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Elliott James Murphy (born March 16 1949 in New York, Long Island, New York) is an American rock singer-songwriter, novelist, producer and journalist living in Paris.
BiographyIn true rock 'n roll fashion Elliott James Murphy Jr. was born in Mercy Hospital, Rockville Center, New York in 1949 to a successful show business family. Mother Josephine was a former actress while father Elliott Sr. was the well-known impresario whose multi-faceted Aquashow ran all through the 1950's on the site of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The spectacular show was staged in an Art Deco outdoor theatre and featured diving clowns, ballet swimmers, jugglers, comedians and The Duke Ellington Orchestra. Later, Elliott Sr. opened the Sky Club in Roosevelt Field, Long Island not far from where Charles Lindbergh took off for his historic flight to Europe. The Sky Club was a politically connected restaurant/private club hosting such famous politicians of the time as Bobby Kennedy and Nelson Rockefeller. But more impressive to the young Elliott were the Sky Club's dance soirees, which featured The Ronettes, Jay and the Americans and The Seeds.
In addition to his music Murphy has written for Rolling Stone, Spin, Mucchio Selvaggio and various European magazines and has published Cold & Electric, a semi-autobiographical novel, in French, German and Spanish editions as well as two short story collections (The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Where the Women Are Naked And The Men Are Rich) and in [[2003] Café Notes (Hachette, France). In a recent Spanish TV appearance he said, "Literature is my religion and Rock and Roll is my addiction." In 2005 he published his neo-western novel Poetic Justice(Hachette, France) with an Italian version expected in 2007. The novel has attracted interest from film producers as well. His recent albums Beauregard, Rainy Season, Soul Surfing and La Terre Commune (a duo with Iain Matthews) have marked a renaissance in his recording career with many critics calling his double album Strings Of The Storm his finest to date. With French guitar wizard Olivier Durand he tours constantly, playing well over 100 shows a year all over Europe and to sum up their 10 years together is Never Say Never...The Best of 1995-2005 a CD + bonus DVD package of performances, videos and a discography showing all 26 album covers was released in 2005 which also saw the publication in France of Poetic Justice, Elliott's neo-western novel that will soon be translated into Italian and (hopefully) English. The year ended with Murphy Gets Muddy an album of 10 classic blues covers and 5 Murphy blues originals. In early 2007 his long awaited new album Coming Home Again will be released in Europe. Of the 20 Elliott Murphy albums that are currently rated by All Music Guide 11 received over 4 stars. DiscographyAlbums and EPs:
Live:
Other related musiciansBeside his close friend Bruce Springsteen and co-author Ian Matthews, many musicians have often appeared in Elliott Murphy albums as guests. Amongst those:
His current backing band, sometimes referred to as The Normandy Allstars, is formed by
Taping-friendly policyElliott is one of many artists who have issued a "non commercial tapers-friendly" official policy. His shows may be freely recorded and spread as long as it's done in an entirely non-commercial way. Many bootlegs have always existed of his concerts, mostly of great quality. Elliott's live show are unique in energy and charm, and, usually, such qualities are faithfully reflected on the recordings, to the point that a minority of the fans regard (but this is a personal opinion of them) them as even better than the official live recordings. Sound and InstrumentationEven if Elliott himself is not a guitar wizard, his electric albums (up to the 90's) always had a "signature sound" given by his faithful Stratocaster. Since he started working with guitarist Olivier Durand in 1996, his sound has dramatically turned much more acoustic for two reasons: the acoustic set is easier to set up allowing better results for an artist who play relatively small (100-300 places) venues and who plays a lot (100+) of gigs a year, and Olivier Durand is a true guitar virtuoso who regularly impresses audiences with the sound of his acoustic guitar who is now a trademark of Elliott's music. After a short time using Guild guitars (mostly on the Beauregard album) he started using Taylor guitars for they uniquely versatile sound. He always played harmonica, traditionally the classic Hohner and more recently Tombo's Lee Oskar. References
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