Literate rock is this Manchester group's stock in trade.
About Elbow
Artist Biography
Rock band Elbow began as a Sly Stone-influenced funk act called Soft, before deciding to change their name and take musical cues from The Velvet Underground, Radiohead, and U2.
∙ David Bowie’s Hunky Dory and Joni Mitchell’s For the Roses are two of Elbow frontman Guy Garvey’s favorite albums from childhood.
∙ Elbow has had three consecutive No. 1 UK albums: 2014’s The Take Off and Landing of Everything, 2017’s Little Fictions, and 2019’s Giants of All Sizes.
∙ Velvet Underground cofounder John Cale declared Elbow’s “Switching Off” to be one of his “desert island discs”—a compliment Garvey called “one of the greatest moments of my life.”
∙ The band won Britain’s Mercury Prize for 2008’s The Seldom Seen Kid, which has sold more than 1 million copies.
∙ In 2011, “One Day Like This” was ranked No. 41 on NME’s list of the 150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years.
∙ Garvey was commissioned by the BBC to write “First Steps,” the theme song for the network’s coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Hometown
Manchester, England
Genre
Alternative
Members of Elbow
Elbow was formed in 1990. Members of Elbow include, or have included, the following 3 members.