Penguin Prison (born 1983) is an

electropop Electropop is a popular music fusion genre combining elements of the electronic and pop styles. It has been described as a variant of synth-pop with emphasis on a hard electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a rev ...

project composed solely of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

singer, musician, producer and remixer Chris Glover.Penguin Prison (No 664)
, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Retrieved 22 June 2012. His stage name comes from a

freestyle Freestyle may refer to: Brands * Reebok Freestyle, a women's athletic shoe * Ford Freestyle, an SUV automobile * Coca-Cola Freestyle, a vending machine * Abbott FreeStyle, a blood glucose monitor by Abbott Laboritories Media * '' FreeStyle'', ...

rap he created with his friend about

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

when they started saying "He's a penguin vision, he went to the penguin prison, and assumed a penguin position". Penguin Prison is known a solo act, but his original songs are often created with the help of other musicians. He has a band for live shows and tours consisting of Andrew Pertes, David Gross, Ben Grubin (of the band

Hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

), and formerly Ernesto Karolys.

Life and career

Early life

Chris Glover was born in 1983 and grew up in New York City's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

. His early musical influences came mostly from his mother's love of

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

. Glover's favorite artists growing up were

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. ...

Patsy Cline Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully Cross ...

, and

Hank Williams Hiram "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. An early pioneer of country music, he is regarded as one of the most significant and influential musicians of the 20th century. W ...

. Glover showed an interest in performing music at an early age when he joined his school's gospel choir at age 10, singing alongside future R&B artist

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

. While a teen, he performed at

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

's with his punk band ''The Museum''.

1999-2008: Career beginnings and first album

He attended

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

, where he formed a popular "crazy, fake boy band" called ''Smartest People At Bard'', which he describes as "a cross between

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...

and

Beastie Boys The Beastie Boys were an American Hip-hop, hip hop and Rap rock, rap rock group formed in New York City in 1979. They were composed of Ad-Rock, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz (vocals, guitar), Adam Yauch, Adam "MCA" Yauch (vocals, bass), and Mike D, ...

". He was signed to Interscope in 2005 under his birth name in quotes, and recorded an unreleased pop-rap album called ''Hell Isn't Even That Funny''''.'' The album was promoted with the single "Stand On Your Seat" (2005). The album went unreleased because "

he record label He or HE may refer to: Language * He (letter), the fifth letter of the Semitic abjads * He (pronoun), a pronoun in Modern English * He (kana), one of the Japanese kana (へ in hiragana and ヘ in katakana) * Ge (Cyrillic), a Cyrillic letter call ...

didn't really seem to know what to do with it so I just waited... and then finally said I'm gonna just do something else... and I started doing Penguin Prison shortly after that.".

2009-2014: Penguin Prison

As Penguin Prison, he started remixing with the

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai ( ) are an English acid jazz and funk band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in th ...

song " White Knuckle Ride", the

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

song "Feel Me", the

Goldfrapp Goldfrapp were an English electronic music duo from London, formed in 1999. The duo consisted of Alison Goldfrapp (vocals, synthesiser) and Will Gregory (synthesiser). Despite favourable reviews and a short-listing for the Mercury Prize, thei ...

song "

Rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...

", and the

Marina and the Diamonds Marina Lambrini Diamandis ( ; ; born 10 October 1985), known mononymously as Marina (often stylised in all caps) and previously by the stage name Marina and the Diamonds, is a Greek-Welsh singer, songwriter, poet and record producer. Born in ...

song " I Am Not a Robot". These remixes, among others, led into the release of his self titled album Penguin Prison on October 11, 2011 through

Downtown Records Downtown Records is an American record label based in New York City with offices in Los Angeles. Owned and operated by Josh Deutsch and Terence Lam, the label is distributed by Interscope Capitol Labels Group (formerly Geffen Records, Interscope ...

to positive reviews. After this, he continued remixing songs, and created two songs for the soundtrack of the

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

" Dirty Work".

2014-2016: Lost In New York

In 2014, Glover collaborated with other artists such as

RAC RAC or Rac may refer to: Organizations * Radio Amateurs of Canada * RATCH-Australia Corporation, electricity generator * Refugee Action Collective (Victoria), Melbourne, Australia * Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, US * Rent-A-Cent ...

and Viceroy, and made covers of " All Night Long" by

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of the Motown group Commodores; writing and recor ...

and "

Hang On to Your Love "Hang On to Your Love" is a song by English band Sade from their debut studio album, ''Diamond Life'' (1984). It was written by Sade Adu and Stuart Matthewman, and produced by Robin Millar. It was released in September 1984 as the album's firs ...

" by

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine; namesake of the word ''sadism'' * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * ...

. On May 5, 2015 he released his sophomore album "Lost In New York".

2017-Present: Turn It Up EP and singles

Glover continued making remixes, and released the Turn It Up EP on February 9, 2018. On May 10, 2019, he released "The Heat". On October 9, 2020, he released "Better", a song about the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Glover stated on his

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

"This has been a very difficult year for a lot of people - a global pandemic, social injustice, climate change and countless other troubling developments. I wanted to make a song about rising above it all". On February 12, 2021, he released "All Your Love". He explained the meaning of the song on his Instagram, saying "This song is my version of a ballad and a dedication to my wife - an acknowledgement put into record. The past year has brought on a lot of feelings for everyone. For me, a renewed sense of gratitude for the people closest to me." On February 23, 2024, he released a remix of "The Worst" by The Sometimes Island.

Discography

With Smartest People at Bard

* Welcome To The CD (1999) * ...Or Both (2001)

As "Chris Glover"

Studio albums * Hell Isn't Even That Funny (2005) Singles Stand On Your Seat (2005)

As Penguin Prison

;Studio albums *'' Penguin Prison'' (October 18, 2011) *''Lost in New York'' (May 5, 2015) ;Extended Plays ;* ''Calling Out Remixes EP'' (December 15, 2014)'''' ;* ''Turn It Up EP'' (February 19, 2018) ; ;Singles *''Calling Out'' (October 14, 2014) *''Never Gets Old'' (February 10, 2015) *''The Heat'' (May 10, 2019) *''Better'' (October 9, 2020) *''All Your Love'' (February 12, 2021)

References

External links

* *
Penguin Prison
on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Penguin Prison
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

Penguin Prison
on

Apple Music Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...

Penguin Prison
on

Deezer Deezer is a List of companies of France, French music streaming service and media service provider founded in 2007 that provides users with access to a vast library of music tracks, podcasts, and radio stations. It offers streaming services in ...

{{Authority control 2008 establishments in New York City Remixers Downtown Records artists