Mark Oliver Everett

Mark Oliver Everett
Everett playing live in Sydney (2003)
Background information
Birth name	Mark Oliver Everett
Also known as	E
Born	April 10 1963 (1963-04-10) (age 45) Virginia, U.S.
Origin	U.S.
Genre(s)	Rock
Occupation(s)	Singer/songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar, piano, keyboard
Years active	1991–present
Label(s)	Dreamworks, Vagrant Records
Associated acts	Eels, MC Honky
Website	Eelstheband.com

Mark Oliver Everett (born April 10, 1963, in Virginia) is the lead singer, guitarist, and keyboardist of the independent rock band Eels. (The band is additionally referred to in print as "The Eels" or, merely, "Eels.") Also known as E, Everett is known for writing intensely personal songs tackling such subjects as mortality's toll, mental illness, loneliness, and unrequited love, as well as mustering the courage to continue living in spite of such things.

Biography

Mark Oliver Everett is the son of physicist Hugh Everett III, originator of the many-worlds theory of quantum physics and of the use of Lagrange multipliers for general engineering optimizations. As a child, Everett developed a love of toy instruments; this fondness would continue into adulthood and provide an integral part of his idiosyncratic sound. At the age of 19 E found his father dead lying in his bed. In the eighties E (or Mark E. as he then called himself) was in several bands ("The Toasters" for instance [1]), recorded numerous promo tapes and even produced his first record ("Bad Dude In Love"), which was limited to 500 copies. In 1987 Everett moved from his family home in Virginia and resettled in California. Here, Everett began his musical career with two independently released albums: A Man Called E and Broken Toy Shop. The pseudonym "E" was used for both of these early recordings. While it may have caused some confusion in record stores and radio stations, the single-letter name gave the press a playful handle. One review began: "Excellent eponymous effort, energizingly eclectic. Early enthusiasm effectively ensures E's eminence."^[1]. A Billboard magazine review of his second album was similarly positive.^[2] Everett's sister, Elizabeth, long troubled by schizophrenia, committed suicide in 1996, and in 1998 his mother, Nancy Everett née Gore, died of lung cancer. Rather than surrender to these existential crises or continue his work with no mention of their deaths' effect on his life, Everett instead turned tragedy into the impetus for recording what is widely considered the Eels' magnum opus, Electro-Shock Blues. This release--the sound of which alternated between furious indefatigability, black humor, and strikingly authentic desperation--gained almost unanimous critical praise. Blues was followed by 2000's Daisies of the Galaxy, a gentler-in-tone addition to The Eels' oeuvre that hinted that perhaps Everett's recovery had begun. In 2000, E participated in a spiritual retreat, during which time he was forbidden to write or speak. Finding himself inspired, though, Everett broke the rules of the retreat and penned the lyrics for The Eels' Souljacker album. There, Everett also met his wife-to-be, a Russian dentist. Still, death continued to hound Everett--his cousin, Jennifer Lewis née Gore, was a flight attendant on the plane that struck the Pentagon during the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[3][4]

Career

Everett is a master of studio recordings, and his early solo work and Eels collaborations were hailed by critics for their innovative combination of various instruments and styles. Everett has used everything from a toy piano in his early "Symphony for a Toy Piano in G Minor" to hammers on a radiator as percussion in 1998's "Cancer for the Cure". Despite his constant denials, he is almost certainly the man behind MC Honky, who released the album I Am the Messiah in 2003. Claims that MC Honky is actually an eccentric, fiftysomething studio rat specializing in hip-hop-flavored "self-help rock" and who, according to his official biography, was involved in engineering Frank Sinatra’s 1968 album Gunga Din should be taken with a pinch of salt, not least because there is no record of any such album. Rightly or wrongly, he has a reputation as a troublemaker. The Eels official website claims that Everett responded to a request for a quote for the dust jacket to Kurt Cobain's posthumously published diaries with: "Please don't do this to me after I kill myself." (Needless to say, the blurb wasn't used.) He also appeared on the Australian chat show The Panel. When asked what motivated his music, he said, "Heroin", then proceeded to answer every question with the same response. Finally, he sang a song entitled "Fucker". Everett's music has also been featured on a number of television shows and movies, including the programs Homicide: Life on the Street ("Not Ready Yet," "Guest List"), Queer as Folk ("Love of the Loveless"), and Scrubs ("Fresh Feeling"), as well as the films American Beauty ("Cancer for the Cure"), Holes ("Eyes Down," "Mighty Fine Blues"), Road Trip ("Mr. E's Beautiful Blues"), Shrek ("My Beloved Monster"), and Hot Fuzz ("Souljacker, pt.1"). His song "That's Not Really Funny" was used as the theme music for the black comedic cartoon series Monkey Dust. He also wrote the soundtrack to the movie Levity. During 2005, Everett and his ad hoc Eels went on tour promoting his most recent album, Blinking Lights and Other Revelations; it was during this recording that he worked with long-time hero and influence Tom Waits. In 2007, it was announced that Everett's autobiography, entitled Things the Grandchildren Should Know, would be published in early 2008.[2] The 2007 BBC Scotland / BBC Four television documentary "Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives", followed Everett as he talked to physicists and his father's former colleagues about his father's theory. ^[5][6]

Discography

Main article: Eels discography

References