Damien Rice helped form his first band right out of high school. Like so many other start-ups, Juniper initially played classic rock and pop covers at weddings and such, but when they started writing their own songs they soon became one of the more exciting live bands in mid-'90s Dublin. A lucrative six-album deal with Polygram Ireland was their reward for six years of hard work, but rather than celebrate Rice bowed out — of the band and Dublin. Relocating to a remote part of Italy, he busked around Europe while reinventing himself as a moody singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar and a flair for the dramatic.
Rice returned to Dublin a year later, where he borrowed enough cash to make a demo. Producer/film composer David Arnold (Björk, Garbage, Paul Oakenfold) heard the demo and liked it so much he set Rice up with a mobile studio to record what would become O, Rice's freshman release. Featuring the single "The Blower's Daughter," the album was an instant hit in the U.K., loved by critics and record-buyers alike. Success followed it to the States when O hit the shelves there a year later.
Four years after his debut, Rice's second outing, 9, continued his penchant for predominantly dark, hushed songs.
Rice is also part of a large group of musicians that call themselves The Cake Sale; formed by his ex-Juniper mate, Brian Crosby, The Cake Sale released a self-titled album in 2007 as a fund-raiser for Oxfam International's Make Trade Fair campaign to help solve worldwide poverty.
Provenance: Dublin, Ireland
Latest release: 9 (2006)
© 2007 Nigel Music Media LLC. Used by permission.
Damien Rice
