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 Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of music that emerged in late 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experiment ...

group The Virgin Prunes.

Early life

Fionan Hanvey was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and attended primary and post-primary schools in

Ballygall Ballygall () is a small suburban area located between Glasnevin and Finglas, on the northside of the city of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is also a townland divided between the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Finglas (ci ...

, a neighbourhood on Dublin's Northside, between

Finglas Finglas (; ) is a northwestern outer suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies close to Junction 5 of the M50 motorway (Ireland), M50 motorway, and the N2 road (Ireland), N2 road. Nearby suburbs include Glasnevin and Ballymun; Du ...

and

Glasnevin Glasnevin (, also known as ''Glas Naedhe'', meaning "stream of O'Naeidhe" after a local stream and an ancient chieftain) is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, situated on the River Tolka. While primarily residential, Glasnevin is also home to ...

. When he was fourteen years old and living on Cedarwood Road, between Finglas and Ballymun, he met

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

and

Guggi Guggi (born Derek Rowen) is an Irish artist and musician who was once a member of the post-punk band Virgin Prunes. Early life Derek Rowen was born in Dublin in 1959. He is one of 10 children. He grew up with and remains best friends with U2's ...

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

Friday was a founding member of the

group The Virgin Prunes and has recorded several solo albums and soundtracks. In 1986, after the demise of the Virgin Prunes, Friday devoted himself to painting for a while, sharing a studio with

and Charlie Whisker. This resulted in the exhibition ''Four Artists – Many Wednesdays'' (1988) at Dublin's Hendricks Gallery. He, 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 his father. His main collaborator between 1987 and 2005 was multi-instrumentalist, Maurice Seezer. They signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...

in 1988 and released three albums together, before parting with the company in 1996. Later, Friday and Seezer composed the score for the Jim Sheridan films ''

The Boxer "The Boxer" is a song written by Paul Simon and recorded by the American music duo Simon & Garfunkel from their fifth and final studio album, '' Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970). Produced by the duo and Roy Halee, it was released as a stan ...

'' and '' In America'' which was nominated for Best Original Film Score in the 2004

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

. He has maintained a close friendship with U2's

since both were children, and they collaborated on the soundtrack for the

Jim Sheridan Jim Sheridan (born 6 February 1949) is an Irish people, Irish playwright and filmmaker. Between 1989 and 1993, Sheridan directed three critically acclaimed films set in Ireland, ''My Left Foot'' (1989), ''The Field (1990 film), The Field'' (19 ...

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 Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

and nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...

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 The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...

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 Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (March 14, 1933 – November 3, 2024) was an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, trumpeter, and bandleader. Over the course of his seven-decade career, he received List of awards and nominations re ...

on incidental music for the

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

biopic ''

Get Rich or Die Tryin' ''Get Rich or Die Tryin'' is the debut studio album by American rapper 50 Cent. It was released on February 6, 2003, by Interscope Records, Eminem's Shady Records, Dr. Dre's Aftermath Entertainment, and 50 Cent's G-Unit Records. After si ...

''. In 2001 they scored the film '' Disco Pigs'' by

Kirsten Sheridan Kirsten Sheridan (born 14 July 1976) is an Irish film director and screenwriter. She is best known for co-writing the semi-autobiographical film '' In America'' with her father, director Jim Sheridan, and her sister, Naomi Sheridan, for which s ...

. 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

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 The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

. Sharing a stage with artists such as

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian musician, writer, and actor who fronts the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Known for his baritone voice, Cave's music is characterised by emotional intensity, a wide variety ...

, Pete Doherty and curator

Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...

, Friday performed the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

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 Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, Musical historicism, historicism, Avant-garde music, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early lif ...

, the

Royal Shakespeare Company The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs over 1,000 staff and opens around 20 productions a year. The RSC plays regularly in London, Stratf ...

and Opera North for a new interpretation of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's Sonnets touring as part of the 2007 Complete Works Festival. Opening in

Stratford-Upon-Avon Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...

, 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 Friday'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

film '' Disco Pigs'' (2001), in which he had a bit part. In 2005 Gavin Friday played Billy Hatchett in the

Neil Jordan Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish filmmaker and writer. He first achieved recognition for his short story collection, ''Night in Tunisia (short story collection), Night in Tunisia,'' which won the Guardian Fiction Prize in ...

film '' Breakfast on Pluto'' based on Irish author Patrick McCabe's book, which had been influenced by Friday's album ''

Shag Tobacco ''Shag Tobacco'' is the third solo album from Gavin Friday. Once again, Friday teamed up with musician Maurice Seezer, Maurice "The Man" Seezer. Bono and The Edge contribute backing vocals on "Little Black Dress". "The Last Song I'll Ever Sing" ...

''. On the soundtrack he sings " Wig Wam Bam" and "Sand", a

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

with Cillian Murphy.

Discography

Albums

* '' Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves'' (1989) * '' Adam 'n' Eve'' (1992) * ''

'' (1995) * ''Peter and the Wolf'' (2002) * ''

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

'' (2011) * ''Ecce Homo'' (2024)

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

(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) * ''

'' (1997) * '' Moulin Rouge!'' (2001) * '' Breakfast on Pluto'' (2005)

Scores

* '' Angel Baby'' (1996) * ''

'' (1997) * '' In America'' (2003) * ''

'' (2005)

Collaborations

In 1983, Friday appeared on the title track of Dave Ball's ''In Strict Tempo''. In 1984, he collaborated with cult English

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 Mark Edward Smith (5 March 1957 – 24 January 2018) was an English singer-songwriter. He was the lead vocalist, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistol ...

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 In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of faeces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases ...

'' by Coil. Twelve years later, Friday collaborated with the Heads (former members of

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1975.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 ''No Talking, Just Head'' is the only studio album by the Heads, a band composed of Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, joined by a variety of guest singers. Released in October 1996, the project was commercially ...

''. The song is credited to Gavin Friday,

Chris Frantz Charton Christopher Frantz (born May 8, 1951) is an American musician and record producer. He is the drummer for both Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, both of which he co-founded with wife and Talking Heads bassist, Tina Weymouth. In 2002, Frant ...

, Jerry Harrison, T. "Blast" Murray and

Tina Weymouth Martina Michèle Weymouth ( ; born November 22, 1950) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and a founding member and bassist of the new wave group Talking Heads and its side project Tom Tom Club, which she co-founded with her husband, ...

. 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 ''Achtung Baby'' ( ) is the seventh studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 18 November 1991 by Island Records. After criticism of their 1988 documentary film and ...

''. In 2013, Friday collaborated with Shannon McNally on the traditional "Tom's Gone to Hilo" for the

Sea shanty A sea shanty, shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional Folk music, folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large Merchant vessel, merchant Sailing ship, sailing vessels. The term ...

-compilation '' Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys'' (2013).

Personal life

Friday lived for many years in a house on Vico Road, Killiney, a southern suburb of Dublin, next door to Bono and his wife Ali Hewson; he is godfather to their daughter, actress Eve Hewson. Around 2021, he moved to the south Dublin suburb of Rathmines. Following the release of his 2024 album ''Ecce Homo'', Friday came out as

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

References

External links

Official Site

Official Virgin Prunes Site

Official Facebook page

Last.fm Gavin Friday group
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friday, Gavin 1959 births People from Ballygall Living people Musicians from Dublin (city) Irish male singer-songwriters Irish singer-songwriters Post-punk musicians Irish gothic rock musicians Island Records artists 21st-century Irish male actors Irish male film actors 20th-century Irish painters 21st-century Irish painters 21st-century Irish male artists Irish male painters Virgin Prunes members People educated at St Kevin's College, Dublin Male actors from County Dublin Artists from County Dublin 1970s in Irish music 1980s in Irish music 1990s in Irish music 2000s in Irish music 2010s in Irish music