Adrian Thaws
About
Biography
Biography
Adrian "Tricky" Thaws' deft mix of funk, dub, metal, art rock and trip hop -- with a touch of Tom Waits for good measure -- pushed the artist to hit the ground running as soon as his first album dropped. This musician's musician was such a rarity -- utterly original and dedicated to experimentation -- that he was sought after as a collaborator by musical intellectuals and innovators as far-flung as Björk, Public Enemy's Chuck D, Yoko Ono, Beyoncé Knowles, and Elvis Costello.
Tricky was born January 27, 1968 in Knowle West, Bristol, England. The artist's father left before he was born, and his mother committed suicide when he was four. He was raised by his grandmother and began writing music at 15. By 1987, he had hooked up with Bristol's pioneering hip-hop collective The Wild Bunch, who eventually morphed into Massive Attack, the roving music experiment centered around producers Robert "3D" Del Naja and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. Tricky appeared on Massive Attack's debut album Blue Lines (1991), and cut a vinyl single, "Aftermath" (1994), the first in a series of collaborations with girlfriend Martina Topley-Bird. The exposure opened the necessary doors for the production of his debut album.
A startlingly deep collection of songs, Tricky's debut album Maxinquaye (1995) featured quietly lush soundscapes that highlighted Topley-Bird's whispering vocals. The record was named for his mother, and was co-produced by Mark Saunders, who had collaborated with The Cure. It received critical raves from the influential cultural trend spotter, The Face and was ranked No. 1 on New Music Express' Top 50 Albums of the Year for 1995. Jon Pareles chose it for his New York Times Top 10 Albums of '95 list and Rolling Stone ranked it No. 3 in their 1996 Critics' Poll. That same year, the artist's tracks appeared in three high-profile films: "Virtuosity" (1995), an early virtual-reality thriller starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe; "Go Now" (1995), by the highly respected UK actor's director Michael Winterbottom; and an early Kathryn Bigelow film that garnered a cult following, "Strange Days" (1995).
Tricky's second album, Nearly God (1996), featured collaborations with a wide range of artists including Neneh Cherry, Björk and Alison Moyet. It also included covers of a Siouxsie and the Banshees b-side, "Tattoo," and a duet with Cath Coffey of "Summer Nights," a hit from the movie "Grease"(1978). He immediately followed that eclectic collection with his third album, Pre-Millennium Tension (1996). That same year, his track "Tonite Is a Special Nite," appeared in the movie "The Crow: City of Angels" (1996). In 1997, he acted in a featured role as Gary Oldman's henchman in Luc Besson's sci-fi film "The Fifth Element" (1997), and had a small part in John Woo's "Face/Off "(1997). He also had a cut on the soundtrack of the critically acclaimed David Lynch mystery/thriller "Lost Highway" (1997). The artist's fourth album, Angels with Dirty Faces (1998), featured singer PJ Harvey and the guitar work of Scott Ian of Anthrax. Tricky's fifth album Juxtapose (1999) included a sample of M's 1979 novelty hit "Pop Muzik" on lead single "For Real."
In 2001, Tricky released his sixth album, Blowback (ANTI- 2001), which was packed with guest artists, including most of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Cyndi Lauper, and two tracks with Alanis Morissette. The first single from Tricky's eighth studio album, Knowle West Boy (2008), sampled Portishead's 1994 song "Roads." The album was co-produced by Bernard Butler, formerly of the band Suede. Tricky's ninth studio album, Mixed Race (2010) was recorded in Paris. His tenth, False Idols (2013), was the artist's first release on his own label. The record featured Peter Silberman, singer/songwriter of indie rockers The Antlers, as well as a cover of the Van Morrison classic "Somebody's Sins."
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