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José González (singer)

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José González
For other uses, see José González (singer) (disambiguation).

José González is a Swedish indie folk singer-songwriter of Argentine descent.

Biography

González was born in Gothenburg, Sweden. His parents moved from Argentina to Sweden in 1978. González grew up listening to Latin folk and pop music, and has named Cuban singer-songwriter Silvio Rodriguez as a favourite artist.[1]

The first band he played in was Back Against the Wall, a Gothenburg hardcore punk band influenced by Black Flag, The Misfits and the Dead Kennedys.[2] He later played bass guitar in another hardcore band, Renascence, between 1993–1998.[3]. Between 1997-1998 Jose played guitar with rock band Only if You Call Me Jonathan.

In 2003, he released his debut album, Veneer, in Europe. The album was subsequently released in the UK on 25 April 2005, and in the United States on 6 September 2005. The album was made while González was studying for a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, which he has not completed due to a lack of time since his musical career has taken off.[4]

His trademark sound is solo classical guitar with soft vocal melody. His work, although mostly original, also includes acoustic covers of such hits as "Heartbeats" by his fellow Swedes The Knife, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division, "Born in the U.S.A." and "The Ghost of Tom Joad" by Bruce Springsteen, "Hand on Your Heart" by Kylie Minogue, "Smalltown Boy" by Bronski Beat, "Teardrop" by Massive Attack and "Last Snowstorm of the Year" by Low.

His second album, In Our Nature, was released internationally on 22 September 2007. The album's lyrical content was in part influenced by his reading of books like The God Delusion by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and Practical Ethics by ethicist Peter Singer.[2][5]

Television appearances

González has performed on several television programs, including Late Night with Conan O'Brien (September 28, 2007 and March 29, 2006), Jimmy Kimmel Live (October 12, 2007), the BBC's Later... with Jools Holland (June 9, 2006), Last Call with Carson Daly (June 21, 2006), Seven Network's Sunrise (August 15, 2007) and Canada's MTV Live December 5, 2007).

The song "Crosses", from González's Crosses EP and the Veneer album, appeared on the finale of the second season of the popular American television comedy-drama The O.C., as well as on a trailer for a BBC Four programme. Also taken from the Veneer album, "Stay in the Shade" was used in the The O.C., midway through season three, in the episode The Pot Stirrer. His music has also been used in the Friday Night Lights TV series (December 12, 2006).

His cover of The Knife's "Heartbeats" was used in a Sony BRAVIA commercial featuring 250,000 coloured bouncing balls in San Francisco,[6][7] and was also heard in episode 409 of the CW's One Tree Hill as well as episode 2 in the 7th season of Scrubs. The song was also heard in episode 21 of the 1st season of Brothers & Sisters

On May 19, 2008, his version of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" was used in the fourth season finale of House entitled "Wilson's Heart."

Collaborations

González plays in the band Junip with Tobias Winterkorn and Elias Araya. To date, Junip has released a sole EP, Black Refuge.

He has collaborated with UK downtempo duo Zero 7 on their 2006 album, The Garden, where he provides guest vocals on the album's tracks, along with Zero 7 regular Sia Furler. This album features four songs with González on vocals, namely "Futures", "Left Behind", "Today" and "Crosses".

González collaborated with Finnish house DJ Jori Hulkkonen on the track "Blinded By The Numbers" from Hulkkonen's album Dualizm, released in 2005, and he was sampled by British hiphop artist Plan B for the song "Cast a Light" which appears on the Paint it Blacker EP. He has also collaborated with the Swedish hip hop DJ and producer Embee on the track "Send Someone Away." González's song "Crosses" was remixed in 2006 by popular Dutch DJ Tiësto. González can also be heard in the song "I want you Back" by the Swedish indie-rock group Niccokick.

Discography

Albums

EPs

  • Crosses EP (June 2003)
    • 7" single (limited to 500 copies): "Crosses" / "Storm"
    • CD EP: "Crosses" / "Hints" / "Deadweight on Velveteen" / "Storm"
  • José González & Jens Lekman Split Tour Single (December 2003)
    • 7" single (limited to 330 copies): "If You Ever Need a Stranger to Sing at Your Wedding" (Lekman) / "Hand on Your Heart" (González)
  • Remain EP (January 2004)
    • 7" single (limited to 300 copies): "Remain" / "Lovestain"
    • CD EP: "Remain" / "Lovestain" / "Love Will Tear Us Apart" / "Suggestions"
  • Stay in the Shade EP (June 2004 - Sweden; August 2005 - UK; January 2006 - US)
    • 7" single (limited to 220 copies): "Down the Hillside" / "Sensing Owls"
    • CD EP: "Stay in the Shade" / "Down the Hillside" / "Sensing Owls" / "Hand on Your Heart" / "Instr."
  • Australian Tour EP (November 2005 - Australia & New Zealand)
    • CD collection of 8 Veneer era B-sides
  • B-Sides Collected EP (November 2006 - South Africa)
  • 3 EP Collection (September 2007 - Taiwan)
    • 3 CD collection featuring Crosses EP, Remain EP and Stay in the Shade EP
  • José González & Promise and the Monster Split Tour Single (December 2007)
    • 7" single (limited to 500 copies): "How Low" (González) / "Sheets" (Promise and the Monster)

Singles

  • "Heartbeats" (January 9, 2006) #9 UK, #66 AUS
    • b/w: "Suggestions"
  • "Laura, Laura" (February 6, 2006) #8 Uk, #60 AUS
    • b/w: "Suggestions"
  • "Crosses" (April 10, 2006) #107 UK
    • b/w: "Storm"
  • "Hand on Your Heart" (July 3, 2006) #29 UK, #88 AUS
    • b/w: "Down the Hillside" / "Sensing Owls"
  • "Down the Line" (September 10, 2007 - UK) #140 UK, #12 UK Indie
    • b/w: "Smalltown Boy"
  • "Killing for Love" (September 19, 2007 - Sweden)
    • b/w: "Smalltown Boy"
  • "Teardrop" (November 12, 2007)
    • b/w "Four Forks Ache"
  • "Down the Line" (February 20, 2008 - Sweden)
    • b/w "Neon Lights"
  • "Killing for Love" (January 14, 2008 - digital download; April 7, 2008 - 7" vinyl - UK)
    • b/w "Neon Lights"

References

  1. ^ José González interview with Hate Something Beautiful, June 29, 2006
  2. ^ a b Rajagopalan, Pras (2007). "José González Is Quietly Hardcore". Exclaim! Magazine. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  3. ^ José González interview with the Reykjavik Grapevine
  4. ^ "Sweety Gonzalez: Jose has a quiet word with Guerilla". BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 2008-07-31.
  5. ^ Jose Gonzalez interview with Mark Ziemke for GroundControlMag.com, September 4, 2007
  6. ^ "José González: sparking heartbeats in the charts", 22 January 2006 interview with La Blogothèque
  7. ^ Sony Bravia "bouncing ball" advert
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