Pete Yorn

The celebrated song-writer and performer Pete Yorn has made his name by steadily releasing solid albums featuring music of rock, folk and pop. He was born on July 27, 1974, in New Jersey in a family of a dentist and teacher of mentally disordered children. Since his elder brothers participated in a number of local bands, they managed to raise in him the fondness of music. By the age of ten, Pete had learned to play drums. During his high school years, the boy started writing and performing songs. He considered this occupation so serious that after entering a university in 1996, he decided to master the guitar. His father wanted him to be a lawyer, yet the young man was thinking completely differently. Having acquired a diploma in 1996, Pete settled down in Los Angeles and began performing at the city’s bars and cafes. On one of such evenings, the Columbia Records agents spotted the young artist and talked to him afterwards.

The parties agreed to sign a business contract as Pete began selecting the songs for his debut long player. However, even before the release of this record, he managed to draw massive attention after contributing to the soundtrack to the comedy Me, Myself & Irene (2000). The movie featured his single Strange Condition, the singer’s first popular composition. In the years to come, Pete Yorn wrote the whole lot of music for TV series and motion pictures. In March 2001, he delivered his first studio effort, Musicforthemorningafter. The compositions Strange Condition, Life on a Chain, and For Nancy had a good run on the alternative charts while the sales of the album reached the golden status. In April 2002, the Columbia management had Pete Yorn prepare the material for the new version of Musicforthemorningafter with several bonuses including the covers for the songs by other performers. As a result, Yorn picked the songs Dancing in the Dark, and New York City Serenade by Bruce Springsteen, Panic by The Smiths, and David Bowie’s China Girl.

In the process of making this record, Pete performed almost all the instrumental parts. According to his statements, this gave him a nice opportunity to improvise and got him rid of the necessity to teach the other musicians to what he wanted to hear from them. Therefore, once a drummer, Pete Yorn executed his debut long player having played not only the kit, but also guitar and piano. While presenting his sophomore studio effort, Day I Forgot (2003), the musician said this was an attempt to come back to the classical rock sound. The idea was materialized brilliantly and brought him the recognition of even greater masses of listeners. The music lovers liked the musician’s approach to his profession. While the majority of other performers tried to be showmen, worked hard on their image and tease the public with sensational statements, Pete Yorn was entirely focused on the matters of writing and playing music.

To prepare his third full-length album, Pete Yorn got several big music figures involved, including the Foo Fighters mastermind, Dave Grohl. Compared to the earlier works done by the singer, this record appeared much heavier and more dynamic. Rock clearly prevailed over folk, yet Yorn’s style was easily recognizable due his never changed voice. Called Nightcrawler, the album arrived in August 2006 and did not disappoint listeners and critics who praised the singer’s striving to musically evolve. Yorn’s fourth studio album, Back & Fourth, was prepared in New England and delivered to the market in the summer of 2009. The same year the musician’s discography was enlarged by a very interesting joint work with Scarlett Johansson. The record was titled Break Up and it was very well received both by listeners and musical critics. In 2010, the singer again pleased his fans by a traditionally strong self-titled long play Pete Yorn.