Biography
A songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, Gotye—born Wouter De Backer—reached a worldwide audience in 2011 when his single "Someone That I Used to Know" turned into a global phenomenon. Born May 21, 1980, in Bruges, Belgium, Wouter moved with his family to Australia at age two; they first settled in Sydney before shifting to the Melbourne suburb of Montmorency. Once he entered school, he began going by the Anglicized name Walter and soon displayed an aptitude for music. Proficient on keyboards and drums as a teenager, he formed his initial band, Downstares, with three high-school friends. After graduating, Downstares dissolved, and while studying at the University of Melbourne he inherited a sizable collection of vintage LPs that sparked his interest in sample-based music.
He issued a limited-edition EP, Out Here in the Cold, in 2001 under the name Gotye, a phonetic spelling of the French Gaultier, equivalent to Wouter. The release received airplay on Triple J, prompting him to keep recording as Gotye. Around the same time he met singer and songwriter Kris Schroeder, and the pair formed the Basics, whose debut album Get Back appeared in 2003. Although the Basics quickly built a following, De Backer kept working solo as Gotye and released his first full-length album, Boardface, within months of the band’s debut.
After leaving his family home he moved often over the next several years while splitting his focus between solo projects and the Basics. That unsettled period shaped the sound of his second Gotye album, 2006’s Like Drawing Blood, which earned both critical and commercial success in Australia, topped a Triple J listeners’ poll as album of the year, and received platinum certification. After setting up a permanent home studio in a barn on the family property and gaining breathing room from the Basics—who released albums in 2007 and 2009—De Backer began work on a third Gotye album and issued Making Mirrors in 2011. Its opening single, “Eyes Wide Open,” became a major Australian hit, but the follow-up, a duet with Kimbra titled “Someone That I Used to Know,” achieved international dominance by reaching number one in the United States, Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Australia, and won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year. The single’s impact helped Making Mirrors attain gold or platinum status in 11 countries and secured the 2013 Grammy for Best Alternative Album.
Following the success of Making Mirrors, De Backer rejoined the Basics for their 2015 album The Age of Entitlement and launched the Ondioline Orchestra, a personal project honoring pioneering electronic musician Jean-Jacques Perrey, a virtuoso of the Ondioline, an instrument capable of emulating strings, woodwinds, and other sounds. In 2017 he announced the founding of Forgotten Futures, a new record label whose first release was an archival collection of rare Jean-Jacques Perrey recordings.
He issued a limited-edition EP, Out Here in the Cold, in 2001 under the name Gotye, a phonetic spelling of the French Gaultier, equivalent to Wouter. The release received airplay on Triple J, prompting him to keep recording as Gotye. Around the same time he met singer and songwriter Kris Schroeder, and the pair formed the Basics, whose debut album Get Back appeared in 2003. Although the Basics quickly built a following, De Backer kept working solo as Gotye and released his first full-length album, Boardface, within months of the band’s debut.
After leaving his family home he moved often over the next several years while splitting his focus between solo projects and the Basics. That unsettled period shaped the sound of his second Gotye album, 2006’s Like Drawing Blood, which earned both critical and commercial success in Australia, topped a Triple J listeners’ poll as album of the year, and received platinum certification. After setting up a permanent home studio in a barn on the family property and gaining breathing room from the Basics—who released albums in 2007 and 2009—De Backer began work on a third Gotye album and issued Making Mirrors in 2011. Its opening single, “Eyes Wide Open,” became a major Australian hit, but the follow-up, a duet with Kimbra titled “Someone That I Used to Know,” achieved international dominance by reaching number one in the United States, Canada, the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, and Australia, and won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year. The single’s impact helped Making Mirrors attain gold or platinum status in 11 countries and secured the 2013 Grammy for Best Alternative Album.
Following the success of Making Mirrors, De Backer rejoined the Basics for their 2015 album The Age of Entitlement and launched the Ondioline Orchestra, a personal project honoring pioneering electronic musician Jean-Jacques Perrey, a virtuoso of the Ondioline, an instrument capable of emulating strings, woodwinds, and other sounds. In 2017 he announced the founding of Forgotten Futures, a new record label whose first release was an archival collection of rare Jean-Jacques Perrey recordings.
Albums
Singles
