Ed Harcourt

Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith (born 14 August 1977) is an English singer-songwriter.

To date, he has released ten studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles.

Harcourt was born Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith on 14 August 1977, in Wimbledon, London, England.[1] The youngest of three, Harcourt is the son of Maj. Charles Harcourt-Smith of the Life Guards and also a former diplomat, and his wife Sabrina, an art historian.

Ed began to study piano at the age of nine and achieved grade 8 when he was 17.

He declined the offer to study music, citing "the idea of having to analyze, dissect and everything [of one piece of music] would completely destroy any enjoyment".

Before going solo, Harcourt played the bass and keyboards for Snug, a band formed at school in the mid-1990s by Harcourt, James Deane, Ed Groves and Johnny Lewsley.

The band recorded two albums and a handful of singles together before dissolving.

In 2000, Harcourt recorded his debut mini-album Maplewood EP straight to a 4-track recorder at Wootton Manor.

After signing with Heavenly Records and releasing Maplewood in November 2000, Harcourt recorded his debut studio album Here Be Monsters with producers Gil Norton and Tim Holmes.

His debut album, Here Be Monsters, was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize.

The album was released in June 2001, and charted on the UK Albums Chart at No. 84.

One month after its release, the album was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Prize.

He later described the period as "very strange for me, I was naive, I knew nothing. I was used to making music in my room, so it felt very odd being on stage".

In the US he signed with Capitol Records.

Following the non-album single release of the Brian Wilson cover "Still I Dream of It" in October 2002, Harcourt recorded and released his second album From Every Sphere in February 2003.

The album became his highest-charting release in the UK, peaking at No. 39.

The album also performed moderately well across Europe, peaking at No. 6 in Sweden, No. 25 in Norway, and No. 103 in France.

From Every Sphere also yielded his highest-charting single to date, "All of Your Days Will Be Blessed", at No. 35.

A second single, "Watching the Sun Come Up", was less successful, peaking at No. 79.

After a steady schedule of tour dates in the UK, Harcourt's third album, Strangers, was released in September 2004.

The album peaked at No. 57 in the UK and at No. 7 in Sweden, and produced the singles "This One's for You", "Born in the '70s", and "Loneliness."

Through 2005 Harcourt played some live dates with a side-project he called Wild Boar.

In August 2005, the B-sides and rarities compilation Elephant's Graveyard was released as a digital download.

In the same year he performed at the annual Meltdown Festival in London, supporting the Brian Jonestown Massacre and joining the curator Patti Smith for a rendition of "Pissing in a River".

He was also part of the ensemble that performed the William Blake inspired Songs of Innocence.

Harcourt's fourth album The Beautiful Lie was released in June 2006 to generally favourable reviews, with Allmusic describing the album as "an invigorating and frequently gorgeous affair, essential for old fans and a good place to start for newcomers."

The album was not as successful on the UK charts, peaking at No. 97.

The Beautiful Lie was co-produced with Jari Haapalainen, and features contributions from The Magic Numbers, who sing backing vocals on "Revolution in the Heart"; Graham Coxon, who plays guitar on first single "Visit from the Dead Dog"; and Ed's wife Gita, who plays violin throughout and sings duet vocals on the track "Braille".

He later described the release as "the bête noire of the albums".

Since 2007 he has been writing for other artists, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Paloma Faith, and has performed with Marianne Faithfull and the Libertines.

His music is influenced by Tom Waits, Nick Cave, and Jeff Buckley, among others.

Harcourt recorded several tracks with the French jazz trumpeter Erik Truffaz for the album Arkhangelsk, released in early 2007.

He also performed live with Truffaz's group to promote the album, and they filmed a Take-Away Show video session shot by Vincent Moon.

In October 2007, Harcourt released the compilation album Until Tomorrow Then: The Best of Ed Harcourt, collecting material from the first seven years of his recording career.

With the release he completed his obligations with Heavenly/EMI and the contract was not renewed.

As a consequence he stepped away from his solo career as he was "really bored and sick of myself and my music. I had tried for seven years to make it and break into the mainstream and it didn't happen".

In 2009, Harcourt signed with Dovecote Records in the United States to release The Beautiful Lie stateside, as well as his new EP Russian Roulette which appeared in May of that year.

Also in 2009, Harcourt composed the original music for the soundtrack to the Donnie Darko sequel S. Darko.

In early 2010, he wrote a song called "Isabel" for the SOS Children's Villages Emergency Relief Fund in Haiti.

Harcourt's fifth studio album Lustre was released on 14 June 2010, the first on his record label Piano Wolf Recordings.