Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Allen Mothersbaugh (born May 18, 1950) is an American musician.

Mark Allen Mothersbaugh was born on May 18, 1950, in Akron, Ohio.

His parents are Mary Margaret ("Mig") and Robert Mothersbaugh, Sr. He grew up with two younger brothers, Bob and Jim, who are both musicians, and two sisters, Amy and Susan, and graduated from Woodridge High School in Peninsula, Ohio.

His father appeared in early Devo films and fan events as the character General Boy and his brothers participated in the band, although Jim's tenure was brief, appearing only on several early demos.

Mothersbaugh attended Kent State University as an art student, where he met Devo co-founders Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis.

He came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose "Whip It" was a top 20 single in the US in 1980, peaking at No. 14, and which has since maintained a cult following.

Mothersbaugh is one of the main composers of Devo's music.

In addition to his work with Devo, Mothersbaugh has made music for television series, films and video games via his production company, Mutato Muzika.

He composed the music for the 13-year run of the animated series Rugrats and its three related theatrical films.

As a solo musician, Mothersbaugh has released four studio albums: Muzik for Insomniaks, Muzik for the Gallery, Joyeux Mutato and The Most Powerful Healing Muzik in the Entire World.

In early 1970, Lewis and Casale formed the idea of the "devolution" of the human race after Casale's friends Jeffrey Miller and Allison Krause were killed by Ohio National Guardsmen on university grounds during what came to be known as the Kent State shootings.

Intrigued by the concept, Mothersbaugh joined them, building upon it with elements of early post-structuralist ideas and oddball arcana, most notably unearthing the infamous Jocko-Homo Heavenbound pamphlet (the basis for the song "Jocko Homo").

This association culminated in 1973, when the trio started to play music as Devo.

Following the commercial failure of their sixth studio album Shout, Warner Bros. dropped Devo.

Shortly after, claiming to feel creatively unfulfilled, drummer Alan Myers left the band, causing the remaining band members to abandon the plans for a Shout video LP, as well as a tour.

He wrote the new theme song for the original Felix the Cat show when it was sold to Broadway Video, some music for Pee-wee's Playhouse in 1986-1990 and the theme song for the Super Mario World TV series for DIC Entertainment in 1991.

The character design for Chuckie Finster on Rugrats was based on him.

In 1987, Devo reformed with new drummer David Kendrick, formerly of Sparks, to replace Myers.

Their first project was a soundtrack for the flop horror film Slaughterhouse Rock, starring Toni Basil and they released the albums Total Devo (1988) and Smooth Noodle Maps (1990), on Enigma.

In 1989, Mark Mothersbaugh established Mutato Muzika, a commercial music production studio, hiring Ryan Moore and Bob Casale; Bob Mothersbaugh was also involved.

In 1989, Mothersbaugh and other members of Devo were involved in the project Visiting Kids, releasing a self-titled EP on the New Rose label in 1990.

The group featured his then-wife Nancye Ferguson, as well as David Kendrick, Bob Mothersbaugh, and Bob's daughter Alex Mothersbaugh.

Mothersbaugh co-wrote some of the songs, and produced the album with Bob Casale.

A promotional video was filmed for the song "Trilobites".

Visiting Kids appeared on the soundtrack to the film Rockula, as well as on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Since Devo, Mothersbaugh has developed a successful career writing musical scores for film and television.

In film, he has worked frequently with filmmaker Wes Anderson, scoring four of his feature films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou).

He composed for The Lego Movie and Thor Ragnarok.

His music has been a staple of the children's television shows Rugrats, Beakman's World, Santo Bugito and Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Devo had a falling-out and played two shows in 1991 before breaking up.

Around this time, members of Devo appeared in the film The Spirit of '76, except for Bob Mothersbaugh.

In 2004, he received the Richard Kirk award at the BMI Film and TV Awards for his contributions to film and television music.

In 2006, Devo worked with Disney on the Devo 2.0 project: a band of child performers was assembled to re-record Devo songs.

The Akron Beacon Journal wrote, "Devo recently finished a new project in cahoots with Disney called Devo 2.0, which features the band playing old songs and two new ones with vocals provided by children. Their debut album, a two disc CD/DVD combo entitled DEV2.0, was released on March 14, 2006. The lyrics of some of the songs were changed for family-friendly airplay, which has been claimed by the band to be a play on irony of the messages of their classic hits. Mothersbaugh doesn't rule out the idea of the band gathering in the studio, eventually, to record a new Devo album."

In 2008, Mothersbaugh received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Kent State University, his alma mater.

The album, Something for Everybody was eventually released in June 2010, preceded by a 12" single of "Fresh"/"What We Do".

Devo was awarded the first Moog Innovator Award on October 29, 2010, during Moogfest 2010 in Asheville, North Carolina.

The award aims to celebrate "pioneering artists whose genre-defying work exemplifies the bold, innovative spirit of Bob Moog".

Devo was scheduled to perform at Moogfest, but canceled three days beforehand after Mark's brother Bob Mothersbaugh (lead guitar) injured his hand.

He and Gerald Casale collaborated with Austin, Texas, band The Octopus Project to perform "Girl U Want" and "Beautiful World" at the event instead.