Gotye
Wouter André "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), known professionally as Gotye (/ˈɡɒtiːeɪ/ GOTT-ee-ay), is a Belgian-Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know", reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the best-selling song of 2012.[2] This made him the fifth Australian-based artist to top the chart and the second born in Belgium (after The Singing Nun in 1963).[3]
Gotye
Wouter André De Backer
Wally De Backer
21 May 1980
Bruges, Belgium
Melbourne, Australia
- Musician
- singer-songwriter
- Vocals
- drums
- percussion
- keyboards
- guitar
- ondioline
2001–present
- Fairfax
- Universal Republic
- Independent
- Samples 'n' Seconds
- Inertia
- Lucky Number
- Eleven
- Creative Vibes
He has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act. On 10 February 2013, he won three Grammy Awards at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards Show: Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Somebody That I Used to Know" and Best Alternative Music Album for Making Mirrors. Gotye has said he sometimes feels "less of a musician, more of a tinkerer."[4]
Gotye has released three studio albums independently and one album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums. He is a founding member of the Melbourne indie-pop trio The Basics, who have independently released four studio albums and numerous other titles since 2002. His voice has been compared to those of Peter Gabriel and Sting.[5][6][7]
Early life
Born in 1980, in Bruges, Belgium, De Backer immigrated to Australia with his family two years later.[8] They first resided in Sydney before settling in Montmorency, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria.[9] His mother nicknamed him "Gotye", based on "Gauthier", the French equivalent of his Flemish first name.[10] His parents chose to use the English equivalent of his name, Walter, when enrolling him in school.
As a youth, De Backer displayed a passion for music, learning various instruments, most notably piano and drums. In 2012, De Backer recalled that as a teenager he used to listen "obsessively"
to Depeche Mode's album Songs of Faith and Devotion, stating, "I could single-handedly credit that record with wanting me to make records."[11] In his teens, De Backer formed the band Downstares with three of his high school friends,[12] including Lucas Taranto (who still plays in his Gotye live shows).[13] After high school, the members of Downstares went their separate ways, leaving De Backer with no musical outlet.
In 2001, his parents moved into a new home, leaving their old family house in Montmorency,[14] so he could continue his studies at the University of Melbourne where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts.[15] Two friends moved in with him and the house became affectionately known as The Frat House,[16] where friends would regularly drop by and hang out. The first seeds of Gotye were planted when De Backer was given a large collection of old records. An elderly neighbour, having heard Downstares rehearsing over the years, gave his then-recently deceased wife's LP record collection to De Backer.[17]
Career
2001–2004: Boardface
In 2001, De Backer recorded his first tracks primarily using samples. He put together a four-track CD which included the song "Out Here in the Cold".[18] He made approximately 50 copies of this first collection, handwriting the track list and colouring in the cover sleeve in pencil. He named the project Gotye. He sent the CDs out to every radio station and recording industry contact he could find in the phonebook, then followed each up with phone calls to ensure they were delivered. Feedback on the first release was mainly positive with Melbourne street press and Australian alternative, youth orientated radio station Triple J taking notice,[19] giving him confidence to continue with further sample-based recordings.
Around this time, Gotye met fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder at a party in Mt Eliza, and the two began performing together under the name The Basics. They formed an enduring songwriting and performing partnership and became regulars on the live music scene, giving De Backer an outlet for his passion for live performance. The Basics have continued to tour and record alongside Gotye, releasing four albums between 2004 and 2010.
De Backer went on to produce two more four-track Gotye collections which were met with positive reviews, with several tracks getting onto the rotation at youth radio station Triple J. The CDs were made in the same style as the first, with De Backer hand crafting each one and tenaciously chasing up every opportunity to get an audience for his work. Interest in the Gotye project was growing, and De Backer was eventually offered a distribution deal by the label company Creative Vibes for an album, which would essentially be a collection of the tracks from his three earlier releases. The album art is a painting of De Backer's father that was salvaged from his home garden where it was discarded. His album was released as Boardface in late 2003.
2006–2009: Like Drawing Blood
In 2004, De Backer's parents opted to sell The Frat House and De Backer moved into a shared house in the South East of Melbourne. He took up work at a local library, while continuing to perform with The Basics and record his own Gotye tracks. Over the next few years, De Backer moved several times, each time shifting his home recording studio to a new location with new acoustic qualities. The culmination of this was the second Gotye album, Like Drawing Blood—named in reference to the difficulties De Backer experienced in recording his music in ever-changing environments.[20] The album marked the beginning of his working relationship with long term manager Danny Rogers – manager of Australian indie band The Temper Trap – whom he had first approached via email.[21]
Like Drawing Blood was featured by Triple J in May 2006[22] and was voted No. 1 in the listener poll of the Best Album of 2006.[23] The album was also nominated for a J Award that year.[24] Two tracks from that album, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess", were ranked No. 94 and No. 8 respectively in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2006.[25] Like Drawing Blood has been certified Platinum in Australia for sales of over 70,000 copies. His first single, "Learnalilgivinanlovin", was released in August 2006.
In September 2006, Gotye was nominated for an ARIA Award for best independent release for the album Like Drawing Blood.[26] Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record (AIR) Chart Awards[27] and Like Drawing Blood was amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize.[28]
