Talking Heads star David Byrne turns 70

Collaboration with Brian Eno

Sound genius Brian Eno produced “More Songs About Buildings and Food”, “Fear Music” and “Staying in the Light” over the next three years. Influences from pop, funk, punk, art rock and elements of world music are found in the simplified songs. Byrne sang and spoke in a strange way that was tense and somewhat ironic, but also sarcastic. The music video directed by Byrne and Tony Basil for “Once In A Lifetime,” in which the singer performs whimsical dance moves in a suit, tie and glasses, is an iconic figure.

Business hack with “speaking in tongues”

After a short hiatus – Byrne recorded his first solo album “My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts” with Eno and other famous musicians in 1981 – the Talking Heads reunited for “Speaking In Tongues”. It represented the trade breakout of the four. In addition, the concert film “Stop Making Sense” directed by Jonathan Deem and a live album of the same name were released.

Byrne’s claim is splitting the band

The single “Road To Nowhere” from their sixth studio album “Little Creatures”, which is also the band’s most successful, was particularly successful in Europe. But there were tensions. Drummer Chris Frantz reported in his autobiography that the demanding Byrne wanted to break up the band in the early 1980s. In 1991, after eight studio albums, it was already over, even if other chief speakers at the time assumed, according to Frantz, that the separation was only temporary.

To this day, Byrne travels in many different ways. The restless artist has released more than ten solo albums and has composed several soundtracks for films, series and plays. A new book with drawings and poems was published only in February.

A reunion is as good as impossible

After the breakup, The Talking Heads were on stage together only once. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, David Byrne and his former associate musicians performed three songs together. It is almost impossible to have a long-term reunion at some point. “I don’t think so,” Byrne told the New York Post last year. “It’s been a long time and our ways have kind of parted.”

With material from dpa