Elliott Murphy | Artist

Elliott Murphy is an American singer-songwriter, novelist, producer and journalist born 1949 in Rockville Centre, New York. In the late '70s Murphy relocated from New York City to Paris. He began playing the guitar at age twelve and his band The Rapscallions won the 1966 New York State Battle of the Bands. In 1971 he travelled to Europe and appeared in the Federico Fellini film Roma. Returning to New York, in 1973 he secured a record contract with Polydor Records. His debut album Aquashow (1973) was critically acclaimed and favorably reviewed in Rolling Stone, Newsweek and The New Yorker. His urbane pop-rock style featured strong melodies, literary & pop culture references, and his more than passable electric guitar work. The early attention and positive reviews continued through his next three releases Lost Generation ('75), Night Lights ('76) and Just a Story From America ('77). It was five years before his next album Murph the Surf which lacked much of the creativity of the earlier four works. Over the course of his career Murphy has released 24 studio albums. While he was not able to recapture the magic of his early works, some of the later albums, such as 12, Beauregard and Soul Surfing, are excellent works in their own right. His 1995 album Selling the Gold featured a duet "Everything I Do", with Bruce Springsteen, and a collaboration with the Violent Femmes entitled "King of the Serpentine". Outside of music, Murphy has written for Rolling Stone and other leading music magazines, plus has published a semi-autobiographical novel "Cold & Electric", as well as two short story collections "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" and "Where the Women Are Naked And The Men Are Rich".

Artist Website: elliottmurphy.com

Featured Albums: Elliott Murphy

Related Artists: Bruce Springsteen, Iain Matthews