Greg Dulli

Born in Hamilton, Ohio, in 1965, Greg Dulli grew up under the influence of a Roman Catholic household that would later shape recurring lyrical motifs and visual motifs across his recordings. Over more than three decades he has served as the unmistakable voice of Cincinnati’s shadowy grunge outfit the Afghan Whigs, steering the group through multiple stylistic chapters while simultaneously producing other artists and pursuing parallel endeavors with the Twilight Singers and the Gutter Twins. His official solo debut, Random Desire, finally arrived in early 2020.

Dulli’s seething baritone—occasionally fracturing into a breathy yowl—steered the Whigs’ explorations of lust, betrayal, addiction, and revenge. After the band’s initial dissolution in 2001 he remained active with the Twilight Singers, the fluid collective he had quietly launched in 1997; that project issued its first proper album, Twilight As Played by the Twilight Singers, in 2000. Additional appearances on recordings by Foo Fighters and Lo Fidelity Allstars, production work, and sporadic solo performances filled the intervening years. A long-standing friendship with Mark Lanegan led to the formation of the Gutter Twins, whose sole album, Saturnalia, surfaced in 2008.

The Afghan Whigs reconvened in 2011, yielding two further studio efforts—2014’s Do to the Beast and 2017’s In Spades—before Dulli turned his attention to a proper solo statement. Drawing inspiration from self-contained creators such as Prince and Todd Rundgren, he composed and demoed every instrumental part himself. When the time came to finalize Random Desire he retained most of the instrumental duties yet invited additional musicians to supply horn, string, and pedal-steel accents. The album emerged in February 2020 on the Royal Cream imprint, distributed by BMG.