Elvis Costello

Trivia

• The instrumentals for his debut album, "My Aim Is True" were provided by a band called, Clover. For the album sessions, they were without their lead singer, Huey Lewis.
• Through Diana Krall, Jamie Chisholm is related to Elvis Costello.
• Elvis is a big fan of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.
• He was voted the 30th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
• Attended the special dinner at Sony Studios in Los Angeles to honor the singer and activist Sting as MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. The evening celebrated Sting's contribution to popular music and honored his charitable work with Amnesty International and the Rainforest Foundation. Other stars in attendance included Kylie Minogue, Elton John & Dido. (6th February 2004).
• May 2003 - announced engagement to Canadian jazz singer, Diana Krall.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the 'Elvis Costello and the Attractions') on 10 March 2003.
• Fan of Liverpool Football Club.
• Lead singer and guitarist of 'Elvis Costello and the Attractions'.
• Plays the guitar, harmonica and piano.

Quotes

• "It was difficult to develop an original style. I have no idea who it was I might have been imitating, whether consciously or unconsciously."
• "Was I purposefully fucking up my life to give myself something to write about? I think I did that for about a year. At the very most. Then I began to mistrust the results. Because if you do that, it's like when they pour acid in rabbit's eyes or something. What does it prove? It proves that it hurts the animal. Very smart. It's unnecessary research. And I guess I did some unnecessary research for a while. Then I'd write something that would scare the hell out of me. Like there's a couple of son
• "I'll never admit that I'm drunk. But we all drink. And sometimes it's for the right reasons...to let your mind off the leash for a while and have a bit of fun, and then you don't mind if you make a bit of a prat of yourself. And it doesn't matter if you end up shouting at people, or have a punch-up or whatever, as long as you wake up the same person. It's when you don't want to wake up the same person that you've got a problem."
• "It's when you're drinking and you're not happy, that's when you've got to worry. That's when it's gonna affect the way you look at things, because you're probably drinking for the wrong reasons. And that's when things start to get warped and you don't think anything through."
• "Do I resent people looking for the autobiographical in my songs? No, I don't resent it. I just blame John Lennon. It's The Plastic Ono Band, that album started it all. After that, everything was supposed to be fucking confessional. The early '70s were full of all these people baring their fucking souls for public scrutiny. There were records whose authenticity depended on their confessional aspect, and if you read certain magazines and the background interviews, you knew what these songs were a
• "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do."
• "It might be the best record of original thought that anybody's ever made. It's so completely unlike anything that went before it. And the vocal performances are the freest that I think Van ever recorded."
• "You can always say it could be better, but if you're not careful with ambition, the next thing you know you're sailing a statue of yourself down the river."
• "Sometimes doing an old song is like returning to the text of a play. It's not invalid, just because it's old, otherwise nobody would be acting [William Shakespeare]--not to say that everything I do is Shakespeare!. But it's inevitable that it changes its meaning or impact. That's why I never really sing anything from a nostalgic point of view, because even if it's 25 years old, it's in the moment. That's the beauty of live performance."
• "Be nice to the British boy. I'm the only ally you have left."