Damien Rice

From Juniper to O

Damien George Rice was born on December 7, 1973 in Dublin and grew up in Celbridge, County Kildare, attending Salesian College. He formed the band Juniper in 1991 with school friends including Paul Noonan, Dominic Philips, David Geraghty and Brian Crosby, released the EP Manna in 1995 and signed to PolyGram in 1997. In 1998 he left over what he saw as label compromise, the rest continuing as Bell X1; he told Launch in 2004 that it was that classic story where you do what they tell you. He worked on a farm in Tuscany, busked in Europe and returned to Ireland, where his cousin, the composer David Arnold, helped him with an eight-track recorder and a home studio.

O came out in Ireland and the UK on February 1, 2002 on 14th Floor, with Vector releasing it in the US in 2003, and won the Shortlist Music Prize. It was recorded in 2001 on portable gear after abandoned sessions at Air Studios, according to Hot Press, and runs 61:27 with a hidden track, "Eskimo", at 15:57. Lisa Hannigan sang and played piano, Vyvienne Long played cello, Mark Kelly played electric guitar and co-produced, Shane Fitzsimons bass and Tom Osander drums and percussion. It reached 8 on the UK albums chart, 2 in Ireland and 114 in the US, and sold about two million copies. The 2003 reissue added a DVD and an extended "Eskimo" of 21:42. Metacritic scores it 80, AllMusic gave 4.5 stars and Pitchfork 5.4. The Irish Independent's John Meagher called it one of the great Irish cultural success stories of the decade.

9 followed in 2006, and My Favourite Faded Fantasy on November 10, 2014, with "I Don't Want to Change You" as the first single. Rice supported the Freedom Campaign for Burma, wrote "Unplayed Piano" and played the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo; he also played Glastonbury and Rock Werchter in 2007. In 2020 he covered Sia's "Chandelier" for Songs for Australia, and he toured Australia and New Zealand in January and February 2025, with 25th anniversary dates for 2027. Ed Sheeran has said meeting Rice at eleven inspired him to write songs. Setlist.fm lists 577 setlists.