Portishead ( ) is an English electronic band formed in 1991 in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. The band comprises

Beth Gibbons Beth Gibbons (born 4 January 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, who have released three albums. She released an album with fellow English musician Rustin Man, '' Out of Season'', ...

(vocals),

Geoff Barrow Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak, and Quakers, and he has scored several films. Portishead was formed in 1991. He named the band after the ...

(multiple instruments, production), and

Adrian Utley Adrian Francis Utley (born 27 April 1957) is an English musician, record producer, and a member of the band Portishead.Jurek, ThomAdrian Utley Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2016 Career Born in Northampton,Mejia, Paula (2015)In Sea ...

(guitar). Dave McDonald, an audio engineer who helped produce their first two albums, is sometimes regarded as the fourth member. Portishead's debut album, '' Dummy'' (1994), fused

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

production with an atmospheric style reminiscent of

spy film The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a film genre, genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many Jame ...

soundtracks and yearning vocals from Gibbons. It was met with critical acclaim and commercial success, becoming a landmark album in the emerging

trip-hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

genre. However, the band disliked being associated with the term. Their two other studio albums, '' Portishead'' (1997) and ''

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

'' (2008), received similar acclaim. Portishead have also released the live album ''

Roseland NYC Live ''Roseland NYC Live'' is a live album by English electronic music band Portishead. It was released on 2 November 1998 by Go! Beat. A PAL format VHS video was released the same year, with a DVD version following four years later. Although the Ne ...

'' (1998).

History

Formation and ''Dummy'' (1991–1995)

and

formed the band after meeting during a coffee break at an Enterprise Allowance course in

in February 1991. They took their name from their "dreary home town" Portishead, situated some to the west of Bristol. They soon recorded "It Could Be Sweet", their first song for their debut album. They then met

while they were recording at the Coach House Studios in Bristol, and Utley heard the first song Barrow and Gibbons had recorded, and began to exchange ideas on music. The resulting first album by Portishead, '' Dummy'', was released in 1994. The cover features a still from the band's own short film ''

To Kill a Dead Man ''To Kill a Dead Man'' is a short film made in 1994 by the trip hop group Portishead. The film is a spy movie which revolves around an assassination and its aftermath. The film is featured in the bonus section on the DVD version of '' Roselan ...

''. At this time, Portishead was a duo of Barrow and Gibbons. Utley (who co-produced the album, performed on nine of the songs, and co-wrote eight) became an official band member shortly after its release. Despite the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States (where it sold more than 150,000 copies even before the band toured there).

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curri ...

''AllMusic''. Retrieved 28 December 2007 ''Dummy'' was positively described by the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' as "musique noire for a movie not yet made". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' praised its music as " Gothic hip-hop". ''Dummy'' spawned three singles: " Numb", "

Sour Times "Sour Times" is a song by English trip hop group Portishead, from their debut album, '' Dummy'' (1994). It was written by all three members of the band and released as a single by Go! Beat Records in August 1994, accompanied by three bonus tr ...

", and " Glory Box", and won the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

in 1995. The success of the album saw the band nominated for Best British Newcomer at the 1995 Brit Awards.Portishead BRITs Profile
BRIT Awards Ltd. Retrieved 21 November 2012 ''Dummy'' was ranked number 419 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the

500 Greatest Albums of All Time 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

. The album is often considered one of the greatest

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

albums to date and is a milestone in the definition of the genre.

''Portishead'' and hiatus (1996–2004)

After their initial success, Portishead took a break from the spotlight and touring until their second album, '' Portishead'', was released in 1997. The album's sound differed from ''Dummy'', characterised as "grainy and harsher", with increased use of live instrumentation and less reliance on sampling. Three singles, " All Mine", " Over" and " Only You" were released, the first one achieving a Top 10 placing in the UK. In 1997, the band performed a one-off show with strings at the

Roseland Ballroom The Roseland Ballroom was a multipurpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's Theater District, New York, theater district, on 52nd Street (Manhattan), West 52nd Street in Manhattan ...

in New York City; primarily featuring recordings from the show, the live album, ''

'', includes orchestral arrangements of the group's songs and was released in 1998. In 1999, Portishead recorded the song " Motherless Child" with Tom Jones for his album '' Reload''. A DVD of Portishead's Roseland Ballroom performance, with substantial extra material including many early musical videos, was released in 2002. For the next few years, the band members concentrated on solo projects and other pursuits.

''Third'' (2005–2008)

In February 2005, the band appeared live for the first time in seven years at the Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol. Around that time, Barrow revealed that the band was in the process of writing its third album. In August 2006, the band posted two new tracks on its

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 ...

page (called "Key Bored 299 03" and "Greek Jam"), described by Barrow as "doodles". Around the same time, Portishead covered

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

's "Un Jour Comme un Autre (Requiem for Anna)" on the tribute album ''

Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited ''Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited'' is a tribute album to the works of late French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. First released on Virgin Records in 2006, it consists of English language cover versions of Gainsbourg songs, performed by a dive ...

''. On 2 October 2007, Portishead stated that the new album ''

'' had been mixed and was nearly complete, and was due for release in early April 2008. The release was later pushed to 28 April. On 8 and 9 December 2007, the band curated the

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released as the band's debut single in 1966. The song is from their 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the so ...

festival in

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and close to the Exmoor National Park. T ...

, England. The festival featured their first full live sets in nearly 10 years. They premiered five tracks from the new album: "Silence", "Hunter", " The Rip", "We Carry On", and " Machine Gun". On 21 January 2008, a European tour to support the album was announced, together with a headline spot at the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Coachella (officially called the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and sometimes known as Coachella Festival) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colora ...

on 26 April 2008, their only U.S. date on the tour. Beth Gibbons - Portishead

''Third'' was made available on Last.fm the week before release, attracting 327,000 listeners in just under 24 hours. It was the first time Last.fm had made an album available before its official release date. The album was released on 29 April 2008 to coincide with the band's appearance at Coachella. On 18 May 2008, Barrow expressed Portishead's enthusiasm for recording new material on their website's blog, stating that he "can't wait to write some new tunes". Adrian Utley - Portishead - 2

Later work (2009–present)

On 28 September 2009, Barrow announced "big plans" for a new project with a new angle, hinting that an album could arrive as soon as late 2010. Whilst the album had yet to materialise, on 9 December 2009, the band released the song " Chase the Tear" for Human Rights Day to raise money for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

UK. Additionally, on 3 December 2008, Universal Music Japan reissued the albums ''Dummy'' and ''Portishead'' in limited edition on SHM-CD. Geoff Barrow - Portishead - Roskilde Festival 2011

Geoff Barrow - Portishead - Roskilde Festival 2011

During Summer 2011, Portishead performed at a number of festivals in Europe, including, Pohoda Festival,

Exit Festival Exit (stylized in all caps; ) is a summer music festival which is held at the Petrovaradin Fortress in Novi Sad, Serbia. Founded in 2000, it has twice won the Best Major Festival award at the European Festivals Awards, for 2013 and 2017. EXIT has ...

, Benicàssim Festival in Spain,

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiva ...

, Paleo Festival,

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

, the

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

/Southside Festivals in Germany, and the Super Bock Super Rock music festival. The band also headlined and curated the line-up for two

music festivals entitled ''I'll Be Your Mirror'', in London at Alexandra Palace on 23 and 24 July. The second took place in Asbury Park, New Jersey, from 30 September – 2 October. Barrow stated that he realised a "boyhood fantasy" when

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a me ...

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

joined the band onstage at the "ATP I'll Be Your Mirror" festival curated by Portishead in Asbury Park, NJ in October 2011. He contributed his verse from the Public Enemy song "

Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song on the American hip hop group Public Enemy's 1988 album, ''It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back''. It was released as a single in 1989. The song tells the story of a conscientious objector who ...

" over Portishead's single "Machine Gun". Portishead then visited several cities in North America, including New York, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Seattle, Vancouver, and Denver during October. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' hailed the concert and noted: "horror-movie accents—Gothic organ, guitar lines thick with menacing reverb, spooky theremin—ensured a certain darkness". They finished their tour with a jaunt to Australia and New Zealand. Barrow stated in a ''Rolling Stone'' interview that he would begin work on his portion of the album in January 2012, jokingly pointing out that it could be another decade before a new album is released. In 2013, the band headlined the Other Stage at the Glastonbury Music festival and embarked on a European tour. In summer 2014, they played several concerts around Europe. 2015 saw Portishead continue to perform live, playing festivals such as fib (Benicassim, Spain), Latitude (Southwold, Suffolk, UK), and the Montreux Jazz Festival (Montreux, Switzerland). Additionally, Portishead produced a cover of

ABBA ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...

's song "

SOS SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, originally established for maritime use. In formal notation SOS is written with an overscore line (), to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" a ...

" for the soundtrack to the movie '' High-Rise'' which had a Gala screening at the London Film Festival on 9 October 2015. In 2016, the band won an

Ivor Novello Award 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 ...

for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. On 22 June 2016, Portishead released a video for "SOS" that recontextualized the song in the wake of the then-recent

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

of member of parliament Jo Cox and the

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

vote. On 2 May 2022, Portishead performed for the first time in seven years at O2 Academy Bristol. Organized by War Child UK, the concert benefited refugees and children affected by the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

. Lead singer Beth Gibbons would also appear on rapper

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

's song "Mother I Sober" from the album '' Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers'', released on 13 May. In 2023, Portishead reissued ''Roseland NYC Live.'' The new tracklist includes previously omitted songs and restores other tracks which had been replaced with alternate versions on the 1998 album. Gibbons released her debut solo album, '' Lives Outgrown'', in 2024.

Style and influences

Portishead's music was influenced by a wide range of singers and composers. Gibbons's voice has been compared to singer

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

. Utley mentioned the spaghetti western guitar composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

; he said that " orricone's''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, literally "''The good, the ugly, the bad''") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

'' is the sort of soundtrack that I love".

Members

Current members *

– vocals, production *

– piano, keyboards,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s, programming, drums, production *

– guitar, bass guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, programming, production Recurring collaborators * Dave McDonald –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, production * Clive Deamer – drums

Discography

* '' Dummy'' (1994) * '' Portishead'' (1997) * ''

'' (2008)

Awards and nominations

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result !! Ref. , - , rowspan=5, 1995 ,

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

, '' Dummy'' , Album of the Year , , - ,

NME Awards The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine ''NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding o ...

, rowspan=4, Themselves , Best Dance Act , , , - ,

MTV Europe Music Awards The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

, Best New Act , , , - ,

Edison Award The Edison Award is an annual Dutch music prize awarded for outstanding achievements in the music industry. It is comparable to the American Grammy Award. The Edison award itself is a bronze replica of a statuette of Thomas Edison, designed by ...

s , Best International Dance/Rap , , - , Brit Awards , British Breakthrough Act , , , - , 1997 , GAFFA Awards (Denmark) , rowspan=2,

, Best Foreign Female Act , , , - , 1998 , Žebřík Music Awards , Best International Female , , , - , 1999 , Online Music Awards , rowspan=4, Themselves , Best Alternative Fansite , , , - , rowspan=5, 2008 , rowspan=6, Rober Awards Music Prize , Best Band , , rowspan=2, , - , Cutting Edge , , - , Best Electronica , , , - , ''

'' , Album of the Year , , , - , " The Rip" , Single of the Year , , , - , 2011 , rowspan=2, Themselves , Best Live Artist , , , - , rowspan=3, 2016 ,

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 ...

, Outstanding Contribution to British Music , , , - , Music Week Sync Awards , rowspan=2, "

" , Film Soundtrack , , - , Rober Awards Music Poll , Best Cover Version , ,

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control English electronic music groups English alternative rock groups English experimental rock groups Trip hop groups Downtempo musicians English musical trios Go! Beat artists Island Records artists Mercury Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in England Alternative rock groups from Bristol Female-fronted musical groups