Elliott Murphy

American singer-songwriter Elliott Murphy was born in Rockville Centre, New York on March 16, 1949 and raised in Long Island, but spent the latter half of his adult life putting roots down in Paris. He displayed an affinity for the guitar at a young age and cut his teeth in his first band, the Rapsillions, before going on to air his self-written tunes on the streets of Europe, where he spent the late '60s busking alongside his brother Matthew. After returning to New York in 1973, he became a fixture on the city's storied art rock scene, entertaining the creative glitterati with his poetic rock 'n' roll offerings. His debut album, the bluesy, harmonica-infused Aquashow, arrived in 1975 and earned Elliott Murphy comparisons to Bob Dylan, considered by many to be a classic album. He released another three critically acclaimed LPs during the '70s – Lost Generation (1975), Night Lights (1976), and Just A Story From America (1977) – all critical darlings that sadly failed to make waves commercially. In 1980, he inaugurated the launch of his new label, Courtesan, with a six-track EP called Affairs, and went on to release albums throughout the '80s, but always with little commercial impact. However, after moving to Paris in 1990 he found a more reliable fanbase in Europe, making an entrance that year with the 24-track album 12, which was later shortened and renamed Unreal City for its US release in 1993. His career ballooned in the '90s, and a 2005 greatest-hits compilation, Never Say Never: The Best of 1995-2005, chronicled these achievements. He spent the '10s releasing albums like 2013's It Takes a Worried Man and 2017's Prodigal Son, which was produced and mixed by his son, Gaspard, and in 2018 was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame by Billy Joel. Having already added journalism and fiction writing to his CV, in 2020 he starred as fictional rock star Jack Lion in the feature film Broken Poet, also penning and putting his voice to the movie's soundtrack. That same year, he forged a spoken word collaboration with longtime creative partner Olivier Durand called Middle Kingdom.

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