Scottish-American musician who was the leader and guitar player of the innovative rock band, “The Talking Heads.” The band has been a critical favorite since the late ’70s. Byrne looks serious and low-key in videos that are set in the middle of weird and surreal settings. On occasion, his face and demeanor are suggestive of Norman Bates in “Psycho.”
Born in Scotland, the first of two kids, Byrne moved with his family to Canada when he was three. In 1958 the family resettled in Maryland where his dad worked as an electric engineer. He grew up in a lower-middle class area.
In the mid-’60s, Byrne learned to play guitar and while in junior high school, formed a rock band. He later put together a solo act for the college coffee-house circuit. On graduation from high school in 1970, he enrolled at the Rhode Island School of Design. He found himself out of place, a misfit, so he dropped out the end of the year.
In the early ’70s, Byrne affiliated himself with the experimental art scene that was flourishing in the SoHo district of New York. He mounted performances of satire and whimsy that did not always come across. His appeal was limited, so he returned to music. Late in 1973 he teamed up with drummer Chris Frantz to form the Artistics, a five-piece bank that was promptly dubbed “the Autistics.”
A new sound was generating in his mind and they searched for musicians with a similar vision. In late 1974, Talking Heads was born.
The groups first album, “Talking Heads,” was the vanguard of the “new wave” musical movement, which emerged from New York’s underground rock scene. By the tenth year of the group’s existence, “The Talking Heads” art-rocking musical aggregation with a captivating sound was still evolving. Five years after his last tour with “The Talking Heads,” Byrne assembled a band that played Afro-Caribbean music; their first album was entitled “Rei Momo.”
From 1982, Byrne was linked romantically with Bonnie Lutz, a Japanese-German model and fashion designer.
Link to Wikipedia biography