Tomorrows guests bio... Duke Special is an artist aptly named. Dynamic, musically ambitious & bracingly eccentric, with his inimitable style and lush musicality. Hailing from Belfast with a sound that is self-confessed “hobo-chic”, Duke Special - AKA the endlessly inventive Peter Wilson - is once heard, never forgotten. Blissfully at home in his own alluring genre of beautifully bruised romanticism, Duke Special inhabits a world unlike any other - a world filled with vaudeville-esque sensibility, sing-a-longs and addictive melodies . Those who know him for the platinum album “Songs from the deep forest”, including the hit song “Freewheel” and other radio mainstays like “Sweet sweet kisses” and “Last night I nearly died” may be surprised by the breadth of his work. Duke Special’s immense creative talents have seen him involved in projects as diverse as writing the theme tune for Sesame Tree (the Northern Ireland edition of Sesame Street where he also got to sing with The Muppets) to writing the music for and appearing in Deborah Warner’s critically acclaimed 2009 production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children at London’s National Theatre. He then recorded an album of the twelve songs from the play, which was to form part of his ambitious project for 2010 - the release of a 3 CD box-set, The Stage, A Book & The Silver Screen. This box-set also included a 5-track EP called Huckleberry Finn, the first ever recording of an unfinished musical written by Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson based on the Mark Twain classic, and the album The Silent World of Hector Mann, featuring 12 songs based on The Book of Illusions by contemporary American author Paul Auster. In 2011, he presented a TV documentary for RTE in Ireland on the life and times of 50s megastar Ruby Murray. This was broadcast in January, and accompanied by 2 orchestral concerts in Dublin and Cork, showcasing Duke’s interpretations of Ruby’s songs. He also released a charity single of recordings of 3 of Duke’s favourite Ruby songs, donating all the profits to the Irish charity Depaul Ireland (depaulireland.org). Also that year Duke Special was commissioned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for their exhibition on the photographers Stieglitz, Steichen, and Strand. He was invited to write a series of original songs based on the photographs featured in the exhibition, which he then performed at the Museum’s concert hall (and later in London, Dublin and Belfast) to a backdrop of the photographs. The songs were released on CD as “Under the dark cloth.” Of the 2012 album “Oh Pioneer”, Duke said Wooden Fingers Puppet Theatre Company, The Bank of Ideas, a banned Iranian childrens book about a fish, a pirate who wants to retire, a bar man who hears peoples stories whether he likes it or not, the human condition and late night conversations with friends on the roof of the Oh Yeah building in Belfast about your dreams are just a few of the ingredients to go into Oh Pioneer.” In 2013, Duke toured the songs of Harry Nilsson and also set up Duke Specials Gramophone Club. From the decadence of the 1920s Jazz Age, the pure glamour of the 1930s Dance Band Era and the nostalgia of the War Years, exciting Rhythm n Blues, Jumpin Jive, exotic Latin and Calypso beats through to the Rock n Roll explosion of the 1950s, Duke Special will run the gamut of 78rpm DJ-ing.... He is currently working on a new musical and a new solo album. “Its impossible to fault Duke Special” EVENING STANDARD “Magically uplifting” EVENING STANDARD “This is music of magic and soul” Telegraph “ Ambitious, shamelessly romantic, highly melodic” WORD “ Duke Special knows what he does and does it well” WORD “Duke is in a world of his own” INDEPENDENT A stunning album, pure and simple, from a musician in complete control of his gift and with lots more to offer. Gigwise “The Duke’s songs are as comforting as chestnuts roasting on an open fire” THE SUN “Unique and stunning” THE SUN “Sumptuous, symphonic pop anthem, courtesy of dreadlocked Irishman who sounds like The Flaming Lips crossed with Rufus Wainwright” Q “ the duke’s cowboy-gone-vaudeville dreampop is pitched between Rufus Wainright and the Divine Comedy” UNCUT “ ..his epic battles of the heart and tussles with the bottle are served up with stylish theatrical dressings” UNCUT “…a singular talent wins through” UNCUT “duke’s endearing and evocative talent reaches full bloom on his debut” UNCUT “ Emotive and endearing” GQ “ …his live shows are simply astonishing” London Lite “Duke Special could bring a riot to a stand still…very few artists are as inspirational as Wilson” London Lite “ This debut is an extraordinary accomplishment in its aspiration and completeness” CLASH “ A collection that could hail from any Twentieth Century such is its timeless beauty and easy pace” CLASH “ Like fellow timeless travellers Arcade Fire and prime Van Morrison the songs favour an otherwordly orchestral arrangement” CLASH “ A debut album signposting a major new talent on the landscape” CLASH ‘…a beautifully crafted debut, which collects gravity-defying songs of extraordinary grace and guile...Freewheel, with heartbreaking falsetto flurries, is the song Neil Finn always wanted to write’ **** UNCUT “Last night I nearly died” has the kind of harmonies for which Brian Wilson would give his sanity, or failing that, his right arm…few artists emerge with a sound they can honestly claim is theirs and theirs alone, but at times this record sounds like nothing that has gone before it” WORD ‘the Duke’s honeyed tones are perfect for these honest, passionate songs about love and loss.’ **** The Independent Albums • The 3 Eps (Adventures in Gramophone 2005) • Songs from the Deep Forest (V2, 2007) • I Never Thought This Day Would Come (V2, 2008) • Little Revolutions (Adventures in Gramophone, 2009) • Huckleberry Finn (Adventures in Gramophone, 2009) • Mother Courage and Her Children (Adventures in Gramophone, 2010) • The Silent World of Hector Mann (Adventures in Gramophone, 2010) • Little Revolutions Two (Adventures in Gramophone, 2011) • Under the Dark Cloth (Adventures in Gramophone 2011) • Oh Pioneer (Adventures in Gramophone 2012) dukespecial
Posted on: Sun, 03 Aug 2014 11:21:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015