Duncan Sheik

Categories: Celebrity Buddhists | American Buddhists

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

Duncan Scott Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American Grammy-nominated and Tony-winning singer-songwriter and composer.

Early life

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, Sheik's upbringing was split between his grandparents' home in South Carolina and that of his parents in New Jersey. His grandmother, a piano graduate of The Juilliard School, taught him to play the piano and encouraged his musical development. Sheik graduated from the Eaglebrook School before attending Phillips Academy in 1988. He subsequently studied semiotics at Brown University.

Career

Sheik began his professional musical career playing for other acts, including Liz and Lisa (with Lisa Loeb and Liz Mitchell), and played on His Boy Elroy's 1993 album. Through connections from fellow Brown alum Tracee Ellis Ross, Sheik's music and good looks gained the attention of executives at Atlantic Records. Duncan Sheik's eponymous debut album for Atlantic was certified Gold and spawned the 1996 hit single "Barely Breathing" in the US, which remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for a record-setting 55 straight weeks. It also enjoyed lengthy stays on Billboard's Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts. In 1998, he was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Barely Breathing" but lost to Elton John's Candle In The Wind 1997.

A lay Buddhist, Sheik's involvement with Soka Gakkai has increased steadily over the years. In 2000, Sheik wrote the foreword to The Way of Youth: Buddhist Common Sense for Handling Life's Questions by Soka Gakkai leader Daisaku Ikeda.

In his second album, 1998's Humming, Sheik experimented in the studio with meticulous string arrangements while keeping the haunted vocal sound of his first album. Additionally, on some tracks Sheik took a step away from his pop roots to address larger social issues. In fact, some songs are laced with biting anger. Some say that Sheik went to greater lengths to reflect his Buddhist faith after reaching certain popular success from his debut.

Sheik's next record, 2001's Phantom Moon, was a collaboration with poet and writer Steven Sater, who Sheik met through his Soka Gakkai involvement. The two collaboratively created the album by each drawing inspiration from other's simultaneous work, with Sheik sending Sater music and Sater sending Sheik words. The album continued the melancholic tone of Sheik's previous work, and displayed his growing prowess as a composer and arranger.

In 2002, Sheik made a brief commercial comeback with his album Daylight, including success with the singles "On A High" and "Half-Life". Eschewing the Nick Drake-like sound of Phantom Moon, Daylight featured a lighter, more modern sound with production effects and electronic backgrounds. Sheik indicated in interviews that the record was an attempt to create an album of pure pop songs. More recently, Sheik has moved into acting and even wrote the score for the 2004 film A Home at the End of the World, including two original songs for the film. The score was well received, even though the film was not.

Sheik's newest album, White Limousine, was released on January 24, 2006, on the Zoe Records label. The first single released from the album was the title track. Like its predecessor Daylight, subtle electronic influences are a hallmark of Sheik's fifth studio album, as well as many songs that are politically charged. The album is both Sheik's first to be released outside of what is now Warner Music Group, and his first with companion software on a DVD-ROM to remix individual album tracks.

Working continually with Steven Sater, Sheik wrote the music for the Tony award winning musical Spring Awakening over a period of eight years. The musical, which premiered off-Broadway in New York in May 2006, opened on Broadway to much critical acclaim in December 2006. Spring Awakening is based on the controversial German expressionist play Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind. Sheik won two Tonys for his work on the musical —for Best Orchestration and Best Original Score (Music)—and the show won the Tony for Best Musical.

Musicals

• Nero (Another Golden Rome) - 2006
• Spring Awakening - 2006, 2007—
• The Nightingale - 2006

Discography

Other recordings

• "Wishful Thinking" from Great Expectations (1998 film)#Soundtrack|Great Expectations: The Album - Atlantic Records - 1997
• "Songbird" from Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours (CD) - Atlantic Records - 1998
• "Embraceable You" from Red Hot + Rhapsody: The Gershwin Groove (CD) - Antilles Records - 1998
• "View From The Other Side" from Friends Again (CD) - 1999
• "A Purple Trail" from Other Songs and Dances, Vol. 1 (CD) - Backlight Records - 2006
• "Now Or Never" from the soundtrack for the movie Boys and Girls (2000 film)
• "I am a pilgrim" from the Transamerica soundtrack

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart

External links

• Official website
• Rounder Records Group artist page on Duncan Sheik
• SheikSpeak.com - Fan Site