Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello burst onto the scene as a sharp-tongued provocateur, widely regarded as the most incisive and biting singer/songwriter among the opening wave of British punk in the 1970s, with the Attractions supplying equally ferocious support. He soon broke free from punk’s strict emphasis on speed and volume, revealing his wide-ranging abilities on the 1979 album Armed Forces, which featured “Oliver’s Army,” “Accidents Will Happen,” and his interpretation of Nick Lowe’s “(What’s So Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding”—three singles that quickly became new wave touchstones. Swift shifts in sound and approach defined his trajectory from then on, producing a body of work that engaged nearly every corner of popular music. Many of his most unconventional endeavors surfaced once he had built a devoted following in the 1980s via a string of swift, high-caliber releases, most of them with the Attractions. Although he later regrouped that band and eventually retained several of its members in his later ensemble the Imposters, beginning with the 1989 album Spike he embraced the flexibility of working alone, moving between intricate pop, orchestral pieces, and partnerships with 1960s figures Paul McCartney and Burt Bacharach. That exploratory spirit only deepened in the 2000s through tours with the Imposters, Americana collaborations with longtime associate T-Bone Burnett, and joint projects with New Orleans R&B icon Allen Toussaint as well as the esteemed hip-hop collective the Roots. His breadth never felt contrived; an unquenchable curiosity for music remained the steady thread, visible in daring efforts such as the jazz-tinged Hey Clockface and Spanish Model, the latter reimagining This Year’s Model with fresh Latino vocalists. Even while pursuing those detours, more direct records like the 2022 release The Boy Named If confirmed that the original drive that led him to a guitar had lost none of its edge.

Born Declan McManus and the son of British bandleader Ross McManus, Costello spent the early 1970s employed as a computer programmer while playing under the name D.P. Costello at folk venues. By 1976 he fronted the country-rock outfit Flip City and began cutting demo tapes of his own songs in hopes of securing a deal. One of those tapes reached Jake Riviera, a founder of the fledgling independent label Stiff. Riviera signed him as a solo act in 1977, at which point the artist took the name Elvis Costello, drawing the first name from Elvis Presley and the surname from his mother’s maiden name.

Working with former Brinsley Schwarz bassist Nick Lowe as producer, Costello started tracking his first album with American group Clover as backing musicians. “Less Than Zero,” the initial single drawn from those sessions, surfaced in April 1977. It failed to chart, as did the follow-up “Alison” the next month. By summer 1977 his enduring rhythm section had formed. Bassist Bruce Thomas, keyboardist Steve Nieve, and drummer Pete Thomas (unrelated to Bruce) comprised the Attractions, who made their concert debut that July.

My Aim Is True, his debut album, appeared in summer 1977 to favorable notices, reaching number 14 on the British charts, though Columbia in America held it until later that year. Alongside Nick Lowe, Ian Dury, and Wreckless Eric, Costello joined Stiff’s Live package tour that autumn. Late in the year Jake Riviera departed Stiff to launch Radar Records, bringing Costello and Lowe along. Costello’s final Stiff single, the reggae-tinged “Watching the Detectives,” became his first hit, climbing to number 15 by year’s end.

This Year’s Model, the first album recorded with the Attractions, arrived in spring 1978. Rougher and more aggressive than My Aim Is True, it also performed better commercially, hitting number four in Britain and number 30 in the United States. The more ambitious and stylistically varied Armed Forces followed in 1979 and proved another success, reaching number two in the U.K. and the Top Ten in America. “Oliver’s Army,” its lead single, peaked at number two in Britain, though none of the album’s singles charted stateside. In summer 1979 he produced the self-titled debut by ska-revival leaders the Specials.

The soul-leaning Get Happy!! emerged in February 1980 as the first release on Riviera’s new imprint F-Beat. Another strong seller, it reached number two in Britain and number 11 in America. Later that year the American compilation Taking Liberties gathered B-sides, singles, and outtakes, while Britain received the cassette-only Ten Bloody Marys & Ten How’s Your Fathers with a different track selection.

Costello and the Attractions issued Trust in early 1981, their fifth consecutive album produced by Lowe. It opened at number nine in Britain and entered the U.S. Top 30. That spring the band began recording country covers with Nashville producer Billy Sherrill, known for hits by George Jones and Charlie Rich. The resulting Almost Blue appeared late in the year to mixed notices, though the single “A Good Year for the Roses” reached the British Top Ten.

Imperial Bedroom (1982), an expansive collection of richly arranged pop produced by Geoff Emerick—who had engineered several landmark Beatles albums—earned some of Costello’s strongest reviews yet yielded no Top 40 hits on either side of the Atlantic, though it debuted at number six in the U.K. For 1983’s Punch the Clock he teamed with Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, architects of several major early-’80s British hits. The partnership paid off commercially: the album climbed to number three in Britain (number 24 in the U.S.) and the single “Everyday I Write the Book” entered the Top 40 in both territories. He attempted to repeat that success with 1984’s Goodbye Cruel World, but the record proved a commercial and critical disappointment.

Following Goodbye Cruel World, Costello undertook his first solo tour in summer 1984. He remained relatively quiet in 1985, issuing only the single “The People’s Limousine,” a collaboration with singer/songwriter T-Bone Burnett credited to the Coward Brothers, and producing Rum Sodomy and the Lash, the second album by punk-folk band the Pogues. Both moves signaled a turn toward spare, folk-rooted music, which 1986’s King of America confirmed. Recorded without the Attractions and released as the Costello Show, the country-folk set drew his strongest notices since Imperial Bedroom. It was followed at year’s end by the raw Blood and Chocolate, reuniting him with the Attractions and Nick Lowe. He would not make another album with the Attractions until 1994.

During 1987 Costello secured a new worldwide contract with Warner Bros. and launched a songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney. Two years later he delivered Spike, his most stylistically wide-ranging album to date, which included the first fruits of the McCartney collaboration, among them the single “Veronica.” That track became his biggest American hit, reaching number 19. Two years afterward came Mighty Like a Rose, equally eclectic yet darker and more demanding. In 1993 he worked with the Brodsky Quartet on The Juliet Letters, his initial foray into classical composition, and wrote an entire album, Now Ain’t the Time for Your Tears, for former Transvision Vamp singer Wendy James. That year he also licensed his pre-1987 catalog (My Aim Is True through Blood and Chocolate) to Rykodisc in America.

He reunited with the Attractions for most of 1994’s Brutal Youth, his most straightforward and pop-focused record since Goodbye Cruel World. The Attractions accompanied him on a global tour in 1994 and continued performing with him through 1995. That year he finally released his long-shelved covers collection Kojak Variety. In spring 1996 he issued All This Useless Beauty, featuring original songs he had previously given to other artists. Painted from Memory, a collaboration with Burt Bacharach, followed in 1998. Critically praised, the album succeeded mainly outside the United States and Britain. A jazz adaptation with Bill Frisell was postponed amid label uncertainty, yet Costello and Bacharach toured the States and Europe regardless. After Bacharach departed, Costello added Steve Nieve and continued under the banner of the Lonely World Tour, extending into 1999, when both Notting Hill and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me showcased substantial contributions from him; he even appeared onscreen with Bacharach in the latter film as one of two Carnaby Street musicians seated at a grand piano.

He kept touring with Nieve and began closing sets by singing the final song unamplified, requiring the audience to sit in silence while his baritone alone filled the hall. After his label’s mergers resolved, Costello landed at Universal and tested their commitment with the second greatest-hits package The Very Best of Elvis Costello, which the label promoted vigorously enough to make it a hit in Britain. The same company signaled little interest in supporting a new studio album, prompting him to explore other avenues while awaiting the contract’s end. His first such project paired him with Anne Sofie Von Otter for a set of pop standards that included several of his own compositions; it appeared in March 2001 on Deutsche Grammophon, coinciding with Rhino’s comprehensive reissue of his catalog through 1996. Each expanded edition added a bonus disc of rarities and liner notes written by Costello himself.

In 2001 he held a residency at UCLA, performing concerts and contributing to music education. He also began self-producing an album featuring Pete Thomas and Nieve—now billed as the Imposters—titled When I Was Cruel, which finally emerged on Island Records in spring 2002; at year’s end he released the B-sides and leftovers collection Cruel Smile.

When I Was Cruel inaugurated another highly productive stretch. In 2003 he returned with North, a suite of classically inflected pop songs poised between Gershwin and Sondheim. The following year he collaborated with his new wife, Diana Krall, on her debut collection of original material, The Girl in the Other Room. That autumn he released two further albums: the orchestral work Il Sogno and the rock record The Delivery Man, cut with the Imposters. My Flame Burns Blue, a 2006 live album with the 52-piece jazz orchestra the Metropole Orkest, presented both newly arranged classics and fresh material alongside a complete performance of Il Sogno. The River in Reverse, another collaboration with Allen Toussaint, arrived later that year, followed in 2008 by Momofuku, credited to Elvis Costello & the Imposters. That same year he and T-Bone Burnett recorded sessions that became Secret, Profane & Sugar Cane, issued in early 2009; the pair also cut National Ransom, which appeared the next year. In 2011 Elvis Costello & the Imposters released The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!!, captured live at the Wiltern in Los Angeles over two nights. After a relatively quiet period, he issued the film-song compilation In Motion Pictures at the close of 2012.

Costello focused on a project with hip-hop group the Roots in 2013. Originally conceived as reinterpretations of earlier material, Wise Up Ghost evolved into a full collaboration and received positive reviews upon its September 2013 release on Blue Note. In 2015 he announced completion of his memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink, scheduled for October publication, along with a companion album of the same name that mixed career-spanning selections with two previously unreleased tracks.

In July 2018 Costello disclosed he was recovering from a “small but very aggressive cancer.” By then he had already completed a new album with the Imposters, Look Now, their first joint effort in a decade, which appeared in October 2018 and earned a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album the following year. Look Now was succeeded in 2020 by Hey Clockface, his first solo album in ten years.

After revisiting the master tapes of This Year’s Model for a contribution to David Simon’s The Deuce, Costello decided to revisit the album by retaining the original Attractions backing tracks and overlaying new Spanish-language vocals from contemporary Latino artists including Juanes. Spanish Model emerged in September 2021. Concurrently he assembled a fresh set of songs with Attractions drummer Pete Thomas, keyboardist Steve Nieve, and longtime Imposters bassist Davey Faragher. Recorded remotely, The Boy Named If favors raw energy and tangled emotion over introspection, echoing the bite of his earliest work; it also includes a duet with Nicole Atkins and appeared in early 2022.