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Damien Rice
Damien Rice at The Troubadour nightclub, 2003
Background information
Birth name	Damien Rice
Born	7 December 1973 (1973-12-07) (age 34)
Origin	Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Genre(s)	Folk, indie, Folk rock
Instrument(s)	Singing, guitar, piano
Associated acts	Juniper, Bell X1, Lisa Hannigan
Website	www.damienrice.com

Damien Rice (born 7 December 1973) is an Irish rock singer. So far, he has released two studio albums: O in 2002, and 9 in 2006.

Early career

He was born to George and Maureen Rice and raised in Celbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.¹ Rice was a member of the rock band Juniper. Having released the singles "The World Is Dead" and "Weatherman" in Ireland during 1998, the band was due to record their first full album for Polygram in 1999. However, Rice became disenchanted with the label and left the band to pursue a solo career. His Juniper band mates later became Bell X1. Following the split, Rice moved to rural Italy and busked around Europe until he was able to form a band and resume gigging in Ireland. Regular members of this band were cellist Vyvienne Long; percussionist Tom Osander (aka Tomo), a member of the 1990s jam band God Street Wine; and bassist Shane Fitzsimons. Female vocals were provided by Lisa Hannigan. The lineup of Rice's band has remained the same with the exception of the departure of Hannigan and Osander in 2007.²

Mainstream success

Thanks to David Arnold, his second cousin, Rice was able to record O, which was released in 2003. O was dedicated to fellow Irish musician Mic Christopher. The album was a strong commercial success and won the Shortlist Music Prize.³

Three years later, following extensive promotion of O in Ireland and further commercial success worldwide, Rice released his second studio album 9 in 2006. ⁴ The album was recorded in 2004 and 2005, and released on November 3 in Ireland, on November 6 in Europe and the rest of the world and lastly on November 14 in North America.

Rice has also recorded an old Juniper track, "Crosseyed Bear" (originally titled "Jewellery Box"), for the new War Child album.

2007 concert appearances

Rice played on the Friday night at the Glastonbury Festival 2007, in the Acoustic Tent. On 1 July 2007, Rice played at the Rock Werchter festival in Belgium. On 7 July 2007 Rice performed with David Gray at the UK leg of Live Earth at Wembley Stadium, London. Rice played the backing rhythm to Gray's "Babylon" before Rice played "Blower's Daughter" (Gray now doing the rhythm). The pair then finished with a cover of "Que Sera Sera". On 8 July Rice played at the T in the Park music event in Scotland. He also headlined the Latitude Festival in Suffolk on 12 July and the V Festival at Weston Park in Stafford, Staffordshire on 18 August and at Hylands Park in Chelmsford, Essex on 19 August. Another performance was at Osheaga Festival in Montreal on 8 September.

Rice also headlined his first outdoor show in Ireland⁵ in Marlay Park on 25 August, backed by Fionn Regan, Willy Mason, Guillemots, and KT Tunstall.

He made a number of appearances in North America through autumn, called An Evening with Damien Rice. These shows included a second guitarist, bassist, cellist, and a drummer to support Damien. There were no supporting acts on this tour.

In popular culture

Rice's songs have appeared featured several times on popular films and television shows, adding to his mainstream success. "The Blower's Daughter" is a popular song for figure skating, in particular pair skating. Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison have used it for two seasons and Jamie Sale and David Pelletier have used it in professional competitions.⁶⁷ "The Blower's Daughter" and "Cold Water" featured prominently in the 2004 film Closer.⁸ "Cold Water" was also featured in the 2003 film I am David,⁹ the 2005 film Stay, the HBO film The Girl in the Café,¹⁰ and on the NBC dramas ER¹¹ and The Black Donnellys.¹² "Cannonball" also featured in The Black Donnellys¹² and the 2004 film In Good Company ¹³ as well as in an episode of The OC, as well as in the international show, Spring Waltz. "Delicate" was featured on the ABC dramas Alias, Lost, the Showtime series Huff, the Fox drama House,¹⁴, and the 2004 British film Dear Frankie.¹⁵ "Older Chests" was featured on the NBC drama Crossing Jordan¹⁶ and in CBS science-fiction drama Jericho. His song "9 Crimes" appeared featured during the episode "From a Whisper to a Scream" on the ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy.¹⁷, on Spin 1038, Channel 6, and on CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. "Grey Room" appeared featured on One Tree Hill,¹⁴ in an episode of Criminal Minds, and on an episode of House.¹⁸ Selections from "Eskimo" appeared featured in the 2005 Warren Miller ski movie, Higher Ground. "The Blower's Daughter" could be heard in the Fox criminal drama Bones, and segments of the single "9 Crimes" appeared featured in an episode of the CBS post-apocalyptic drama Jericho and also in the computer-generated film Shrek the Third (it was not included in the accompanying soundtrack, however). ¹⁹ Rice recorded a live session at Abbey Road Studios in October 2006 for Live from Abbey Road. His performance was screened in an episode alongside those of Jamiroquai and the Goo Goo Dolls. "Grey Room" featured in the film trailer for 2007's Reservation Road but was not featured in the movie. The song "Blower's Daughter" also appeared in an episode of the short-lived series Hidden Palms.

In addition to his music featured in films and TV shows, Rice has been a guest performer on such shows as The Ellen DeGeneres Show (December 6, 2006), Late Night with Conan O'Brien (2006), The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (multiple appearances) and the Late Show with David Letterman (2004).

Damien was given "special thanks" in the end credits of the Academy Award winning 2007 Irish musical film Once. The film starred collaborator and fellow Irish musician Glen Hansard.

Charity

Rice is known for his charity work. He has helped the Freedom Campaign and the U.S. Campaign for Burma to free Burmese democracy movement leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is presently being subjected to her third term of house arrest in Rangoon by the Burmese military junta.²⁰ Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined to her home since September 2003. Rice and Hannigan recorded a charity song, campaigning for her release, called "Unplayed Piano", which they performed at the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo. In addition, Rice has links to various charitable non-governmental organizations.²¹

In 2008 he participated in a music album called Songs for Tibet, which is an initiative to support Tibet, Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso and to underline the human rights situation in Tibet. The album was issued on 5 August via iTunes and on 19 August in music stores around the world.²²

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other contributions

• Eklektikos Live (2005) - "Volcano"

Collaborations

• Be Yourself, Jerry Fish and the Mudbug Club (September 2002)
• Skylarkin', Mic Christopher (November 2002)
• "Get The Party Started" (cover version with Lisa Hannigan on Even Better than the Real Thing Vol. 1) (2003)
• Burn the Maps, The Frames (September 2004)
• The Beekeeper, Tori Amos (February 2005)
• "Don't Explain", Herbie Hancock, Lisa Hannigan (August 2005)
• Live At The Olympia Aslan (2005 - official bootleg)
• The Swell Season, Glen Hansard (April 2006)
• "Que Sera, Sera", David Gray on Live Earth - The Concerts for a Climate in Crisis (November 2007)
• Chromed Up, 50 Cent, at Night Shift: Live from Bonnaroo Festival (Bonnaroo Festival 2008)
• Rice and Lisa Hannigan appear on Herbie Hancock's Then and Now - The Definitive Herbie Hancock, singing "Don't Explain"²³
• To Love Somebody (BeeGees cover), Ray Lamontagne

Record labels

Damien releases albums under his record label Heffa (originally named DRM) in Ireland. For album releases in North America, they are handled by Vector Records. Record releases in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world are handled by 14th Floor Records (through Warner Music).²⁴

See also

• Juniper - Damien Rice's former band
• The Cake Sale - Charitable album featuring Damien Rice

References

External links

• Official website
• Label website
• Eskimo Friends - Fansite
• An early career profile and interview
• Fabchannel.com - free Paradiso concert
• Damien Rice collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Damien Rice's Official MySpace Page
• Nine Crimes.it - An Italian Fansite