Loudon Wainwright III

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Loudon Wainwright III
Loudon Wainwright III performing in 2006.
Loudon Wainwright III performing in 2006.
Background information
Birth name Loudon Snowden Wainwright III
Born September 5, 1946 (1946-09-05) (age 61)
Flag of the United States Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Genre(s) Folk
Rock
Blues
Comedy
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, actor, humorist
Instrument(s) Vocals, guitar, piano, banjo, percussion, ukulele
Years active 1967–Present
Label(s) Atlantic, Columbia, Legacy, Arista, Radar, Rounder, Silvertone, Charisma, Virgin, Hannibal, Red House, Sanctuary Records, Sovereign Artists, Concord
Associated acts Kate and Anna McGarrigle, White Cloud, George Gerdes, Richard Thompson, Chaim Tannenbaum, The Roches, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Joe Henry
Website www.lwiii.com

Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor. He is the father of musicians Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, and the former husband of folk singer Kate McGarrigle.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Wainwright was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the son of Martha Taylor, a yoga teacher, and Loudon Wainwright, Jr., a columnist and editor for Life magazine.[1] Wainwright grew up in Bedford, New York, a town in Westchester County. Among his sisters is Sloan Wainwright, also a singer. He graduated from St. Andrew's School.

[edit] Career

Wainwright's career began in the late 1960s. He had played the guitar while in school, but would later sell it for yoga lessons while living in San Francisco. Later, in Rhode Island, Wainwright's grandmother got him a job working in a boatyard. He was inspired by an old lobster fisherman named Edgar to borrow a friend's guitar and write his first song (entitled "Edgar"). Soon after, Wainwright bought a guitar and in about a year, he had written close to twenty songs. He decided to go to Boston and New York and began playing live shows in folk clubs. He was eventually "discovered" by Milton Kramer who became his manager. He acquired a record deal with Atlantic Records who released his first album in 1970.

Wainwright is known for the 1972 novelty song hit "Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)" and for playing Captain Calvin Spalding (the "singing surgeon") on three episodes of the American television show M*A*S*H in its third season (1974-1975 including episode Rainbow Bridge), but his musical reputation is much deeper. Using a witty, self-mocking style, Wainwright has recorded over twenty albums on eleven different labels. Two of his albums have been nominated for Grammy awards.

Wainwright has also appeared in a number of films, including small parts in The Aviator, Big Fish, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up and the television series Undeclared. Wainwright came to the attention of many people in Britain for the first time when he appeared as the resident singer with comedian Jasper Carrott in his UK show, Carrott Confidential, in the late 1980s, and he has remained popular in the UK ever since.

Wainwright has claimed that, like many of his contemporaries, he was inspired musically by seeing Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in 1962. He was one of many young folksingers tagged as the "new Dylan" in the early 1970s, a fact that he later ruefully satirized in his song "Talking New Bob Dylan" from 1992's History album.

In September of 2006, Wainwright and musician Joe Henry began composing the music to the Judd Apatow film, Knocked Up, which was released on June 1, 2007. In addition to composing the soundtrack, Wainwright appeared in the film in a supporting role as the protagonists' obstetrician.

[edit] Personal life

Wainwright's son Rufus Wainwright and daughter Martha Wainwright by his onetime marriage to Canadian singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle are both singer/songwriters as well. Rufus was the subject of two of Loudon's more famous songs, the breastfeeding ode "Rufus Is a Tit Man" and the retrospective "A Father and a Son", while Martha entered the world to "Pretty Little Martha", turned five to the post-divorce child-rearing anthem "Five Years Old" and entered her teenage years with the brutally clinical "Hitting You". Rufus, in turn, has covered his father's "One Man Guy" and wrote "Dinner at Eight" about a family dispute, while Martha has covered her father's "Pretty Good Day" and wryly states that her song "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" is about her father.[2] On the other hand, Martha and Loudon collaborated on the song "You Never Phone" on his album 2003 So Damn Happy.

Loudon also has a daughter, Lucy Roche by the singer Suzzy Roche, and a third daughter, Lexie Kelly. Loudon remarried in 2005.

He is one of the inspirations for Doonesbury minor character Jimmy Thudpucker.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Studio and live albums

[edit] Compilations

  • Fame and Wealth / I'm Alright (1991) - this combines both albums on one CD, but minus one track from each
  • One Man Guy: The Best of Loudon Wainwright III 1982-1986 (1994)

[edit] Singles

  • Dead Skunk / Needless to Say (1973, CBS 4-45726)
  • Down Drinking at the Bar / I am The Way (1974, CBS 2172)
  • Five Years Old / Rambunctious (1983, Demon D1016)
  • Cardboard Boxes / Colours (1985, Demon D1039)
  • Unhappy Anniversary / The Acid Song (1986, Demon D1044)
  • Thank You, Girl (John Hiatt) / My Girl (with John Hiatt) (1987)
  • Your Mother and I / At the End of a Long Lonely Day (with John Hiatt) (1987, D1051)
  • T.S.D.H.A.V. / Nice Guys (1989, Silvertone, ORE 15)
  • Jesse Don't Like It (live) / T.S.D.H.A.V. (live) (1990, Hannibal cassette single HNC 0705, Hannibal 7" vinyl HNS 0705)

[edit] Contributions

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Loudon Wainwright, III Biography (1946-)
  2. ^ The Guardian profile: The Wainwrights | | Guardian Unlimited Arts

[edit] External links