1. Gotye is best known for his 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know", featuring New Zealander musician Kimbra, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as in multiple other countries, and became the best-selling song of 2012.
38 Facts About Gotye
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Gotye has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act.
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Gotye has released three studio albums independently and one album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums.
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Gotye is a founding member of the Melbourne indie-pop trio the Basics, who have independently released four studio albums and numerous other titles since 2002.
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Gotye's mother nicknamed him "Gotye", based on "Gauthier", the French equivalent of his Flemish first name.
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Gotye's parents chose to use the English equivalent of his name, Walter, when enrolling him in school.
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The first seeds of Gotye were planted when De Backer was given a large collection of old records.
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Gotye put together a four-track CD which included the song "Out Here in the Cold".
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Gotye made approximately 50 copies of this first collection, handwriting the track list and colouring in the cover sleeve in pencil.
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Gotye sent the CDs out to every radio station and recording industry contact he could find in the phonebook, then followed each up with phone calls to ensure they were delivered.
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Around this time, Gotye met fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder at a party in Mt Eliza, and the two began performing together under the name The Basics.
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The Basics have continued to tour and record alongside Gotye, releasing four albums between 2004 and 2010.
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Interest in the Gotye project was growing, and De Backer was eventually offered a distribution deal by the label company Creative Vibes for an album, which would essentially be a collection of the tracks from his three earlier releases.
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Gotye took up work at a local library, while continuing to perform with The Basics and record his own Gotye tracks.
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In September 2006, Gotye was nominated for an ARIA Award for best independent release for the album Like Drawing Blood.
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Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record Chart Awards and Like Drawing Blood was amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize.
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On 5 July 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" on YouTube and Vimeo.
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On 8 August 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Bronte" on YouTube and Vimeo.
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Also on this date, Gotye released a video title "Making Making Mirrors", which is a short documentary about the recording process of "Making Mirrors".
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On 13 August 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "State of the Art" on YouTube and Vimeo.
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On 11 October 2011, Gotye was nominated for seven ARIA Awards.
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Gotye was nominated for Highest Selling Single, Single of the Year, Best Pop Release, Best Male Artist and three awards in the ARIA Artisan category: Best Video, Engineer of the Year and Producer of the Year.
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On 27 November 2011, Gotye won three ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist, Best Pop Release and Single of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know".
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On 18 October 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You" on YouTube and Vimeo.
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On 20 November 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You" on YouTube and Vimeo.
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On 24 February 2012, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Easy Way Out" on YouTube and Vimeo.
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Gotye performed "Somebody That I Used to Know" on Saturday Night Live on 14 April 2012 along with "Eyes Wide Open".
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Gotye was interviewed on 7 April 2012 broadcast of National Public Radio's All Things Considered.
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On 31 May 2012, Gotye announced that he would release a digital compilation of the 10 official remixes of "Somebody That I Used to Know" on 8 June.
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On 15 February 2013, Fractured Heart, an interactive sound and light sculpture designed and built by illuminart in collaboration with Gotye, was launched at the National Film and Sound Archive headquarters in Canberra, Australia.
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In 2014, Gotye performed with Tex Perkins and Nicky Bomba in support of The Thin Green Line Foundation.
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Gotye launched Spirit Level, an independent record label with Tim Shiel, signing American band Zammuto.
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Gotye remained active as a drummer and singer of The Basics, who released The Lucky Country in 2014 and The Age of Entitlement in 2015.
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Gotye featured as vocalist on "The Way You Talk", a track from English electronic musician Bibio's 2016 album A Mineral Love, and "The Outfield", the 2017 debut single from American rock singer Martin Johnson's The Night Game project.
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In 2017, Gotye revealed that he chose not to allow online advertising on his music videos, including that of "Somebody That I Used to Know" which had then been viewed nearly one billion times on YouTube, thereby foregoing up to millions of dollars in advertising revenue.
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In July 2020, Gotye released a live album entitled Live at The Songroom.
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Gotye has stated his intention to release a fourth studio album; most recently in June 2018, when he mentioned a tribute to Perrey that would be included on the record.
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Gotye's voice has been compared to those of Peter Gabriel and Sting.