1. Bernard Butler has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of his generation; BBC journalist Mark Savage called him "one of Britain's most original and influential guitarists".
24 Facts About Bernard Butler
1. 2.
Bernard Butler was voted the 24th greatest guitarist of the last 30 years in a national 2010 BBC poll and is often seen performing with a 1961 cherry red Gibson ES-355 TD SV with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece.
3.
Bernard Butler spent his summers in his parents' hometown of Dun Laoghaire and in an interview given in 2022, he reflected on his upbringing and Irish immigration to Britain.
4.
Bernard Butler used it to play along with Johnny Marr's guitar parts to The Smiths' songs, eventually learning each one note-by-note and becoming proficient without ever having a formal guitar lesson.
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Bernard Butler first achieved fame in 1992 as the guitarist with Suede, forging a songwriting partnership with Brett Anderson.
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Bernard Butler co-wrote and played guitars or piano on every recording until 1994, when he exited Suede.
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Bernard Butler then released two solo albums under his own name, People Move On and Friends and Lovers, on Creation Records, yielding the hit single "Stay".
8.
In March 2024, Bernard Butler announced his third solo album, Good Grief, due for release in May 2024.
9.
In 2004 Bernard Butler formed a new band with Brett Anderson, The Tears, based on the same style that yielded their first successes with Suede in the early 1990s.
10.
Bernard Butler commenced production work on Kate Nash's second album My Best Friend Is You in mid-2009.
11.
In 2010 Bernard Butler worked with Nerina Pallot, Fyfe Dangerfield, Noisettes, Slow Club, Gabrielle, Howling Bells, The Veils, Simon Dine, and new artists Jodie Marie, Vince, Daley, Summer Camp, Joe Worricker and Scott McFarnon.
12.
Bernard Butler co-wrote and produced Texas's comeback album The Conversation.
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In 2013 Bernard Butler worked with the group Teleman, to finish their debut album; worked on songs with London group Flowers; and collaborated with Paloma Faith and Fyfe Dangerfield.
14.
In 2017, Bernard Butler produced the self-titled debut album of the New York band QTY.
15.
Bernard Butler joined Lee's curated Earth Day live stream in May 2020 improvising remotely along to a live stream of nightingales singing in the Sussex forest.
16.
The album "In Memory of My Feelings" compiled 10 songs drawn from the writing sessions begun in 2009 which Bernard Butler then pieced together and completed.
17.
In 2023 Bernard Butler completed Sam Lee's "Songdreaming" album and the debut from Irish band The Clockworks "Exit Strategy" He toured as 'Bernard Butler, Blake, Grant' alongside songwriters Norman Blake and James Grant, a collaboration formed for the 2022 Celtic Connections.
18.
Bernard Butler created the soundtrack to the 1997 film The James Gang and played on the soundtrack of Velvet Goldmine, and in 2020 created the score to a BBC Horizon episode on Pluto.
19.
Bernard Butler collaborated in songwriting camps and sessions for Warner-Chappell Publishing.
20.
Bernard Butler conducts audience-led PreProduction events around the country for the Musicians Union.
21.
Bernard Butler is a resident Lead Lecturer teaching the Songwriting BA degree course at BIMM London.
22.
On 13 April 2014, Bernard Butler participated in the London Marathon to raise funds for children with cerebral palsy, described by Bernard Butler as one of the "worst starts in life".
23.
Bernard Butler is a proud Patron of the Bert Jansch Foundation.
24.
Bernard Butler won the Producer's Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards, Producer of the Year at the 2008 Music Managers Forum Awards, was nominated for Best Producer at the 2009 Music Week Awards, and received a Grammy Award for work on Duffy's "Rockferry" which won the Best Pop Vocal Album award for 2009.