Robert Wyatt (born Robert Wyatt-Ellidge, 28 January 1945, in Bristol) is an English musician, and a former member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine. January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Image File history File links Flag_of_England_(bordered). ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and the borough of Swindon. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Bitches Brew (1970) by Miles Davis is considered the most influential early fusion album. ... For the unrelated Swedish music movement, see progg. ... Experimental music is any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... A composer is a person who writes music. ... A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified with the purpose of making music. ... Percussion instruments are played by being struck, shaken, rubbed or scraped. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with speech. ... 1963 (MCMLXIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1963 calendar). ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Virgin Records is a British recording label founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Nik Powell in 1972. ... Look up rough trade in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Soft Machine were a pioneering British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, Kent, England, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. ... -1... Henry Cow was an English avant-garde rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... Bristol (IPA: ) is a city, unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, 115 miles (185 km) west of London and between the cities of Bath, Gloucester and the borough of Swindon. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... The Canterbury Scene (or Canterbury Sound) is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock musicians that were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. ... The Soft Machine were a pioneering British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, Kent, England, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. ...

Early life

As a teenager, he lived with his parents in a fourteen-room Georgian guest-house, Wellington House, in Lydden near Canterbury. Here he was taught the drums by visiting American jazz drummer George Niedorf. Lydden is a race circuit in the south of the UK ... Statistics Population: 42,258 (2001) Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TR145575 Administration District: City of Canterbury Shire county: Kent Region: South East England Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Kent Historic county: Kent Services Police force: Kent Police Ambulance service: South East Coast Post office and... For other kinds of drums, see drum (disambiguation). ... Jazz is a musical art form that originated in New Orleans at around the start of the 20th century. ...

In 1962, Wyatt and Niedorf moved to Majorca where they stayed with the poet Robert Graves. The following year, Wyatt returned to England and joined the Daevid Allen Trio with Daevid Allen and Hugh Hopper. Allen subsequently left for France to form Gong, and Wyatt and Hopper formed the Wilde Flowers with Richard Sinclair, Kevin Ayers and Brian Hopper. Wyatt was initially the drummer in the Wilde Flowers, but following the departure of Ayers, he became lead singer. Majorca (Mallorca in Catalan and Spanish, sometimes also encountered in English),: from Latin insula maior, later Maiorica, (major island) is one of the Balearic Islands (Catalan: Illes Balears, Spanish: Islas Baleares), which are located in the Mediterranean Sea and are a part of Spain. ... Portrait of Robert Graves (circa 1974) by Rab Shiell Robert von Ranke Graves (24 July 1895 – 5 November 1955) was an English poet, scholar, and novelist. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hugh Hopper (born 1945, Canterbury, England) is a bass guitarist and composer. ... Gong is a progressive/psychedelic rock band formed by Australian musician Daevid Allen. ... The introduction to this article provides insufficient context for those unfamiliar with the subject matter. ... Richard Sinclair (June 6, 1948) is a founding member of the progressive rock band Caravan and was also a member of the mecurial Cantebury band Wilde Flowers for which he was the guitarist. ... Kevin Ayers (born August 16, 1944 in Herne Bay, Kent) is an English songwriter and major influential force in the early English psychedelic movement. ...

Soft Machine and Matching Mole

In 1966, the Wilde Flowers disintegrated, and Wyatt and Mike Ratledge formed the Soft Machine with Ayers and Allen. Here Wyatt both drummed and sang, an unusual combination for a stage rock band. The Soft Machine were a pioneering British psychedelic, progressive rock and jazz band from Canterbury, Kent, England, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. ...

In 1970, after chaotic touring, three albums and increasing internal conflicts in Soft Machine, Wyatt released his first solo album, The End of an Ear, which combined his vocal and multi-instrumental talents with tape effects.

A year later, Wyatt left Soft Machine and, besides participating in the fusion bigband Centipede, formed his own band Matching Mole (a pun on "machine molle", the French for Soft Machine), a largely instrumental outfit. After two albums and a split, Matching Mole were about to embark on a third record when, on 1 June 1973, during a drunken party, Wyatt jumped from a third floor window. He was subsequently paralysed from the waist down (paraplegia) and confined to a wheelchair. Bitches Brew (1970) by Miles Davis is considered the most influential early fusion album. ... Centipede was a jazz/progressive rock/Canterbury sound big band with more than 50 members, organized and led by the british free jazz pianist Keith Tippett, that brought together much of a generation of young British jazz and rock musicians, e. ... -1... June 1 is the 152nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (153rd in leap years), with 213 days remaining. ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ... Paraplegia is a condition in which the lower part of a persons body is paralyzed and cannot willfully function. ... The international symbol of access depicts a person in a wheelchair A wheelchair is a wheeled mobility device in which the user sits. ...

Solo career

The injury led Wyatt to abandon the Matching Mole project, and his drumming. He promptly embarked on a solo-career, and with a collective of session musicians (including Mike Oldfield, the poet Ivor Cutler and Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith), he released his acclaimed solo-album Rock Bottom. Later that same year he put out a single, a cover version of "I'm a Believer", which hit number 29 in the UK chart. There were strong arguments with the producer of Top of the Pops surrounding his performance of "I'm a Believer," on the grounds that his wheelchair-bound appearance 'was not suitable for family viewing', the producer wanting Wyatt to appear on a normal chair. Wyatt won the day and 'lost his rag but not the wheel chair', but gave a performance that could be described as disgruntled. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sideman. ... Michael Gordon Oldfield (born May 15, 1953 in Reading, England) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music and more recently dance. ... Ivor Cutler (15 January 1923 – 3 March 2006) was a Scottish poet, songwriter and humorist. ... Henry Cow was an English avant-garde rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. ... Fred Frith performing at the Moers Jazz Festival, 1 June 1998. ... In popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition (performance or recording) of a previously recorded song. ... Im a Believer is a song composed by Neil Diamond, recorded by the band The Monkees in 1966. ... Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a long-running British music chart television programme, made and broadcast by the BBC. It was originally shown each week, mostly on BBC One, from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. ...

Wyatt's next solo-album, Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, was more jazz-led, with free jazz influences and nods to African music. Guest musicians included Brian Eno on guitar, synthesizer and "direct inject anti-jazz ray gun". Rock Bottom and Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard were produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd and Wyatt would subsequently sing lead vocals on Nick Mason's 1981 solo album Fictitious Sports (the first solo album from the Pink Floyd drummer, with songwriting credits going to Carla Bley). Free jazz is a movement of jazz music characterized by diminished dependence on formal constraints. ... Africa is a large and diverse continent, consisting of dozens of countries, hundreds of languages and thousands of races, tribes and ethnic groups. ... Brian Peter George St. ... Nicholas Berkeley Nick Mason (born January 27, 1944 in Birmingham, England) is a musician and the drummer for Pink Floyd. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for its psychedelic rock music, and as the band evolved, became widely known as pioneers of progressive rock music. ... Nicholas Berkeley Nick Mason (born January 27, 1944 in Birmingham, England) is a musician and the drummer for Pink Floyd. ... Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason released his first solo album Fictitious Sports in May of 1981 in the UK and US. The album was basically a Carla Bley album in all but name. ... Pink Floyd are an English rock band that earned recognition for its psychedelic rock music, and as the band evolved, became widely known as pioneers of progressive rock music. ... Carla Bley, née Borg, (born May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. ...

Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Wyatt guested with various acts, working with the likes of Henry Cow (documented on their Henry Cow Concerts album), Hatfield and the North, Carla Bley and Michael Mantler. His solo work during the early 1980s was increasingly politicised, and Wyatt became an outspoken member and supporter of the Communist Party of Britain. In 1982, his interpretation of Elvis Costello's anti-Falklands War song "Shipbuilding", the last in a series of political cover-versions (collected as Nothing Can Stop Us), reached number 35 in the UK singles chart. Henry Cow was an English avant-garde rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. ... Henry Cow Concerts is a live double album by British avant-garde rock group Henry Cow, recorded at concerts in London, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway between September 1974 and October 1975. ... Hatfield and the North took its name from the roadsigns out of London directing motorists toward the A1 or A1(M) — the old Great North Road — which runs north through Hatfield to Edinburgh; this is one such sign, although as can be seen, the old Hatfield and the North has... Carla Bley, née Borg, (born May 11, 1936) is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. ... Michael Mantler (born August 10, 1943 in Vienna, Austria) is a composer and musician in new jazz and contemporary music. ... The Communist Party of Britain, which claims to have around 900 members, is the largest Communist party in the United Kingdom. ... Declan Patrick MacManus (born August 25, 1954, in London), better known by his stage name, Elvis Costello, is an English musician, singer, and songwriter of Irish ancestry. ... Combatants United Kingdom Argentina Casualties 258 killed [3] 777 wounded 59 taken prisoner 649 killed 1,068 wounded 11,313 taken prisoner The Falklands War (Spanish: ) was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. ... Shipbuilding is a song written by singer/songwriter Elvis Costello and producer Clive Langer. ...

In the late 1980s, after collaborations with other ex-Canterbury acts such as News from Babel as well as Japanese recording artist Ryuichi Sakamoto, he and his wife Alfreda Benge spent a sabbatical in Spain, before returning in 1991 with a comeback album Dondestan, considered by many to be his best work since Rock Bottom. His 1997 album Shleep was also highly acclaimed. News From Babel was an English avant-garde rock group founded in 1983 by Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins and Dagmar Krause. ... Ryuichi Sakamoto at his New York City studio September 2003 Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一 Sakamoto Ryūichi, born January 17, 1952, Nakano, Tokyo, Japan) is a Japanese musician, composer, producer and actor. ... Alfreda Benge is musician Robert Wyatts wife. ...

Wyatt contributed the haunting "Masters of the Field", as well as "The Highest Gander", "La Forêt Rouge" and "Hors Champ" to the soundtrack of the acclaimed 2001 film Winged Migration. He can be seen in the DVD's Special Features section, and is praised by the film's composer Bruno Coulais as being a big influence in his younger days. Bruno Coulais (born 13 January 1954) is a French composer, most widely known for his music on film soundtracks. ...

Recent years

In 2001, Wyatt was curator of the Meltdown festival, and sang "Comfortably Numb" during David Gilmour's performance at the festival, recorded on Gilmour's DVD David Gilmour in Concert. Meltdown is an annual music festival held at the Royal Festival Hall, part of Londons South Bank Centre. ... Music sample: Pink Floyd Comfortably Numb (1979) ( file info) — 30 second sample of Comfortably Numb from the album The Wall (1979). ... David Gilmour in Concert is a DVD of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd in concert at the Royal Festival Hall at Robert Wyatts Meltdown Concerts in London in June of 2001 with additional footage from January, 2002. ...

In 2003, Wyatt put out his album Cuckooland which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. The Mercury Music Prize, now officially known as the Nationwide Mercury Prize, is a music award given annually for the best British or Irish album of the previous 12 months. ...

In 2004, Wyatt collaborated with Björk on the song "Submarine" which was released on her fifth album Medúlla. Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( ) (born November 21, 1965 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is a Brit Award-winning Icelandic singer/songwriter and composer (formerly the lead singer of alternative rock band The Sugarcubes). ... Medúlla is a music album by Icelandic singer/songwriter/musician Björk, which was released on August 31st of 2004 (see 2004 in music). ...

"He lives in Louth, Lincolnshire and he has equipment in his bedroom where he records himself and his albums. We brought a G4 and Pro Tools and recorded it in like one afternoon. He's such an extraordinary singer. Before he left, he insisted to give us a scale of his voice, where he sings all the tones – and he has the most amazing range, like 5 or 6 octaves. What's really interesting about his range is that each octave is of a totally different character. We actually ended up using that later for "Oceania", we used what he calls the 'Wyattron'." — Björk, XFM 25 August 2004

In 2006, Wyatt played with David Gilmour on Gilmour's new release On An Island, singing and playing cornet and percussion on "Then I Close My Eyes." Wyatt performed as a guest at Gilmour's series of Royal Albert Hall concerts, playing his cornet solo for this song. Wyatt also read passages from the novels of Haruki Murakami for Max Richter's album Songs from Before. Statistics Population: 15,000 1 2 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: TF326874 Administration District: East Lindsey Shire county: Lincolnshire Region: East Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Lincolnshire Historic county: Lincolnshire Services Police force: Lincolnshire Police Ambulance service: East Midlands Post office and telephone Post... PowerPC G4 is a designation used by Apple Computer to describe a fourth generation of PowerPC microprocessors. ... Pro Tools is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) by Digidesign for music production and digital audio editing. ... In music, an octave (sometimes abbreviated 8ve or 8va) is the interval between one musical note and another with half or double the frequency. ... Oceania was the first single from Björks Medúlla album. ... Xfm is a brand of commercial radio stations focused on current and unsigned alternative music and owned by GCap Media in the United Kingdom. ... August 25 is the 237th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (238th in leap years), with 128 days remaining. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... David Jon Gilmour CBE (born March 6, 1946) is an English guitarist, singer, and songwriter best known as a member of the band Pink Floyd. ... On an Island is the third solo album by David Gilmour, best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist for Pink Floyd. ... Haruki Murakami , born January 12, 1949) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. ... Max Richter (b. ...

"Wyatting"

Recently the verb "Wyatting" appeared in some blogs and music magazines to describe the practice of using weird tracks from a pub jukebox to annoy the other pub goers. The name was coined by Carl Neville, a 36-year-old English teacher from London, because one of the favourites LPs for this effect is Dondestan. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Robert Wyatt. ...

Robert Wyatt commented to The Guardian: "I think it's really funny," and "I'm very honoured at the idea of becoming a verb." ^[1] The Guardian is a British newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. ...

Solo discography

Albums

• The End of an Ear (1970)
• Rock Bottom (1974)
• Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard (1975)
• Nothing Can Stop Us (1981, Singles compilation; 1983 Australian edition includes "Shipbuilding")
• The Animals Film (1982, Soundtrack)
• Old Rottenhat (1985)
• Dondestan (1991)
• Flotsam Jetsam (1994)
• A Short Break (1996, EP)
• Shleep (1997)
• Dondestan (Revisited) (1998)
• Travelling Birds ("Winged Migration") (2001, Soundtrack)
• Solar Flares Burn for You (2003)
• Cuckooland (2003)
• His Greatest Misses (2004, compilation)
• Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8th September 1974 (2005)

Debut solo album from The Soft Machines Robert Wyatt. ... Rock Bottom is the second album and first post-Soft Machine album by Robert Wyatt. ... Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard is the third solo album by Robert Wyatt. ... Nothing Can Stop Us is a compilation album by Robert Wyatt released in 1982. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Seventh and most recent album by progressive rock artist Robert Wyatt. ...

EPs

• The Peel Sessions (1974, "Alifib"/"Soup Song"/"Sea Song"/"I'm a Believer")
• Work In Progress (1984, "Biko"/"Amber and the Amberines"/"Yolanda"/"Te Recuerdo Amanda")
• 4 Tracks EP (1984, "I'm a Believer"/"Yesterday Man"/"Team Spirit"/"Memories")
• Airplay (2002, "Fridge"/"When Access Was A Noun "/"Salt-Ivy"/"Signed Curtain")

Singles

• "I'm a Believer"/"Memories" (1974)
• "Yesterday Man"/"I'm a Believer" (1974)
• "Yesterday Man"/"Sonia" (1977)
• "Arauco"/"Caimanera" (1980)
• "At Last I'm Free"/"Strange Fruit" (1980)
• "Stalin Wasn't Stallin'"/"Stalingrad" (1981)
• "Grass"/"Trade Union" (1981)
• "Shipbuilding"/"Memories of You"/"'Round Midnight" (1982)
• "The Wind of Change"/"Namibia"(1984) (as "Robert Wyatt with the SWAPO Singers")
• "The Age of Self"/"Raise Your Banners High" (1984)
• "Chairman Mao" (1987)
• "Free Will and Testament"/"The Sight of the Wind" (1997)
• "Heaps of Sheeps"/"A Sunday in Madrid" (1997)

Im a Believer is a song composed by Neil Diamond, recorded by the band The Monkees in 1966. ... The photograph that was cited by the songwriter as the inspiration for the song: Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, August 7, 1930. ... Stalin Wasnt Stallin (A Modern Spiritual) was written by Willie Johnson, in 1943. ... Shipbuilding is a song written by singer/songwriter Elvis Costello and producer Clive Langer. ... Round Midnight is a 1944 song by jazz musician Thelonious Monk. ... The South-West Africa Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) was founded, along with a number of other groups, as a liberation organisation: following the first world war, South-West Africa — formerly a German colony — was turned over to South Africa to rule as a mandate for the British. ...

External links

• Robert Wyatt - The Art and Music of Robert Wyatt
• Robert Wyatt solo discography Wyatt's solo recordings.

Notes