1. Stephin Merritt was born on February 9,1965 and is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the songwriter and principal singer of the bands the Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes.
16 Facts About Stephin Merritt
1. 2.
Stephin Merritt briefly used the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestra as an attribution for "Scream and Run Away", a song written for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, but further music was attributed to the Gothic Archies.
3.
Stephin Merritt wrote and sang "I'm in a Lonely Way" in a television commercial for Volvo that aired in the summer and fall of 2007.
4.
Stephin Merritt penned the music and lyrics for a 2009 Off-Broadway stage musical adaptation of Coraline, a novel by Neil Gaiman.
5.
Stephin Merritt produced a score for the silent film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that was performed at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco on May 4,2010, as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival.
6.
Unlike most singer-songwriters, Stephin Merritt rarely writes autobiographical songs and does not consider songwriting to be emotionally expressive but an exercise in craft, carried out for its own pleasure.
7.
Stephin Merritt has stated that he finds writing lyrics with constraints easier.
8.
Stephin Merritt's preferred method of writing songs involves spending several hours sitting in gay bars "one-third full of cranky old gay men gossiping over thumping disco music" with a glass of cognac, which provides him with inspiration for lyrics.
9.
Stephin Merritt has described ABBA, Stephen Sondheim, and Phil Spector as influences.
10.
Stephin Merritt has said he is an avid listener of bubblegum pop, listing Ramones, Kraftwerk, Abba, The Troggs as examples of the style.
11.
Stephin Merritt used "Stephin" to sort his junk mail, and that eventually became the name he used as a musician.
12.
Stephin Merritt attended Massachusetts high school The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended NYU before moving back to Boston.
13.
Stephin Merritt has worked as an editor for Spin Magazine and Time Out New York.
14.
Stephin Merritt has struggled with epilepsy and depression since his youth, and has a hearing condition known as hyperacusis, which he believes is damage sustained from attending an Einsturzende Neubauten concert at Danceteria.
15.
Stephin Merritt wears earplugs during performances, and typically covers his left ear when the audience applauds.
16.
Stephin Merritt was the subject of a documentary, Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, which premiered in March 2010.