Parthenon Huxley
Encyclopedia
Parthenon Huxley is an American musician, singer, songwriter and producer who is known for his solo albums and for his involvement in ELO Part II
and The Orchestra
, both of which are latter-day offshoots of the 1970s-80s orchestral rock band Electric Light Orchestra
. He has also made several cameo appearances in several films including The Flintstones.
and grew up in New Jersey
and Athens
, Greece
before moving to North Carolina
to attend UNC-Chapel Hill. His stage name (now legal name) honors two of his varied interests - his love for Greece, and the British writer Aldous Huxley
. He began his recording career as guitarist on Matt Barrett's EP The Ruse (Moonlight Records) produced by Don Dixon
and Mitch Easter
. His touring career began as a member of the Chapel Hill, NC
rock band The Blazers, which consisted of Huxley (credited under his original name Rick Miller), Sherman Tate (lead & harmony vocals, rhythm guitar), Ronnie Taylor (drums & percussion) and Lee Gildersleeve (bass). The band recorded one album, How to Rock: Ten Easy Lessons (Moonlight Records, 1980) again produced by Don Dixon.
His first solo recording (released under the pseudonym "Rick Rock") was the self-produced, self-financed single "Buddha, Buddha" / "Sputnik" (Big Groovy, 1983). Despite its modest recording budget of US $400 "Buddha, Buddha" was named one of the ten best records ever made in North Carolina by the Greensboro Record. During this period Huxley also toured as guitarist with Don Dixon
under the name Me & Dixon. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1987 and signed with Columbia Records
; the following year he recorded his first solo album, Sunny Nights (Columbia 1988), produced by Huxley and Paul McCartney producer David Kahne
. Three of its tracks ("Double Our Numbers", "Guest Host for the Holy Ghost" and "Chance to Be Loved") were released as singles during that year. Although the album received favorable reviews (Rolling Stone Magazine called it "monumental debut"), it did not sell well and this ended his association with Columbia.
It was five years before Huxley's next album; in the intervening period he co-produced the two solo albums by Eels frontman E, 1992's A Man Called E
and 1994's Broken Toy Shop
. The first single from A Man Called E ("Hello Cruel World" – co-written by Huxley) reached #8 on the Modern Rock chart. Huxley also produced an eponymous album with power pop singer Kyle Vincent
(Carport/Hollywood Records
). The album's first single, "Wake Me Up (When the World's Worth Waking Up For)" reached #101 on Billboard's singles chart and stayed there for eight weeks, setting a curious record for "bubbling under" the Hot 100.
Huxley's next album was credited to P. Hux, a power-pop trio comprising Huxley, Gordon Townsend (drums, vocals) and Rob Miller (bass, vocals). The album Deluxe (1995) was released in the US on the Black Olive label, and was also released in Japan, Australia and France (where it was retitled Every Minute). The songs on the album were largely inspired by Huxley's recent marriage to screenwriter Janet Heaney. The album was well received by critics and was voted as 1995 Album of the Year by Audites Magazine. A single from the album, "Every Minute" appeared on the Rhino Records compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of the '90s.
Huxley's next recording was the self-titled album recorded by Huxley's side-project VeG (1997), another three-piece group with Winston Watson (drums, lap steel) and Paul Martinez (bass, background vocals). Watson was Bob Dylan's drummer for five years in the '90s.
In January 1997 Huxley's wife Janet died from cancer, aged only 38, and it was several years before he resumed his solo career. In the meantime, he joined Electric Light Orchestra Part II in January 1999, replacing singer-guitarist Phil Bates
, and he toured with them through the year. In November that year Bev Bevan
played his last show with the band; in early 2000 he issued a press statement announcing that the group had dissolved, and he then sold his 50% share of the rights to the ELO
name back to the group's founder, Jeff Lynne
. The remaining members then recruited drummer Gordon Townsend and following legal action by Lynne, the group renamed itself The Orchestra
. They continued to tour with this lineup until 2007, when Huxley left the band.
Meanwhile, Huxley had re-started his solo career in 2001 with two albums. The second P. Hux studio album, Purgatory Falls, was a deeply personal and sometimes harrowing song-cycle that chronicled the devastating experience of his wife's untimely death. This was followed by a solo live album, Live in Your Living Room. Later that year he recorded with The Orchestra for their album No Rewind
, which featured four songs written or co-written by Huxley: "Jewel and Johnny", "Can't Wait to See You", "Over London Skies" and "Before We Go."
Huxley followed No Rewind with another solo acoustic live album In Your Parlour (Nine18 Records) in 2003 and then began work on Homemade Spaceship, an album of ELO covers commissioned by Lakeshore Records
of Hollywood, CA
. Homemade Spaceship: The Music of ELO as Performed by P. Hux was awarded 2005 Tribute Album of the Year by Just Plain Folks, the world's largest online musicians community.
Huxley moved to Maryland in 2005 and began work on the third P. Hux studio album, Kiss the Monster. It was released in 2007 by English label Voiceprint
in conjunction with Nine18 (Huxley's imprint) and BeanBagOne, a label owned by Huxley's American manager David Bean of Carmel, CA. Kiss the Monster was nominated for 'Album of the Year' by Just Plain Folks. He now teaches band at New Hope Academy and other miscellaneous instruments to children and teenagers in the Maryland area.
ELO Part II
ELO Part II were an offshoot band formed by Electric Light Orchestra drummer Bev Bevan. The band also included former ELO bassist Kelly Groucutt, conductor Louis Clark and violinist Mik Kaminski for most of its career...
and The Orchestra
The Orchestra
The Orchestra is a rock band formed by former members of the Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II. It is the continuation of ELO Part II following Bev Bevan's departure and selling of the rights to Jeff Lynne.-History:...
, both of which are latter-day offshoots of the 1970s-80s orchestral rock band Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
. He has also made several cameo appearances in several films including The Flintstones.
Biography
Huxley was born Richard Willett Miller in Baton Rouge, LALouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and grew up in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
before moving to North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
to attend UNC-Chapel Hill. His stage name (now legal name) honors two of his varied interests - his love for Greece, and the British writer Aldous Huxley
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
. He began his recording career as guitarist on Matt Barrett's EP The Ruse (Moonlight Records) produced by Don Dixon
Don Dixon
Don Dixon is a record producer, songwriter, musician, bass guitarist, and very occasional actor. He is originally from South Carolina.-Biography:Don Dixon was born on December 13, 1950 in Lancaster, South Carolina...
and Mitch Easter
Mitch Easter
Mitch Easter is a songwriter, musician, and producer. As a producer, he is probably best known for his work with R.E.M. from 1981 through 1984, though he has also worked with many other acts including The Hang Ups, Pavement, Suzanne Vega, Game Theory, Marshall Crenshaw, Velvet Crush, and...
. His touring career began as a member of the Chapel Hill, NC
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
rock band The Blazers, which consisted of Huxley (credited under his original name Rick Miller), Sherman Tate (lead & harmony vocals, rhythm guitar), Ronnie Taylor (drums & percussion) and Lee Gildersleeve (bass). The band recorded one album, How to Rock: Ten Easy Lessons (Moonlight Records, 1980) again produced by Don Dixon.
His first solo recording (released under the pseudonym "Rick Rock") was the self-produced, self-financed single "Buddha, Buddha" / "Sputnik" (Big Groovy, 1983). Despite its modest recording budget of US $400 "Buddha, Buddha" was named one of the ten best records ever made in North Carolina by the Greensboro Record. During this period Huxley also toured as guitarist with Don Dixon
Don Dixon
Don Dixon is a record producer, songwriter, musician, bass guitarist, and very occasional actor. He is originally from South Carolina.-Biography:Don Dixon was born on December 13, 1950 in Lancaster, South Carolina...
under the name Me & Dixon. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1987 and signed with Columbia Records
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...
; the following year he recorded his first solo album, Sunny Nights (Columbia 1988), produced by Huxley and Paul McCartney producer David Kahne
David Kahne
David Kahne is an American record producer. Kahne started his musical career as a working musician and then became notable for his role as in-house producer and engineer at 415 Records, the first American new wave music label, and for his subsequent roles as Vice President of A&R at Columbia...
. Three of its tracks ("Double Our Numbers", "Guest Host for the Holy Ghost" and "Chance to Be Loved") were released as singles during that year. Although the album received favorable reviews (Rolling Stone Magazine called it "monumental debut"), it did not sell well and this ended his association with Columbia.
It was five years before Huxley's next album; in the intervening period he co-produced the two solo albums by Eels frontman E, 1992's A Man Called E
A Man Called E
A Man Called E is Mark Oliver Everett's 1992 major-label debut album, and the first on which he used the pseudonym "E"....
and 1994's Broken Toy Shop
Broken Toy Shop
Broken Toy Shop is singer/songwriter E's second album, and his last as a solo artist before forming the band Eels. According to Everett's official website, this album's cover is his least favorite of any of his releases...
. The first single from A Man Called E ("Hello Cruel World" – co-written by Huxley) reached #8 on the Modern Rock chart. Huxley also produced an eponymous album with power pop singer Kyle Vincent
Kyle Vincent
Kyle Vincent is an American singer-songwriter/entertainer, labeled as the "crown prince of soft pop," by Goldmine.Vincent was born and raised in Berkeley, California, U.S.A..-Musical career:...
(Carport/Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records
Hollywood Records is an American record label owned by Disney Music Group, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company.-History:Hollywood Records was founded in 1989 by then-Disney CEO Michael Eisner with the idea of expanding the music operations of the company and to develop and promote...
). The album's first single, "Wake Me Up (When the World's Worth Waking Up For)" reached #101 on Billboard's singles chart and stayed there for eight weeks, setting a curious record for "bubbling under" the Hot 100.
Huxley's next album was credited to P. Hux, a power-pop trio comprising Huxley, Gordon Townsend (drums, vocals) and Rob Miller (bass, vocals). The album Deluxe (1995) was released in the US on the Black Olive label, and was also released in Japan, Australia and France (where it was retitled Every Minute). The songs on the album were largely inspired by Huxley's recent marriage to screenwriter Janet Heaney. The album was well received by critics and was voted as 1995 Album of the Year by Audites Magazine. A single from the album, "Every Minute" appeared on the Rhino Records compilation Poptopia! Power Pop Classics of the '90s.
Huxley's next recording was the self-titled album recorded by Huxley's side-project VeG (1997), another three-piece group with Winston Watson (drums, lap steel) and Paul Martinez (bass, background vocals). Watson was Bob Dylan's drummer for five years in the '90s.
In January 1997 Huxley's wife Janet died from cancer, aged only 38, and it was several years before he resumed his solo career. In the meantime, he joined Electric Light Orchestra Part II in January 1999, replacing singer-guitarist Phil Bates
Phil Bates
Phil Bates has been a member of many notable bands including Trickster and Quill, and was the lead guitarist, songwriter and joint lead vocalist for ELO Part II from 1993 through to 1999....
, and he toured with them through the year. In November that year Bev Bevan
Bev Bevan
Bev Bevan is an English rock musician, who was the drummer and one of the original members of The Move and Electric Light Orchestra...
played his last show with the band; in early 2000 he issued a press statement announcing that the group had dissolved, and he then sold his 50% share of the rights to the ELO
ELO
- Music :* Electric Light Orchestra, a British rock music group** The Electric Light Orchestra , the group's debut album** ELO 2, the group's second album* ELO Part II, an offshoot band of Electric Light Orchestra- Sports and games :...
name back to the group's founder, Jeff Lynne
Jeff Lynne
Jeffrey "Jeff" Lynne is an English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader and sole constant member of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys together with George Harrison, Bob...
. The remaining members then recruited drummer Gordon Townsend and following legal action by Lynne, the group renamed itself The Orchestra
The Orchestra
The Orchestra is a rock band formed by former members of the Electric Light Orchestra and ELO Part II. It is the continuation of ELO Part II following Bev Bevan's departure and selling of the rights to Jeff Lynne.-History:...
. They continued to tour with this lineup until 2007, when Huxley left the band.
Meanwhile, Huxley had re-started his solo career in 2001 with two albums. The second P. Hux studio album, Purgatory Falls, was a deeply personal and sometimes harrowing song-cycle that chronicled the devastating experience of his wife's untimely death. This was followed by a solo live album, Live in Your Living Room. Later that year he recorded with The Orchestra for their album No Rewind
No Rewind
No Rewind is an album released by The Orchestra in 2001 and reissued in 2005 and again in 2006. Produced by Eric Troyer, Parthenon Huxley and Jim Jacobsen, No Rewind was recorded without a single penny from any record label...
, which featured four songs written or co-written by Huxley: "Jewel and Johnny", "Can't Wait to See You", "Over London Skies" and "Before We Go."
Huxley followed No Rewind with another solo acoustic live album In Your Parlour (Nine18 Records) in 2003 and then began work on Homemade Spaceship, an album of ELO covers commissioned by Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Records is the independent music division of Lakeshore Entertainment . They started out as WILL Records.Will Records were started by Skip Williamson in the early 90s...
of Hollywood, CA
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. Homemade Spaceship: The Music of ELO as Performed by P. Hux was awarded 2005 Tribute Album of the Year by Just Plain Folks, the world's largest online musicians community.
Huxley moved to Maryland in 2005 and began work on the third P. Hux studio album, Kiss the Monster. It was released in 2007 by English label Voiceprint
Voiceprint Records
Voiceprint Records is a company and record label based in England, founded in 1990 by Rob Ayling. They specialise in re-releasing old material, especially progressive rock, but also have new releases, all under the Voiceprint and other imprints....
in conjunction with Nine18 (Huxley's imprint) and BeanBagOne, a label owned by Huxley's American manager David Bean of Carmel, CA. Kiss the Monster was nominated for 'Album of the Year' by Just Plain Folks. He now teaches band at New Hope Academy and other miscellaneous instruments to children and teenagers in the Maryland area.
Studio albums
- Sunny Nights (1988)
- Deluxe (1995)
- Purgatory Falls (2001)
- Homemade Spaceship: The Music of ELO as Performed by P. Hux (2005)
- Mile High Fan (2006)
- Kiss the Monster (2007)
Singles
- "Chance to Be Loved" (1988)
- "Double Our Numbers" (1988)
- "It'll Be Alright" (1995)
- "Every Minute" (1995)
- "Here Comes the Savior" (1995)