David Byrne was born in Dumbarton, Scotland on May 14, 1952. At the age of 2, he and his family moved to Canada, and later Baltimore, Maryland. He was involved in several bands throughout his childhood, none very serious however. In 1970, he attended the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied functional design. Apparently he once performed a live production where he shaved his head on stage with a piano accompaniment and a girl displaying cue cards in Russian. He shortly thereafter left RISD, either kicked out or dropped out depending on who you ask...

In 1971 David formed a band called Bizadi with a friend, which featured a violin, ukelele, and an accordion. In spring of 1972, he headed back to Baltimore and formed a band called the Artistics with college friends Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth. Over the next few years they enlisted Jerry Harrison and changed the band name to Talking Heads. The band lasted until 1991, producing several popular albums and providing a heavy influence to the new wave sound. David continued with his solo work after the band's breakup.

David is currently married with a daughter.

Discography

With Talking Heads

• Talking Heads 77 - 1977
• More Songs About Building and Food - 1978
• Fear of Music - 1979
• Live on Tour - 1979
• Remain in Light - 1980
• The Name of this Band is Talking Heads - 1982
• Speaking in Tongues - 1983
• Stop Making Sense - 1984
• Little Creatures - 1985
• True Stories - 1986
• Naked - 1998
• The Best Of: Once in a Lifetime - 1991
• Popular Favorites: Sand in the Vaseline - 1991
• 12x12 - 1999

Solo Work

• My Life in the Bush of Ghosts - 1981 (with Brian Eno)
• The Catherine Wheel - 1981
• Music for "Knee Plays" - 1985
• Sounds from True Stories - 1986
• The Last Emperor Soundtrack - 1988
• Rel Momo - 1989
• The Forest - 1991
• Uh-Oh - 1992
• David Enryb - 1994
• Feelings - 1997
• The Visible Man - 1998
• In Spite of Wishing and Wanting - 1999
• Look Into The Eyeball - 2001
• Lead Us Not Into Temptation: Music from the film Young Adam - 2003
• Grown Backwards - 2004

Now runs a record label called Luaka Bop which has released many fine Latin and Brazilian albums and compilations over the last few years.

David Byrne also has the dubious honour of being the first thing many people hear when they first turn on their computer, as Microsoft licensed his song "Like Humans Do" from his album "Look Into The Eyeball" and set it to play automatically when Windows Media Player was first opened on every single copy of Windows XP. The free music didn't disguise the kludgey mess that is XP though...

Interestingly, MS saw fit to edit out the line "...I laugh when I'm stoned..." from the song, obviously due to fear of consumer reactions.