Jeff Tweedy
Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the singer and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music career in high school with his band The Plebes along with Jay Farrar, also in the band. It became the alternative country band Uncle Tupelo.
Jeff Tweedy
Jeffrey Scot Tweedy
August 25, 1967
Belleville, Illinois, U.S.
- Musician
- songwriter
- author
- record producer
- Vocals
- guitar
- bass
- harmonica
- programming
1984–present
- Uncle Tupelo
- The Minus 5
- Loose Fur
- The Racoonists
After Uncle Tupelo broke up Tweedy formed Wilco which found critical and commercial success, most notably with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and A Ghost Is Born. The latter received a Grammy for Best Alternative Album in 2005.
During his career Tweedy has released 20 studio albums including four with Uncle Tupelo, twelve with Wilco, one with his son Spencer, a solo acoustic album, three solo studio albums, along with numerous collaborations with other musicians, most notably Mermaid Avenue with Billy Bragg.[1][2]
Early life[edit]
Tweedy was born in Belleville on August 25, 1967,[3] the fourth child of Bob and JoAnn Tweedy (née Werkmeister).[4] Bob Tweedy (died August 4, 2017[5]) worked for Alton & Southern Railroad in East St. Louis; JoAnn was a kitchen designer.[1]: 11–15 Tweedy grew up with three siblings, older brother Greg Tweedy (he died in 2013), brother Steven Tweedy, and sister Debbie Voll.[4]
Tweedy's mother bought him his first guitar when he was six years old, although he did not begin to play it seriously until he was twelve. Apparently Tweedy told people that he knew how to play the guitar once he got his first guitar, even though he did not know how to play.
When he was twelve, Tweedy was injured in a bicycle accident and was laid up for the summer. He decided to learn how to play a few chords before somebody "called him out" on the lie.[1] On an appearance of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he remembered attending an X concert as a youngster in St. Louis. Tweedy said The Replacements opened for the band. Paul Westerberg, the guitarist and vocalist for The Replacements, fell off the stage while performing. Tweedy said while he can't think of a song which inspired him to be in music he thought it looked like fun to be in a band after seeing The Replacements at that show.
In 1981, when Tweedy was fourteen years old, he befriended Jay Farrar during an English class at Belleville Township High School West.[1]: 10 All of the members of Farrar's family enjoyed playing music; he already knew rock and roll music very well. By that time, Tweedy was a fan of The Ramones and country music while Farrar enjoyed The Sex Pistols.[6] Tweedy attended Belleville Area College and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.[1]
Career[edit]
Early music[edit]
In the early 1980s, Tweedy joined The Plebes, a rockabilly band, with brothers Wade and Dade Farrar which Tweedy joined in order to qualify for a battle of the bands competition. They won.[1]: 10, 17 [7] Tweedy pushed The Plebes away from the rockabilly music that they had been playing, which caused Dade Farrar to leave the band. The band renamed themselves The Primitives in 1984, taking their name from a song by garage rock band The Groupies.[1]: 18 [8] Wade Farrar sang lead vocals and played harmonica, Jay Farrar played guitar, Tweedy played bass guitar, and Mike Heidorn played drums. In late 1986, the band decided to change their name to Uncle Tupelo, because a more popular British band was also using the name "The Primitives".[9] The Primitives went on hiatus in 1986 after Wade Farrar left the band to finish his engineering degree at Southern Illinois University.[1]: 22 While waiting for Wade to return from campus, Farrar, Tweedy, and Heidorn formed Uncle Tupelo.
Personal life[edit]
Tweedy has been prone to having migraines throughout his life; he has missed as many as forty days of elementary school in one year with the condition.[1]: 50 [19] While he attempted to regulate the use of painkillers, he was never able to stop using them for more than five weeks. He attributes that to a comorbidity with major depressive disorder and severe panic attacks.[52] In 2004, he entered a dual diagnosis rehabilitation clinic in order to receive treatment for an addiction to prescription painkiller Vicodin.[53][54][55] Tweedy quit smoking the next year; John Stirratt claimed afterward that significantly improved the focus of the band.[56][57]
Tweedy is married to former talent agent Sue Miller and lives in the Irving Park area of Chicago.[58] He first met Miller when he was trying to get Uncle Tupelo booked at Cubby Bear, where Miller worked. Miller opened a club in Chicago named Lounge Ax in 1989, and booked Uncle Tupelo for 16 shows over four years. They began dating in 1991 and were married on August 9, 1995.[1]: 53, 96 She was diagnosed with cancer in 2014. During a 2015 interview with Rolling Stone, Tweedy said "she's doing great now."
Tweedy also said that music is a healthy distraction in such difficult times.[59] They have two sons: Spencer and Sam. Spencer was the drummer for pre-teen rock band The Blisters and a new band called Tully Monster.[60] In 2008, Spencer joined Wilco on stage at Madison Square Garden to play drums on their song "The Late Greats," while opening for Neil Young.[61] Tweedy has converted to Judaism.[62] His wife is Jewish; their sons both had Bar Mitzvah ceremonies.[63] During the ceremony for his older son, Tweedy played an acoustic version of Bob Dylan's "Forever Young".[64]
In November 2019 Tweedy's home in Irving Park was shot at least seven times in an attack described by his son as "not targeted".[58] No injuries were reported.