Teddy Thompson


Teddy Thompson is a British folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He released his first album in 2000.

Biography

Teddy Thompson was born in 1976 in a London Sufi commune to folk rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson, both major musical figures in the English folk rock scene from the 1960s on. He is the brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He formed his own band at the age of 18. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue his music career, which included work as a singer and guitar player in his father Richard's band during the 1990s. He appears on at least three Richard Thompson Band recordings from that time: You? Me? Us?, the live album Celtschmerz and Mock Tudor, as well as singing a duet on the track "Persuasion", which appeared on Richard's best-of compilation Action Packed. He can be seen performing in his father's band on a number of internet videos from as early as 1993, including an appearance on the BBC's Jools Holland show. He coaxed his mother out of retirement and co-produced her first album in 17 years, Fashionably Late.

Recordings

Debut

In 2000 Thompson released his debut album, Teddy Thompson, which received much critical acclaim but little commercial success. Between the time of his debut album and follow-up, he released the moderately successful EP Blunderbuss and toured as part of Rosanne Cash's band. His song "Love Her for That" was featured in the 2002 film 40 Days and 40 Nights.

''Separate Ways''

In 2005, Thompson released his second full-length album, Separate Ways. It has a strong "second-generation" artist theme, featuring both Rufus and Martha Wainwright, who are close friends of Thompson. He has toured and recorded with both the Wainwrights, including Rufus' 2003 album Want One. Teddy and Rufus recorded a version of "King of the Road" for the 2005 film, Brokeback Mountain, with Thompson also contributing a solo track: "I Don't Want to Say Goodbye". Separate Ways features Dave Mattacks, Tony Trischka and Garth Hudson of The Band and was produced by Brad Albetta, who also produced Martha Wainwright's much-lauded debut album. In 2014 the track "In My Arms" was featured in the 2013 British romantic comedy movie The Love Punch.

''Upfront & Down Low''

Teddy's third album, Upfront & Down Low, was released on Verve Forecast in the United States on 17 July 2007, and in the UK and Europe later in 2007. The album contains covers of many of Teddy's favourite country songs, plus one of his own compositions, entitled "Down Low". It offers covers of country classics such as George Jones' "She Thinks I Still Care," Ernest Tubb's "Walking the Floor Over You", and Liz Anderson's " Strangers", made famous by Merle Haggard. Lesser-known songs include Felice and Boudleaux Bryant's "Change of Heart", Dolly Parton's bittersweet "My Blue Tears," Bob Luman's "Let's Think About Living", and the Elvis Presley "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone." Six tracks feature string arrangements by English arranger Robert Kirby, renowned for his work with Nick Drake. "My Blue Tears" features strings arranged by Thompson cohort Rufus Wainwright. The only single taken off Upfront & Down Low was "Change of Heart".

''A Piece of What You Need''

Thompson's fourth studio album, A Piece of What You Need, was released via Verve/Forecast in June 2008, and contains all original songs. It was produced by Marius de Vries, whom Teddy met while recording background vocals on Rufus Wainwright's Want records in 2002.
The first single from A Piece of What You Need is "In My Arms". The music video for the song features a cameo appearance by Rufus Wainwright dressed as Elvis Presley. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 107. The album debuted at No. 10 after its first week in the UK Charts during August 2008.

''Bella''

Thompson's fifth studio album Bella was released in February 2011. Bella is Thompson's fourth album released on the record label Verve Forecast. The album is produced by David Kahne. Bella contains all original songs which Thompson started working on after returning from his last tour. The single "'Looking for a Girl" was released on 13 January 2011 on Verve Forecast. Bella received positive reviews in the UK and the US. Critics also note that this is Thompson's most personal record to date which yet again shows off his talent as a vocalist and craftsman of both deeply personal and hummable pop tunes.

''Little Windows''

Thompson, in collaboration with acclaimed American singer-songwriter Kelly Jones, released his sixth studio album Little Windows via Cooking Vinyl on 1 April 2016.

Contributions

Coming from a family of folk musicians, Thompson has naturally drawn influences from folk-music into his own musical sound. While still a teenager he was listening exclusively to American music such as Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers and Buddy Holly. Thompson also later stated that these artists are some of his main musical influences when he first started to write songs. Later when he grew up he began to listen more to contemporary pop music such as Crowded House, and his own musical style today is a mix of folk, country, rock and pop music. As he says himself:
In a video interview he says:
In addition to his tenor singing voice, Thompson plays both the acoustic and electric guitar, and occasionally the ukulele. He has a strong, versatile and expressive voice which he uses both in the higher and lower vocal range with ease, but he apparently prefers using his voice in the middle register while singing. He stated in an interview that his voice was his "only weapon so to speak" in the early years as a vocalist and musician playing in his father's backing band. It has been said that Thompson has inherited much of his singing voice from his mother. He has also been compared vocally to Chris Isaak and Justin Hayward.

Discography

Albums

EPs, etc.