Peter Blegvad

Born on August 14, 1951, in New York City, Peter Blegvad achieved wider notice beyond experimental circles through his cartoon illustrations while also establishing himself as a sharp, eloquent vocalist and composer who had once belonged to Slapp Happy. His family relocated to Britain in 1965. In the early seventies he moved to Germany, where he joined British composer Anthony Moore and singer Dagmar Krause to launch Slapp Happy, a band the members themselves labeled “champions of naïve rock.” The trio issued several albums before uniting in 1975 with the similarly mischievous Henry Cow collective for two joint LPs and then disbanding.

Blegvad next recorded Kew. Rhone. in 1977 alongside Henry Cow bassist John Greaves, after which he returned to Britain and launched his solo career in 1983 with The Naked Shakespeare, produced by Andy Partridge. While based in New York he collaborated with Anton Fier’s Golden Palominos, then released Knights Like This in 1985. Another extended pause ended when he reappeared in 1988 with Downtime; two years later King Strut & Other Stories arrived, yet its inability to secure the broad audience many anticipated left him without a record deal.

By 1992 Blegvad, whose drawings had already graced his album covers for years, received a commission to draw a weekly cartoon for the Independent on Sunday; the resulting surreal and allusive strip, titled Leviathan, steadily became his central occupation and pushed music to the margins. He finally resumed recording in 1995 with two distinct releases: the spoken-word collection Unearthed and the more traditional song set Just Woke Up. Hangman’s Hill followed in 1998, and Choices Under Pressure appeared three years later. In 2003 King Strut & Other Stories placed Blegvad once more in the classic singer-songwriter mold, while Orpheus the Lowdown arrived in 2004.