Tom McRae
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| Tom McRae | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jeremy Thomas McRae Blackall |
| Born | 19 March 1969 |
| Website | www.tommcrae.com |
Jeremy Thomas McRae Blackall (born 19 March 1969), known commonly by his artist name, Tom McRae is a singer-songwriter from England.
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[edit] Career
The son of two Church of England vicars,[1] he grew up in Chelmsford. McRae sang in the church choir and as a teen would borrow his mother's guitar. [2] Initially trying to emulate his heroes, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Kate Bush, U2, he began to write his own songs and develop his own style. Age 18, he went to London Guildhall University to study politics and government,[3] and was soon forming bands. A chance meeting with recording engineer & record producer Roger Bechirian, (Elvis Costello, Squeeze, Carlene Carter, The Undertones), led to a working relationship. Bechirian helped to shape McRae's soft-spoken sound, which later gained McRae a deal with Dave Bates's db Records, (db/BMG records). In 2000, director Scott Walker chose McRae to perform at the highly acclaimed Meltdown (festival) in the Royal Festival Hall. [4] McRae's confessional, self-titled debut appeared in autumn 2001, during the height of the new acoustic movement and earned him comparisons to Nick Drake and Bob Dylan. Critics raved and McRae gained nominations for the Mercury Prize and the BRIT Award for Best Newcomer. By then, McRae was working with Oliver ("Oli") Kraus, cellist, and in 2003 was joined by Olli Cunningham on keyboards. McRae's second album, Just Like Blood, was released in the U.K. in February 2003 produced by Ben Hillier, whose credits include Elbow, Martha Wainwright and Blur. In 2004, McRae was nominated for a GRAMMY Award. Following this, he moved to California, where he wrote and recorded his next album, All Maps Welcome, which was released in May 2005.
In 2005, McRae supported Tori Amos on the UK leg of her Original Sinsuality tour. Having played many times in the Hotel Café in Los Angeles and having been one of the artists on the first U.S Hotel Cafe Tour, McRae brought the Tour to the UK in 2006, introducing his fans to many other singer-songwriters which most notably include Steve Reynolds, Joe Purdy, Cary Brothers, and Jim Bianco. The Hotel Cafe Tour saw the artists participating in each others' songs. The tour also featured a variety of special guests, including Kathryn Williams, Justin Currie, Colin MacIntyre and Aqualung.
McRae's fourth album, King of Cards, was recorded in Suffolk and released in May 2007.
In spring 2008, McRae once again brought the Hotel Cafe Tour to the UK, and for the first time, also took it to continental Europe. This time he was accompanied by Cary Brothers, Brian Wright, Catherine Feeny, Greg Laswell, Jim Bianco and Jason (or Dr.) Kanakis. Again, there were special guests at each location, including Eddi Reader and Turin Brakes.
Tom was a guest vocalist for band "Wills and the Willing" at a number of festivals in the UK in summer 2008 and had a headline slot at the Offset festival in August.[5] In autumn 2008 he toured the North Eastern states of America and Canada. His "Alphabet of Hurricanes" Tour takes off in UK and Europe this September.[6]
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Tom McRae October 2, 2000 (Arista)
- Just Like Blood U.K.: February 18, 2003 U.S.: September 21, 2004 (Nettwerk)
- All Maps Welcome U.K.: May 2, 2005 U.S.: May 31, 2005 (RCA)
- King of Cards May 14, 2007 (V2)
[edit] Live EPs and Albums
- The strongroom Sessions 2007 (V2)
- Tom McRae Live 2007
[edit] Other projects
McRae contributed music to the soundtracks of the movies Uno (2004) and Unsuitable (2005). And his music has featured in the film "The Bubble" by Gal Uchovsky. He also contributed a strikingly melancholic cover version of "Wonderful Christmastime" to a Christmas compilation CD: "Maybe This Christmas Tree" produced in 2004.
In August 2005, McRae visited the country of Niger in Africa at the request of The Observer and wrote an article about the famine titled, "This is not just another act of God - this is ingrained poverty".
"Lipstick", a single by "Wills and the Willing" is due to be released on July 7 2008. McRae provides the vocals for parts of the song which he wrote after hearing the original material, which had been written in response to the London bombings.[7]
McRae was once cast in an independent film as Gram Parson's ghost. Funding for the film fell through and all that remains is his screen test. [8]
His song "São Paulo Rain" was featured in a 6th season episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The episode is entitled "Entropy."
His song "Set The Story Straight" was featured in a 2nd season episode of Kyle XY.
His song "Still Lost" was featured in the 3rd season episode "Electric Kiss" of the Tv show Kyle XY.
His song "I Ain't Scared of Lightning" was featured in the second season of British drama Skins.
His song "Karaoke Soul" appears in the American television series Rescue Me and is featured in its soundtrack.
His songs "2nd Law" and "You Cut Her Hair" were part of the sountrack for the film Jekyll + Hyde.
[edit] References
- ^ interview with Incendiary Magazine
- ^ video of Tom McRae interview on showmehowtoplay.com
- ^ "Tom McRae biography at Allmusic". http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&searchlink=TOM. Retrieved on 2006-12-02.
- ^ press release on undo.net
- ^ Tom McRae interview with Gibson's guitars
- ^ Tom McRae official website
- ^ Wills and the Willing myspace page
- ^ interview with Gibson's guitars
[edit] External links
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