Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello, born Declan Patrick MacManus on 25 August 1954 at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, West London, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author, and television host. He is the only child of a record shop worker and a professional jazz musician, both of whom came from the Liverpool area before relocating to London. In 1986, Costello appeared on Broadway in Costello Sings Again, extending his career beyond recorded music and into live theatrical performance.

Costello grew up in a household saturated with music. His father, Ross MacManus, was a trumpet player and singer who spent thirteen years, from 1955 to 1968, as a featured vocalist with the Joe Loss Orchestra, one of Britain's most prominent big bands. Ross's work required him to learn the pop hits of the day for weekly radio broadcasts, and he regularly brought home demonstration records, giving his son five or six per week once the boy developed an interest in current music. Costello's mother, Lillian MacManus, worked in record retail for years, including a position in the record department at Selfridges, and maintained a broad interest in music throughout her life. Costello has credited his paternal grandfather, Pat McManus, a professional trumpet player who worked as an army bandsman, a ship's musician for the White Star Line, and an orchestra musician in music halls and silent film theatres, as the first in the family to build a career in music and therefore the reason Costello himself became a musician.

Costello spent most of his childhood in Twickenham in western Greater London, was raised Roman Catholic, and served as an altar boy until the age of fourteen. His parents separated when he was ten, after which he was raised by his mother, though his father remained a significant presence in his life until Ross's death in 2011. In 1970, Costello moved with his mother to Liverpool. His earliest musical influences came from his parents' record collection, which centered on traditional pop and jazz, and he has described the Beatles as his single greatest musical influence, noting that he turned nine in 1963 and experienced the full force of their cultural impact as he grew up. He was also drawn early to the songwriting of Burt Bacharach, whom he would later collaborate with extensively.

Costello launched his professional recording career during the rise of punk rock in England. His debut album, My Aim Is True, appeared in 1977 and, while producing no hit singles, introduced several of his best-known compositions, including the ballad "Alison." The two albums that followed, This Year's Model in 1978 and Armed Forces in 1979, helped define the new wave genre. From late 1977 through early 1980, every single he released reached the UK Top 30, with "Oliver's Army" in 1979 standing as his biggest UK hit. His stylistic range expanded well beyond new wave to encompass R&B, country, jazz, baroque pop, Tin Pan Alley, and classical music. From 1977 into the early 2000s, his albums regularly placed highly in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll, with This Year's Model and Imperial Bedroom, released in 1982, each voted the best album of their respective years. In the United States, his commercial peak came with "Veronica" in 1989, which reached number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.

For much of his early career, Costello performed with his backing band the Attractions. He has since released collaborative albums with the classical ensemble the Brodsky Quartet, songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint, and hip-hop group the Roots. His current backing band is known as the Imposters. He has co-written more than a dozen songs with Paul McCartney and maintained a long songwriting partnership with Burt Bacharach. His recordings of other writers' material include Sam & Dave's "I Can't Stand Up for Falling Down," Jerry Chesnut's "Good Year for the Roses," and Charles Aznavour's "She." His version of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding," originally recorded by Nick Lowe's group Brinsley Schwarz, brought the song wide attention following his 1979 recording. His own compositions have been recorded by artists including Linda Ronstadt, George Jones, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Dave Edmunds, Chet Baker, and Alison Krauss.

From 2008 to 2010, Costello hosted the television program Spectacle: Elvis Costello with..., on which he interviewed fellow musicians. In 2015, he published a memoir titled Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. Among his accolades are two Grammy Awards and two Ivor Novello Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2016.