germaine Gerrard ( ; born 12 April 1961) is an Australian musician, singer and composer and member of the group Dead Can Dance with music partner Brendan Perry. She is known for her unique singing style technique (glossolalia). She has a ...

Early life

Perry was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

, London, England, UK, in 1959 to a mother from Cavan, Ireland,Brendan Perry: Biography
. AllMusic. Retrieved 15 April 2018. and a father from London. He was raised and schooled in the East End of London until his family moved to

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand, in 1973. Having received no formal musical education, Perry began to play the guitar at St Paul's College, the Catholic school he attended in Ponsonby. After failing to become a primary school teacher and join the civil service, Perry worked at a series of jobs until joining

the Scavengers The Scavengers were a New Zealand-Australian punk rock band that formed in 1977. They moved to Melbourne, Australia, in November 1978 and became Marching Girls. History The band was formed in 1976 at Auckland Technical Institute by graphic d ...

in 1977. At first Perry played bass guitar, later taking on the duties of lead vocalist when the original singer left the band. Apart from a handful of original songs, the band covered music from

the Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved ...

, and late-1960s

psychedelia Psychedelia usually refers to a Aesthetics, style or aesthetic that is resembled in the psychedelic subculture of the 1960s and the psychedelic experience produced by certain psychoactive substances. This includes psychedelic art, psychedelic ...

. After two years, having failed to secure a recording deal or live dates, the band moved to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia, in November 1978 and changed its name to Marching Girls. In 1980, Perry left the Marching Girls to pursue a solo career, experimenting with tape loops, synthesis, and alternative forms of rhythm. In 1981, Perry formed

with Simon Monroe and Paul Erikson (both of whom were to leave soon after they had relocated to London), and

Career

The Scavengers and Marching Girls

Though now primarily known for his work with

, Perry's first musical forays were in a markedly different style. In 1977, Perry was a leading member of the New Zealand

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band

, working under the pseudonym of Ronnie Recent. Perry started as the band's bass player, becoming lead vocalist after a lineup change in 1978. In 1979, the band moved to Melbourne and changed its name to

the Marching Girls The Scavengers were a New Zealand-Australian punk rock band that formed in 1977. They moved to Melbourne, Australia, in November 1978 and became Marching Girls. History The band was formed in 1976 at Auckland Technical Institute by graphic d ...

. Perry left the band in 1980. Perry's work with these two bands can be found on the 1979 compilation album ''

AK79 ''AK79'' is a collection of unreleased tracks by punk bands active in Auckland, New Zealand in the late 1970s. The album was compiled by Bryan Staff, with artwork from Terence Hogan, and was released by Ripper Records in December 1979. History ...

'' that was re-released on CD in 1994 and on vinyl in 2020. The Scavengers released two collections of their tracks in New Zealand, in 2003 and 2014. The Scavengers are regarded as New Zealand's equivalent of

the Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. They ...

, with the Perry co-penned song "Mysterex" regarded as one of the country's best and most distinctive punk-rock recordings. Marching Girls also reached the New Zealand singles charts in 1980 with "True Love."

Dead Can Dance

were originally formed as a quartet in 1981 in Melbourne, with Perry, drummer Simon Monroe, bass player Paul Erikson, and, last to join the band,

. In 1982, Dead Can Dance moved to London leaving Simon Monroe in Australia.

Peter Ulrich Peter Lawrence Ulrich (born 29 August 1958 in Perivale, England) is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, recording artist and author. Biography He was educated at Vaughan School in West Harrow, Cannon Lane School in Pinner, the John Lyon Sch ...

played drums in the band's first demos, concerts and recordings. Paul Erikson soon left the band to fly back to Australia, leaving the band a duo. The band went on to record eight albums on the

4AD Records 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of t ...

record label beginning with the self-titled ''

'' album, which was released in February 1984.

Solo career

In 1999, Perry released his solo album ''

Eye of the Hunter ''Eye of the Hunter'' is the debut solo album by Brendan Perry, previously the male half of the band Dead Can Dance. The album was released by 4AD on 4 October 1999 in the UK and a day later in the US. Overview The album's title is found in the l ...

'' on 4AD Records. The album contained songs written by Perry and a cover of

Tim Buckley Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an American musician. He began his career based in folk rock, but subsequently experimented with genres such as psychedelia, jazz, the avant-garde, and funk paired with his ...

's song "I Must Have Been Blind." Perry would eventually cover more Tim Buckley songs: "Happy Time", "Chase the Blues Away", "Dream Letter" and " Song to the Siren". Brendan Perry 2013

Around 2001, Perry made the music for a 10-minute film (''Mushin'') made by Graham Wood, who designed the artwork of the box set ''

Dead Can Dance (1981-1998) Dead Can Dance are a British-Australian band founded in Melbourne in 1981 by Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard, before relocating to London the following year. The Australian music historian Ian McFarlane described Dead Can Dance's style as "const ...

'' and the album '' Wake''. Perry announced his departure from 4AD in September 2008, and promised a new album titled '' Ark'' in early 2009. According to a reply Perry made to a comment on his

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

blog, the new album would be very different from ''

'', notably because it would feature rhythm machines and electric guitars. "Utopia", a demo version of a song from the album, was made available on his Myspace blog. ''Ark'' was eventually released on 7 June 2010. In March 2016 it was announced that he would collaborate with French musician Olivier Mellano and the

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...

traditional band Bagad Cesson on a project titled ''No Land''.

Discography

Solo albums

* ''

'' (1999) * '' Ark'' (2010) * ''Songs of Disenchantment: Music from the Greek Underground'' (2020)

Compilations

* ''The Scavengers: The Scavengers'' (2003) ompilation LP of demos and assorted tracks from Brendan Perry's punk band* ''

'' (1980) ew Zealand punk collection including The Scavengers, reissued in 1994 and 2020 with the Marching Girls* ''London ICA (13 Year Itch Festival)'' (2008) olo, only available as a MP3/MP4 download

Contributions

* Opera Multi Steel: ''Stella obscura'' (CD, "Du chant des elfes") * ''The 13 Year Itch'' (4AD compilation, "Happy time" 1993) * Elijah's Mantle: ''Angels of perversity'' (1993, "Paradis IAC" & "Quem di dilicunt -part two") *

Hector Zazou Hector Zazou (11 July 1948 – 8 September 2008) was a prolific French composer and record producer who worked with, produced, and collaborated with an international array of recording artists. He worked on his own and other artists' albums, inclu ...

: ''

Sahara Blue ''Sahara Blue'' is a 1992 concept album produced by Hector Zazou. The album commemorated the 100th year of the death of French poet Arthur Rimbaud and included collaborative musical works by John Cale, Khaled, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tim Simenon, and ...

'' (1994, "Youth" & "Black Stream" /Lisa Gerrard * Hector Zazou: ''Songs from the cold seas'' (1994, "Annuka suaren neito" & "Adventures in the Scandinavian skin trade") * ''Rare on Air'' (KCRW compilation, "The Captive Heart" 1994) * CoEx: ''Synaesthesia'' (1995, "Chant of Amergin") * Hector Zazou & Harold Budd: ''Glyph'' (1995, "Around the corner from everywhere") * Hector Zazou: ''Lights in the dark'' ("Gol na dtrí Muire", "In ainm an athar le bua" & "Caoine Mhuire") * Barbara Gogan & Hector Zazou: ''Made on Earth'' (1997, "True love") * ''Sunset Heights'' 1997 (movie soundtrack by Perry) * ''Greenwood voice of the celtic myth'' (compilation, "Balor's song", 1997) *

: ''Pathways and Dawns'' (programming & sequencing, guitars, hurdy-gurdy & tin whistles) * '' Sing a Song for You: Tribute to Tim Buckley'' (tribute album, "Dream letter", 2000) * Zoar: ''Clouds without water'' (2003, "Winter wind" & "Wakeworld") *

Piano Magic Piano Magic was a musical collective formed in the summer of 1996 by Glen Johnson, Dominic Chennell, and Dick Rance in London, England. Their sound has been described as ambient pop, post-rock, indietronica, dark wave, "arty baroque pop" and "E ...

: ''Ovations'' (2009, "The Nightmare Goes On" & "You Never Loved This City") * Olivier Mellano: ''No Land'' (2017) * Deleyaman: ''The lover, The stars & The citadel'' (2016, "Escape" & "Autumn Sun") * Deleyaman: ''Sentinel'' (2020, "The Valley")

References

External links

brendanperry.com
(official website) *
deadcandance.com
(official website of Dead Can Dance)
The Scavengers at AudioCulture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, Brendan English baritones English people of Irish descent 1959 births Living people People from Whitechapel 4AD artists People educated at St Paul's College, Auckland Cooking Vinyl artists Dead Can Dance members