From a young age, he had a strong interest in music. He was rejected from his middle school's choir because they said he was 'off- key and too withdrawn'. But we’re all here.' īefore high school, Byrne already knew how to play the guitar, accordion, and violin. But then I realized the world was made up of people who were all different.

He later recalled 'I felt like a bit of an outsider. Byrne stated that he initially grew up speaking with a Scottish accent but adopted an American one in order to fit in at school. His father worked as an electronics engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corporation. When Byrne was eight or nine years old they moved to the United States, making their home in Arbutus, Maryland. The family left Scotland in part because there were few jobs requiring his father's engineering skills and in part because of the tensions in the extended family caused by his parents' mixed marriage. Two years after his birth, the family moved to Canada, settling in Hamilton, Ontario. Byrne's father was Catholic and his mother Presbyterian. Early life ĭavid Byrne was born on 14 May 1952 in Dumbarton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland, the elder of two children born to Tom (from Lambhill, Glasgow) and Emma Byrne. He has received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Special Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, and he is an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Talking Heads. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American new wave band Talking Heads.īyrne has released solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography, opera, fiction, and non-fiction. David Byrne ( / b ɜːr n/ born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist, and filmmaker.

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