2.1.8 Who is Gavin Friday? (U2)
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This article is from the U2 FAQ, by Maryann Stump stumpm@juno.com with numerous contributions by others.
2.1.8 Who is Gavin Friday? (U2)
[CB] Gavin Friday was born Fionan Hanvey, October 8, 1959, a few blocks
down the road from Bono. They
met and became friends in their teens and to date Bono describes Gavin as
his 'friend for life, drinking buddy on
weekdays and some sort of a musical diviner'. Gavin formed the Virgin
Prunes, taking a left turn where U2
went to the right, fueled by such diverse influences as the Dada
movement, Salvador Dali, Bowie, T-Rex, The
Sex Pistols and.... ABBA, as well as a smouldering Celtic strain.
Spontaneity was important to the band's
performances and when that spontaneity was all but dead around 1986,
Friday decided to call it a day. After a
brief painting stint, he returned in with his solo debut 'Each Man Kills
the Thing He Loves' (Island 1989) on
which he exorcized all the ghosts that had lain dormant since the Prunes
demise. The record was a dark, moody,
introspective affair, dealing with such primary topics as love, sex and
death. Determined not to be categorized
Friday revamped his 'cabaret singer from hell' act into 'mad eclectic
popstar' for his second album 'Adam 'n'
Eve', showing a lighter side of himself, but not wandering too far from
his familiar themes. On the ZOO TV
and Zooropa tours, Friday's possible influence on U2 became more
apparent to the media, the NME going as
far as naming him Bono's 'confidante and advisor'. Many believed his
presence was strongly felt in Bono's new
stage character 'MacPhisto', but Friday claims he only 'put the horns on
him'. In 1993, Friday, his pianist
Maurice Roycroft and Bono collaborated on the 'In the Name of the
Father' soundtrack, with Bono admitting it
was Gavin who did 'most of the work.' Late 1995 will see Friday, who
says he 'never could rock and never
wanted to roll' return to the stage with his third record on Island: Shag
Tobacco.
[MJS] If you want to know more about Gavin Friday check out the
following web site:
Gavin Friday's Wonderful Wicked World
http://www.xs4all.nl/~pj/gf-index.html
and Caroline Von B's book on Gavin Friday, "The and the Dark."
A sound sample of the single "In the Name of the Father" is available at
the U2 site and on Compuserve.
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