Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation;[1]BBC journalist Mark Savage called him "one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists".[2] He was voted the 24th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a national 2010 BBC poll[3] and is often seen performing with a 1961 cherry red Gibson ES-355 TD SV (Stereo Varitone) with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.
Butler was born to Irish parents in North London on 1 May 1970.[4] He spent his summers in his parents' hometown of Dún Laoghaire and in an interview given in 2022, he reflected on his upbringing and Irish immigration to Britain.
I don't know if it's the case now much, but definitely up to the generation where I was from. Just because of the migration in the sixties, I guess. That was the big thing in the '60s, and we all ended up in Manchester, Liverpool or North London. Places wherever the trains came into: Holyhead. Growing up, pretty much everyone I knew was Irish.[4]
The youngest of three boys, Butler credits his oldest brother with inspiring his interest in music.[5] The first vinyl record he bought was The Smiths' Hand in Glove, having become a fan of the band after hearing John Peel play Reel Around the Fountain on his BBC radio show.[5] When he was eight, Butler started learning to play the violin, something which he later recalled he "used to get beaten up and spat at on the bus for."[6] His introduction to the guitar came after his brothers lost interest in a "terrible electric guitar".[6] Butler used it to play along with Johnny Marr's guitar parts to The Smiths' songs, eventually learning each one note-by-note and becoming proficient without ever having a formal guitar lesson.[6]
Career
Suede (1989-1994)
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He first achieved fame in 1992 as the guitarist with Suede, forging a songwriting partnership with Brett Anderson. He co-wrote and played guitars or piano on every recording until 1994,[citation needed] when he exited Suede.[7]
Butler then released two solo albums under his own name, People Move On and Friends and Lovers, on Creation Records, yielding the hit single "Stay". In 2001 Butler teamed up with McAlmont for a second McAlmont & Butler album, Bring it Back, and they toured the UK after the release of two singles, "Falling" and "Bring it Back".[citation needed] In March 2024, Butler announced his third solo album, Good Grief, due for release in May 2024.[8]
The Tears (2004-2006)
In 2004 Butler formed a new band with Brett Anderson, The Tears, based on the same style that yielded their first successes with Suede in the early 1990s. The Tears released their debut LP, Here Come the Tears, produced by Butler, in June 2005. Singles include "Refugees", which reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart,[9] and "Lovers".
In 2005 he was introduced to Welsh singer Duffy, and contributed to her top-selling debut album Rockferry—it was the best selling album of 2008 in the UK—which won the Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy Award in 2008.[11][12]
In 2009 Butler co-wrote/produced/played on tracks by The Veils,[13] Tommy Reilly,[14] Jonathan Jeremiah,[15]Kate Jackson and Catherine A.D who now performs as The Anchoress.[16] He also commenced production work on Kate Nash's second album My Best Friend Is You in mid-2009.[17]
Over the 2011–2012 period, Butler produced albums for Frankie & The Heartstrings and continued working with Daley on his forthcoming Days & Nights album, the title track of which was co-written and produced by Butler. He also co-wrote and produced Texas's comeback album The Conversation. Butler again worked at Studio 355 for these recordings.[citation needed]
In 2013 Butler worked with the group Teleman, to finish their debut album; worked on songs with London group Flowers; and collaborated with Paloma Faith and Fyfe Dangerfield.[citation needed] In June 2013, he formed an impromptu improvisational performance at the Sunderland record store run by Frankie & The Heartstrings. Alongside members of Warm Digits, Field Music and 1990s, the impromptu group played a completely unrehearsed and improvised set.[citation needed]
In August 2013, Butler played two shows at The Slaughtered Lamb in London, UK, accompanying Ben Watt on electric guitar, resulting in a touring and recording collaboration spanning 2 albums and several years of live shows across the globe.
In October 2013, new group Trans released the red EP, the first in a series of EPs for Rough Trade Records.[citation needed] Featuring tracks grown out of improvisational sessions that date back over a year, with Jackie McKeown, Paul Borchers and Igor Volk, the recordings were made at Studio 355. All sessions were improvised, recorded in their entirety and later edited with very few overdubs.
In May 2014, Butler organised two special McAlmont & Butler performances to raise funds for The Bobath Centre's work with children with cerebral palsy. The London shows at the Union Chapel and Islington Assembly Hall sold out, and the duo were accompanied by a full band that consisted of members of The Magic Numbers, Mako Sakamoto on drums and Sean Read on keyboards.[18]
In 2017, Butler produced the self-titled debut album of the New York band QTY. In November 2019, Pet Shop Boys released their second single "Burning The Heather" from their forthcoming album Hotspot, featuring acoustic guitar played by Bernard Butler. Acclaimed folk artist Sam Lee collaborated with Butler in 2019 resulting in his widely acclaimed "Old Wow" album and selected live shows which followed. Butler joined Lee's curated Earth Day live stream in May 2020 improvising remotely along to a live stream of nightingales singing in the Sussex forest. This was followed by the release of tracks from Roxanne De Bastion. In 2020 writer Pete Paphides' label Needle Mythology finally released the open collaboration with Catherine Anne Davies. The album "In Memory of My Feelings" compiled 10 songs drawn from the writing sessions begun in 2009 which Butler then pieced together and completed. Artwork was created in collaboration with acclaimed artist Eva Vermandel.
During 2021, Butler worked on a new Altered Images album with 1980s band members Clare Grogan and Stephen Lironi. According to Grogan, who announced the release in December 2021, the album would be released in August 2022, on Cooking Vinyl Records, with the name Mascara Streakz.[19][20][21][22]
On 15 April 2022, Butler and Irish actress Jessie Buckley released "The Eagle & The Dove", the lead single from their album.[23]For All Our Days That Tear the Heart was released on 17 June 2022.[24] The resulting album "For All Our Days That Tear The Heart" was released to widespread acclaim and resulted in a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize. In 2023 Butler completed Sam Lee's "Songdreaming" album and the debut from Irish band The Clockworks "Exit Strategy" He toured as 'Butler, Blake, Grant' alongside songwriters Norman Blake and James grant, a collaboration formed for the 2022 Celtic Connections. The trio continue to tour and have begun work on a debut record. In 2024 butler plans a series of live solo shows centred around a new record to be released in the summer.
Music in film and television
Butler created the soundtrack to the 1997 film The James Gang and played on the soundtrack of Velvet Goldmine, and in 2020 created the score to a BBC Horizon episode on Pluto.
Radio Host
Since 2017 Butler has hosted a radio show “BB & The King”. Broadcast live from North London via Boogaloo Radio each Friday, Bernard Butler and partner Mark Kingston bring 2 hours of music and conversation around an episodic theme. Each week is archived via a Mixcloud page.
Music Education
Butler collaborated in songwriting camps and sessions for Warner-Chappell Publishing. He conducts audience-led PreProduction events around the country for the Musicians Union. Butler is also a resident Lead Lecturer teaching the Songwriting BA degree course at BIMM London.[25]
Personal life
On 13 April 2014, Butler participated in the London Marathon to raise funds for children with cerebral palsy, described by Butler as one of the "worst starts in life". Butler explains:
The problem is it's getting harder for families to get funding for therapy and children aren't getting the specialist support they need. So I'm raising money for the charity's treatment fund to make sure that children get seen as early as possible when it will have the greatest impact.[26]
Butler is a proud Patron of the Bert Jansch Foundation. Set up in 2013, in the name of the legendary folk-guitarist and singer-songwriter, the Bert Jansch Foundation embraces the rich heritage of acoustic folk music and celebrates its creativity. Its charitable aims are to support young acoustic musicians with educational and early career opportunities.[27]
"When most people were just breathing, Bert was playing guitar. That sound really was his whole life; the vibrations of the strings were life-giving. The notes were like words and the whole sound a conversation."
Butler is also a Patron of the Music Venue Trust. Music Venue Trust is a UK Registered Charity which acts to protect, secure and improve UK Grassroots Music Venues for the benefit of venues, communities and upcoming artists.[28]
Awards
Butler won the Producer's Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards,[2] Producer of the Year at the 2008 Music Managers Forum Awards, was nominated for Best Producer at the 2009 Music Week Awards, and received a Grammy Award for work on Duffy's "Rockferry" which won the Best Album award for 2009. His collaborative album with Jessie Buckley ‘For All Our Days That Tear That Tear The Heart’ was nominated as one of the Albums Of The Year by the Mercury Prize 2022.[29]
Suede are an English rock band formed in London in 1989 by singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Justine Frischmann, and bass player Mat Osman. Drawing inspiration from glam rock and post-punk, Suede were dubbed "The Best New Band in Britain" by Melody Maker in 1992, and attracted much attention from the British music press. The following year their debut album Suede went to the top of the UK Albums Chart, becoming the fastest-selling debut album in almost ten years. It won the Mercury Music Prize and helped foster 'Britpop' as a musical movement, though the band distanced themselves from the term.
The Tears were an English rock supergroup formed in 2004 by ex-Suede bandmates Brett Anderson and Bernard Butler, along with the former Delicatessen and Lodger members Will Foster (keyboardist), bassist Nathan Fisher, and Bernard Butler session drummer Makoto Sakamoto. The duo Anderson and Butler were a much anticipated reunion and music critics praised their first concerts and only album, Here Come the Tears. However, the project was short-lived as they disbanded in 2006, which allowed Anderson to focus on his solo career and the latter Suede's reformation in 2010, Butler became a full-time producer, and Foster worked as additional musician for The Fratellis since 2008.
Brett Lewis Anderson is an English singer best known as the lead singer and primary lyricist of the band Suede. After Suede disbanded in 2003, he fronted the Tears with former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler in 2004–2006, and released four solo albums on which he also played guitar and keyboards. Suede re-formed in 2010; they continue to record and tour.
McAlmont & Butler are an English rock/soul music duo, comprising singer David McAlmont and guitarist Bernard Butler.
Suede is the debut album by English alternative rock band Suede, released in March 1993 on Nude Records. It was recorded in London at Master Rock studios late 1992 and early 1993 and was produced by Ed Buller. At the time the fastest-selling debut album in British history in almost a decade, Suede debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart, won the 1993 Mercury Music Prize, and is often cited as one of the first Britpop records. Displaying a sound of Britishness and glam rock, its music and lyrical content has been compared to The Smiths and early David Bowie.
David Irving McAlmont is a British vocalist, essayist and art historian. He came to prominence in the 1990s as a singer, particularly through his collaboration with Bernard Butler. In the 2010s he returned to academia, working with the University of Leicester and the Architectural Association School of Architecture.
Here Come the Tears is the only studio album by English rock band the Tears. It was released on 6 June 2005 on Independiente. Frontman Brett Anderson and guitarist Bernard Butler had found success together earlier in Suede, with Butler leaving that band after just two albums. Suede's career was on pause when the two reunited for this project. In January 2004, the pair had begun recording music together in secrecy; they decided to form the Tears with bassist Nathan Fisher, drummer Makoto Sakamoto and keyboardist Will Foster. The band had accumulated 18 demos by June 2004, after which, they started recording the album. Sessions were held across various studios with Butler as the producer and finished by October 2004. Here Come the Tears is a pop album that evokes the work of David Bowie, and was compared to Suede's second studio album Dog Man Star (1994).
Thieves was a British pop duo active during the early 1990s. It was most notable for being the band on which both members – singer David McAlmont and multi-instrumentalist/producer Saul Freeman – based their subsequent musical careers.
"Yes" is the debut single of English music duo McAlmont & Butler, released on 15 May 1995 and later included on their debut album, The Sound Of... McAlmont & Butler. The soul ballad was their first UK hit, peaking at number eight on the UK Singles Chart, and remains their most successful single, selling over 200,000 copies in the United Kingdom to earn a silver sales certification. The song also charted in Ireland, reaching number 24, and in New Zealand, peaking at number 40. British magazine NME ranked the song at number 174 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2014.
"Mercy" is a song performed by the Welsh soul singer Duffy, released as the second single from her debut studio album, Rockferry (2008). Co-written by Duffy and Steve Booker and produced by Booker, it was released worldwide in 2008 to critical acclaim and unprecedented chart success. As Duffy's first international release, the song is credited with firmly establishing her career and is now considered her signature song. "Mercy" received comparisons to Duffy's previous single, "Rockferry". Critical reviewers of "Mercy" noted similarities between the song to releases by Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield and the Supremes, as well as contemporaries such as fellow British singer Amy Winehouse.
Aimée Anne Duffy is a Welsh singer, songwriter and actress. Her music style has been described as a mixture of soul, blue-eyed soul, pop rock, neo soul and pop music.
Rockferry is the debut studio album by Welsh singer Duffy, released on 3 March 2008 in the United Kingdom by A&M Records. It was released in the United States by Mercury Records. Taking four years to record the album, Duffy worked with several producers and writers including Bernard Butler, Steve Booker, Jimmy Hogarth, and Eg White. Primarily a soul recording musically, Rockferry is composed of ballads, torch songs, and up tempo songs in the style of 1960s pop music. It was well received by music critics, who praised the record's musical and lyrical depth and occasional darkness, Duffy's vocal performance, and the record's contemporary instrumentation and production which created a warm sound. Music critics favourably compared Duffy's work on Rockferry to the music of Dusty Springfield and Duffy's contemporary Amy Winehouse.
"Rockferry" is the debut single by Welsh singer Duffy, written by Duffy and Bernard Butler. It is the first track on the album of the same name. The music video for Rockferry was filmed in Porthmadog.
Jessie Buckley is an Irish actress and singer. The accolades she has received include a Laurence Olivier Award, and nominations for an Academy Award and three BAFTA Awards.
"Stepping Stone" is the fourth single by Welsh singer Duffy from her debut studio album, Rockferry. The single was officially released as both a digital download and CD single on 1 September 2008 in the United Kingdom. Although it followed the massive success of previous singles "Mercy" and "Warwick Avenue", it did not perform well in worldwide music charts. However, the single received widespread acclaim.
People Move On is the debut studio album of English singer-songwriter Bernard Butler that was released on 6 April 1998 through Creation Records. After a dispute with David McAlmont over the McAlmont & Butler project, Butler collaborated with various artists before starting his solo career. Following a brief period with Sony LRD in early 1996, by the end of that year, Butler had signed to Creation and switched managers from Geoff Travis to Gail Colson. Butler produced the sessions for People Move On at RAK and Air Studios, both in London, between February and July 1997. The album, which is described as a pop, rock, and folk release, has been compared to the work of Jeff Buckley, Neil Young, and Wilco.
Friends and Lovers is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Bernard Butler, released on 25 October 1999 through Creation Records. He released his debut studio album, People Move On, in early 1998; within a few months, Butler had accumulated enough material for his next release. Recorded between November 1998 and February 1999, Butler produced the sessions at RAK Studios in London, before moving to Chipping Norton Recording Studios in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, and finishing at Konk Studios in London. Described as a pop rock release, Friends and Lovers had been compared to the works of Mott the Hoople, Small Faces and Spooky Tooth.
Teleman are an English indie pop band formed in London in 2011. The group consists of Thomas Sanders, Pete Cattermoul (bass) and Hiro Ama (drums).
QTY is an American indie rock band from New York City, signed to Dirty Hit Records. The group originally consisted of singers and guitarists Dan Lardner and Alex Niemetz, as well as bassist Peter Baumann and drummer Alan Yuch.
For All Our Days That Tear the Heart is a collaborative album by Irish actress Jessie Buckley and former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler. Released on 17 June 2022 by EMI Records, it was preceded by the release of the singles "The Eagle & the Dove", "Seven Red Rose Tattoos", the title track "For All Our Days That Tear the Heart", and "Footnotes on the Map". The album debuted at No. 23 on the UK Albums Chart. It was shortlisted for the 2022 Mercury Prize.
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