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 punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-r ...

group The Virgin Prunes.

Early life

Friday was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

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, Ireland. It is also a townland divided between the civil parish of Finglas and that of Glasnevin. It was settled by Vikings in ...

, a neighbourhood on Dublin's Northside located in

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 t ...

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

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by his stage name Bono (), is an Irish singer-songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. He is the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Born and raised in Dublin, he attended ...

and

Guggi Guggi (born Derek Rowen) is an avant-garde Irish artist, once a member of the goth/post-punk band Virgin Prunes alongside his close friend Gavin Friday. Guggi was born in Dublin in 1959. He grew up with and remains best friends with U2's Bo ...

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

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

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

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

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

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

. He has maintained a close friendship with U2's

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 Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, '' The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want Wha ...

and nominated for a

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

for Best Original Song. In 2003 they wrote "Time Enough for Tears", the original

theme tune Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

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 accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

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. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

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 businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...

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

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 Meltdown is an annual festival held in London, featuring a mix of music, art, performance and film. Meltdown is held in June at Southbank Centre, the arts complex covering and including the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and The ...

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. 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 Grade I l ...

. Sharing a stage with artists such as

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, C ...

, Pete Doherty and curator

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

, Friday performed the

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

songs "

The Siamese Cat Song ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

" 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, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music. Early life and career Born on 16 January 1943 in ...

, the Royal Shakespeare Company and

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays a ...

for a new interpretation of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 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 just Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It is situated on the River Avon, north-w ...

, Friday presented his take on

Sonnet 40 Shakespeare's Sonnet 40 is one of the sequence addressed to a well-born, handsome young man to whom the speaker is devoted. In this poem, as in the others in this part of the sequence, the speaker expresses resentment of his beloved's power over ...

('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 Galway International Arts Festival (GIAF), founded in 1978, is a cultural organization that produces an annual arts festival in Galway, Ireland. It also produces new work that tours nationally and internationally, in addition to presenting ...

. 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 Neil Patrick Jordan (born 25 February 1950) is an Irish film director, screenwriter, novelist and short-story writer. His first book, ''Night in Tunisia'', won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1979. He won an Academy ...

film ''

Breakfast on Pluto ''Breakfast on Pluto'' is a 1998 novel by Patrick McCabe. The book was shortlisted for the 1998 Booker Prize, and was adapted for the screen by McCabe and Neil Jordan; Jordan directed the 2005 film. The author derived the novel's title from th ...

'' 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 is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

with

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy (; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. Originally the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, he turned down a record deal in the late 1990s and began acting on stage and in short an ...

Discography

Albums

* '' Each Man Kills the Thing He Loves'' (1989) * ''

Adam 'n' Eve ''Adam 'n' Eve'' is the second album from Gavin Friday and again features Friday teaming up with musician Maurice "The Man" Seezer. Track listing All tracks composed by Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer # "I Want to Live" – 4:03 # "Falli ...

'' (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 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

'' (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

(1994) – IRE No. 15, AUS No. 56 * "Angel" (1995) – soundtrack from the film ''

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet William is a masculine given name of Norman French origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conq ...

'' * "You, Me and World War III" (1996)

Soundtracks

* '' Bad Influence'' (1990) * ''

Short Cuts ''Short Cuts'' is a 1993 American comedy-drama film, directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver. The film has a Los Angeles setting, which is ...

'' (1993) * '' In the Name of the Father'' (1993) * ''

'' (1996) * '' Mission: Impossible'' (1996) * '' Basquiat'' (1996) * ''

'' (1997) * ''

Moulin Rouge! ''Moulin Rouge!'' (, ) is a 2001 jukebox musical romantic drama film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Baz Luhrmann. It follows a young English poet, Christian, who falls in love with the star of the Moulin Rouge, cabaret actress and cou ...

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2005)

Scores

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

'' (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

group The Fall, on three tracks: "Copped It" and "Stephen Song" appeared on the album ''

The Wonderful and Frightening World of The Fall ''The Wonderful and Frightening World Of...'' is the seventh studio album by English musical group the Fall, released in October 1984. It was the band's first album after signing to the Beggars Banquet label. Newcomer Brix Smith co-wrote thre ...

'', 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, who was the lead singer, lyricist and only constant member of the post-punk group the Fall. Smith formed the band after attending the June 1976 Sex Pistols gig at the ...

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 feces. 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 su ...

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

Talking Heads Talking Heads were an American rock band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991.Talkin ...

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 an album released in 1996 by the Heads, a band composed of Jerry Harrison, Tina Weymouth, and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads, joined by a variety of guest singers. Its name may be seen as an allusion to the fact tha ...

''. 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, Fra ...

Jerry Harrison Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American songwriter, musician, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the cult band the Modern Lovers before becoming keyboardist and guitarist ...

, 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, Ta ...

. In 2010, Friday collaborated with David Ball again on a cover of Suicide's "

Ghost Rider Ghost Rider is the name of multiple antiheroes and superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Marvel had previously used the name for a Western character whose name was later changed to Phantom Rider. The first s ...

" for the ''

Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series ''Alan Vega 70th Birthday Limited Edition EP Series'' is a series of eight EPs with contributions from various artists paying tribute to Alan Vega and his band Suicide. The individual 10" vinyl EPs were pressed in limited quantities and released t ...

''. In 2011, he contributed a cover version of " The Fly" to ''

AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered ''AHK-toong BAY-bi Covered'', stylized as ''(Ăhk-to͝ong Ba͞y-bi) Covered'' or ''(Ăℎk-to͝ong Ba͞y-bi) Covered'', is a tribute album featuring cover versions of the 12 songs from U2's 1991 record ''Achtung Baby''. It was released on 26 ...

'', a tribute album to U2's ''

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

''. In 2013, Friday collaborated with

Shannon McNally Shannon Maureen McNally (born March 17, 1973) is an American singer and songwriter. Biography McNally was born in Hempstead, New York, on Long Island. While studying anthropology at Franklin and Marshall College, she began singing and playing ...

on the traditional "Tom's Gone to Hilo" for the

Sea shanty A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term ''shanty'' most accurately refers to a specific st ...

-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