David Balfe
Encyclopedia
David Balfe is most notable for playing keyboards
with The Teardrop Explodes
, founding the Zoo
and Food
record label
s, signing Blur
and for being the subject of their number one
hit
- "Country House".
, where he played with several Liverpool
bands
in the late 1970s that emerged out of the city's legendary Erics Club scene, including Radio Blank, Big in Japan, Dalek I Love You
and The Teardrop Explodes
. He also played on and co-produced the first Echo & the Bunnymen
and Teardrop Explodes album
s, as well as managing both bands, with Bill Drummond
, for their early years.
From Y to Z and Never Again
. The label went on to sign and release the early work of The Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen.
Balfe and Drummond did their production work under the name of The Chameleons, and released the singles
"Touch" and "The Lonely Spy" - credited to Lori and The Chameleons - on the Zoo label, later licensing them to Sire
/Korova.
Though they released a few other artists, The Teardrops & Bunnymen grew to take up most of their time and eventually, due to lack of funding, they signed both bands to major London labels and continued to manage them, while letting the label fade into inactivity.
and producer, but on the departure of their original keyboard player, Paul Simpson, Balfe stepped in for what turned into four years in and out of the band, having a famously tempestuous relationship with their singer, Julian Cope
. He played keyboards on their Top 10 single, 'Reward', and their two gold albums, 'Kilimanjaro' (1980) & 'Wilder' (1981).
After The Teardrop Explodes disbanded in 1983, Balfe moved to London
where, after managing Strawberry Switchblade
(Top 5 Hit, 'Since Yesterday') and Brilliant
(the post-Killing Joke band of subsequently famous producer, Youth
), he then founded the Food
record label in 1984.
, Zodiac Mindwarp
(both of whom moved on to major labels, while Balfe continued to manage them for many years), Crazyhead
, and Diesel Park West
, before signing a deal with EMI
to fund and distribute the label worldwide.
They then signed Jesus Jones
who went on to have a number one album in the UK and multi-million sales internationally with their second album, 'Doubt', and a number one single in the USA with 'Right Here Right Now'. A year after Jesus Jones they signed Blur
.
It was Balfe, and later label partner Andy Ross, that convinced the band to change their name from Seymour to Blur, on signing in 1989. Blur's enormous, era-defining success requires no description here.
Balfe also directed Blur's first two music video
s, She's So High and There's No Other Way
.
Balfe and Drummond's publishing company, Zoo Music, signed many of the above artists, as well as multi-million selling acts The Proclaimers
in 1987, and Drummond's band The KLF
.
Balfe, disenchanted with the alternative scene in the years of 'Grunge', decided to sell the Food label to EMI
in 1994, and semi-retire with his young family to the country - inspiring Damon Albarn
to pen Blur's first No.1 hit, "Country House"., about a 'professional cynic' tired of 'living life to the limit' escaping to a 'very big house in the country'.
of the Columbia
label. His most notable success of that period was A&Ring the million-selling Kula Shaker
.
Since then Balfe has received a BA
in Creative Writing from the University of Bedfordshire
in 2003, and, in 2006, an MA in Screenwriting from the University of Westminster
.
In June 2010 Balfe received the Mojo Magazine 'Inspiration Award' on behalf of The Teardrop Explodes. It was presented by Alex James from Blur.
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
with The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman...
, founding the Zoo
Zoo Records
Zoo Records was a British independent record label formed by Bill Drummond and David Balfe in 1978. Zoo was launched in order to release the work of the perennially struggling Liverpool band, Big in Japan...
and Food
Food Records
Food Records was a record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe, who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distribution, Food licenced acts to the Polygram offshoot London and Warner's WEA Records, before...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s, signing Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
and for being the subject of their number one
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
- "Country House".
Biography
David Balfe grew up in MerseysideMerseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, where he played with several Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
bands
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
in the late 1970s that emerged out of the city's legendary Erics Club scene, including Radio Blank, Big in Japan, Dalek I Love You
Dalek I Love You
Dalek I Love You may refer to:* Dalek I Love You, a synthpop group* Dalek I Love You , the group's self-titled album* Dalek I Love You , an audio play broadcast on BBC Radio...
and The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes
The Teardrop Explodes were an English post-punk/neo-psychedelic band formed in Liverpool in 1978. Best known for their Top Ten UK single "Reward" the group originated as a key band in the emerging Liverpool post-punk scene of the late 1970s, the group also launched the career of group frontman...
. He also played on and co-produced the first Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen
Echo & the Bunnymen are an English post-punk band, formed in Liverpool in 1978. The original line-up consisted of vocalist Ian McCulloch, guitarist Will Sergeant and bass player Les Pattinson, supplemented by a drum machine. By 1980, Pete de Freitas had joined as the band's drummer, and their debut...
and Teardrop Explodes album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, as well as managing both bands, with Bill Drummond
Bill Drummond
William Ernest Drummond is a Scottish artist, musician, writer and record producer. He was the co-founder of late 1980s avant-garde pop group The KLF and its 1990s media-manipulating successor, the K Foundation, with which he burned a million pounds in 1994...
, for their early years.
Zoo Records
Balfe and Drummond, having met while playing together in Big In Japan, founded the Zoo record label in 1978 in order to release Big in Japan's posthumous EPExtended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
From Y to Z and Never Again
From Y to Z and Never Again
From Y To Z and Never Again is an EP released by the seminal punk band Big in Japan. It includes four out of their six recorded songs and is most notable for being the first release on Zoo Records, the label created by band members Bill Drummond and David Balfe. It was also one of the first...
. The label went on to sign and release the early work of The Teardrop Explodes and Echo & the Bunnymen.
Balfe and Drummond did their production work under the name of The Chameleons, and released the singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Touch" and "The Lonely Spy" - credited to Lori and The Chameleons - on the Zoo label, later licensing them to Sire
Sire Records
Sire Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group and distributed through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehrer, each investing ten thousand dollars into the new company. Its early releases as a...
/Korova.
Though they released a few other artists, The Teardrops & Bunnymen grew to take up most of their time and eventually, due to lack of funding, they signed both bands to major London labels and continued to manage them, while letting the label fade into inactivity.
The Teardrop Explodes
Balfe began as The Teardrop Explodes' label head, managerManagement
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
and producer, but on the departure of their original keyboard player, Paul Simpson, Balfe stepped in for what turned into four years in and out of the band, having a famously tempestuous relationship with their singer, Julian Cope
Julian Cope
Julian Cope is a British rock musician, author, antiquary, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator...
. He played keyboards on their Top 10 single, 'Reward', and their two gold albums, 'Kilimanjaro' (1980) & 'Wilder' (1981).
After The Teardrop Explodes disbanded in 1983, Balfe moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where, after managing Strawberry Switchblade
Strawberry Switchblade
Strawberry Switchblade was a female pop rock band formed in Scotland in 1981 by Jill Bryson and Rose McDowall, best known for their song "Since Yesterday" in 1985.-Before being signed:...
(Top 5 Hit, 'Since Yesterday') and Brilliant
Brilliant (band)
Brilliant were a British pop/rock group active in the 1980s. Although not commercially successful and mauled by the critics, they remain notable because of the personnel involved - Martin Glover aka Youth, formerly of Killing Joke and subsequently a top producer/remixer; Jimmy Cauty, later to find...
(the post-Killing Joke band of subsequently famous producer, Youth
Martin Glover
Martin Glover, also known as Youth, is a record producer and a founding member and bassist of the UK band Killing Joke. He is a member of The Fireman along with Paul McCartney. Glover was born in Africa.-Early career:...
), he then founded the Food
Food Records
Food Records was a record label set up in 1984 by David Balfe, who later took on Andy Ross as his partner. Originally formed as an independent record label with distribution going through Rough Trade Distribution, Food licenced acts to the Polygram offshoot London and Warner's WEA Records, before...
record label in 1984.
Food Records
Food, initially funded by Balfe alone, signed Voice of the BeehiveVoice of the Beehive
Voice of the Beehive is an Anglo-American alternative pop rock band formed in London in 1986 by Californian sisters Tracey Bryn and Melissa Brooke Belland, daughters of The Four Preps singer, Bruce Belland.- Career :...
, Zodiac Mindwarp
Zodiac Mindwarp
-Overview:The band is the brainchild of Mark Manning, a graphic artist and editor of London's Flexipop magazine. Deciding to experience the debauchery of life as a decadent rock star, he assumed the alter ego, Zodiac Mindwarp, and formed the Love Reaction in the mid 1980s together with guitarist...
(both of whom moved on to major labels, while Balfe continued to manage them for many years), Crazyhead
Crazyhead
Crazyhead are an English garage punk band from Leicester, England. Though lumped in with the largely media-created grebo scene, they were more influenced by the garage rock of the late 1960s, as well as bands like The Ramones, The Stooges and Captain Beefheart...
, and Diesel Park West
Diesel Park West
Diesel Park West are an alternative rock band from Leicester, England. Formed in 1981, they have released ten albums to date, plus six singles that have appeared in the UK Singles Chart.-Original line-up:*John Butler...
, before signing a deal with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
to fund and distribute the label worldwide.
They then signed Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones are a British rock band. The Wiltshire-based group, formed in late 1988, recorded and performed in the late 1980s, throughout the 1990s, and into the 2000s. They are best remembered for their track, "Right Here, Right Now", an international hit and subsequently globally appropriated for...
who went on to have a number one album in the UK and multi-million sales internationally with their second album, 'Doubt', and a number one single in the USA with 'Right Here Right Now'. A year after Jesus Jones they signed Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
.
It was Balfe, and later label partner Andy Ross, that convinced the band to change their name from Seymour to Blur, on signing in 1989. Blur's enormous, era-defining success requires no description here.
Balfe also directed Blur's first two music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
s, She's So High and There's No Other Way
There's No Other Way
"There's No Other Way" is a song by Blur and was released 15 April 1991 as their second single. The song was the band's first top ten and top 40 hit and was also featured on the band's debut album Leisure. The single was also a minor hit in the United States, reaching number 82 on the Billboard Hot...
.
Balfe and Drummond's publishing company, Zoo Music, signed many of the above artists, as well as multi-million selling acts The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers
The Proclaimers are a Scottish band composed of identical twin brothers, Charlie and Craig Reid . They are probably best known for the songs "Letter from America", "I'm On My Way" and "I'm Gonna Be ". The band tours extensively throughout Europe and other continents...
in 1987, and Drummond's band The KLF
The KLF
The KLF were one of the seminal bands of the British acid house movement during the late 1980s and early 1990s....
.
Balfe, disenchanted with the alternative scene in the years of 'Grunge', decided to sell the Food label to EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
in 1994, and semi-retire with his young family to the country - inspiring Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
to pen Blur's first No.1 hit, "Country House"., about a 'professional cynic' tired of 'living life to the limit' escaping to a 'very big house in the country'.
Thereafter
After two years in the country, Balfe returned to the music biz to take up a position at Sony Music from 1996 to 1999 as general manager and head of A&RA&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
of the Columbia
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
label. His most notable success of that period was A&Ring the million-selling Kula Shaker
Kula Shaker
Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by outspoken frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed great commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a number of Top 10 hits on the UK Singles...
.
Since then Balfe has received a BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Creative Writing from the University of Bedfordshire
University of Bedfordshire
The University of Bedfordshire is based in Luton and Bedford, the two largest towns in the English county of Bedfordshire. The university was created by the merger of the University of Luton and the Bedford campus of De Montfort University on 1 August 2006 following approval by the Privy Council...
in 2003, and, in 2006, an MA in Screenwriting from the University of Westminster
University of Westminster
The University of Westminster is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom. Its origins go back to the foundation of the Royal Polytechnic Institution in 1838, and it was awarded university status in 1992.The university's headquarters and original campus are based on Regent...
.
In June 2010 Balfe received the Mojo Magazine 'Inspiration Award' on behalf of The Teardrop Explodes. It was presented by Alex James from Blur.