Thom Yorke
Thomas Edward Yorke (born 7 October 1968) is an English musician who is the main vocalist and songwriter of the rock band Radiohead. A multi-instrumentalist, he mainly plays guitar and keyboards and is noted for his falsetto. Rolling Stone described Yorke as one of the greatest and most influential singers of his generation.
Not to be confused with Tom Yorke or Tom York.
Thom Yorke
Thomas Edward Yorke
7 October 1968
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England
- Singer
- songwriter
- composer
- Vocals
- guitar
- keyboards
- bass
1985–present
-
Dajana Roncione(m. 2020)
Yorke formed Radiohead with schoolmates at Abingdon School in Oxfordshire. Their 1992 debut single, "Creep", made Yorke a celebrity, and Radiohead went on to achieve critical acclaim and sales of more than 30 million albums. Yorke's early influences included alternative rock acts such as Pixies and R.E.M. With Radiohead's fourth album, Kid A (2000), Yorke moved into electronic music, influenced by Warp acts such as Aphex Twin. For most of his career, he has worked with the producer Nigel Godrich and the cover artist Stanley Donwood.
Yorke's solo work comprises mainly electronic music. His debut solo album, The Eraser, was released in 2006. To perform it live, he formed a new band, Atoms for Peace, with musicians including Godrich and the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea. They released an album, Amok, in 2013. Yorke's second solo album, Tomorrow's Modern Boxes, was released in 2014, followed by Anima in 2019. In 2021, Yorke debuted a new band, the Smile, with the Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood and the drummer Tom Skinner. Yorke has collaborated with artists including PJ Harvey, Björk, Flying Lotus and Modeselektor, and has composed for film and theatre, including the films Suspiria (2018) and Confidenza (2024).
Yorke is an activist on behalf of human rights, animal rights, environmental and anti-war causes, and his lyrics incorporate political themes. He has been critical of the music industry, particularly of major labels and streaming services such as Spotify. With Radiohead and his solo work, he has employed alternative release platforms such as pay-what-you-want and BitTorrent. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Radiohead in 2019.
Career[edit]
1991–1993: "Creep" and rise to fame[edit]
In 1991, when Yorke was 22,[24] On a Friday signed to EMI and changed their name to Radiohead. They gained notice with their debut single, "Creep", which appeared on their 1993 debut album, Pablo Honey.[34] Yorke grew tired of "Creep" after it became a hit, and told Rolling Stone in 1993: "It's like it's not our song any more ... It feels like we're doing a cover."[35][36]
According to Yorke, around this time he "hit the self-destruct button pretty quickly". He tried to project himself as a rock star and drank heavily, often becoming too drunk to perform.[37] Yorke said: "When I got back to Oxford I was unbearable ... As soon as you get any success you disappear up your own arse."[38] Years later, Yorke said he had found it difficult to cope with Radiohead's success: "I got angry ... I got more control-freakery. I put my hands on the steering wheel and I was white-knuckled, and I didn't care who I hurt or what I said." He later apologised to his bandmates for his behaviour.[39]
1994–1997: The Bends[edit]
Paul Q Kolderie, the co-producer of Pablo Honey, observed that Yorke's songwriting improved dramatically after Pablo Honey.[40] O'Brien later said: "After all that touring on Pablo Honey ... the songs that Thom was writing were so much better. Over a period of a year and a half, suddenly, bang."[41]
Recording Radiohead's second album, The Bends (1995), was stressful, as they felt pressured to release a follow-up to "Creep".[42] Yorke in particular struggled. According to the band's co-manager, Chris Hufford, "Thom became totally confused about what he wanted to do, what he was doing in a band and in his life, and that turned into a mistrust of everybody else."[42] The Bends was engineered by Nigel Godrich, who became one of Yorke's longest-running collaborators.[43]
The Bends received critical acclaim and brought Radiohead wider international attention.[44] It influenced a generation of British and Irish alternative rock acts;[45][46] The Observer wrote that it popularised an "angst-laden falsetto" which "eventually coalesced into an entire decade of sound".[47] The American rock band R.E.M., a major influence on Radiohead, picked them as their support act for their European tour.[48] Yorke befriended the R.E.M. singer Michael Stipe, who gave him advice about how to deal with fame.[49] Yorke joined R.E.M. to perform their song "E-Bow the Letter" on several occasions from 1998 to 2004.[50]
Politics and activism[edit]
Music industry[edit]
Yorke has been critical of the music industry and has pioneered alternative release platforms with Radiohead and his solo work. Following Radiohead's tour of America in 1993, he became disenchanted with being "right at the sharp end of the sexy, sassy, MTV eye-candy lifestyle" he felt he was helping sell.[215] After a 1995 Melody Maker article suggested that Yorke would kill himself like the Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, Yorke developed an aversion to the British music press.[216] In November 1995, NME covered an incident in which Yorke became sick and collapsed on stage at a show in Munich, and titled the story "Thommy's Temper Tantrum". Yorke said it was the most hurtful thing anyone had written about him, and refused to give interviews to NME for five years.[217]
The 1998 documentary Meeting People Is Easy portrays Yorke's disaffection with the music industry and press during Radiohead's OK Computer tour.[21] After Radiohead's fourth album, Kid A (2000), was leaked via the peer-to-peer filesharing software Napster weeks before release, Yorke told Time he felt Napster "encourages enthusiasm for music in a way that the music industry has long forgotten to do. I think anybody sticking two fingers up at the whole fucking thing is wonderful as far as I'm concerned."[218] In 2001, Yorke criticised the American live music industry, describing it as a monopoly controlled by Clear Channel Entertainment and Ticketmaster.[219]
After Radiohead's record contract with EMI ended with the release of Hail to the Thief (2003), Yorke told Time: "I like the people at our record company, but the time is at hand when you have to ask why anyone needs one. And, yes, it probably would give us some perverse pleasure to say 'Fuck you' to this decaying business model."[220] In 2006, he called major record labels "stupid little boys' games – especially really high up".[66]
Radiohead independently released their 2007 album In Rainbows as a download for which listeners could choose their price.[76] Yorke said the "most exciting" part of the release was the removal of the barrier between artist and audience.[221] However, in 2013, Yorke told the Guardian he feared the In Rainbows release had instead played into the hands of content providers such as Apple and Google: "They have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want?"[158] In 2015, he criticised YouTube for "seizing control" of contributor content, likening it to Nazis looting art during World War II.[222]
Personal life[edit]
For 23 years, Yorke was in a relationship with the artist and lecturer Rachel Owen, whom he met while studying at the University of Exeter.[230] In 2012, Rolling Stone reported that Owen and Yorke were not married.[89] However, The Times later found that they had married in a secret ceremony in Oxfordshire in May 2003.[261] Their son, Noah, was born in 2001, and their daughter, Agnes, in 2004.[230]
On Yorke's 2018 soundtrack album Suspiria, Agnes collaborated on the artwork and Noah played drums on two tracks.[262] In September 2021, Noah released a song, "Trying Too Hard (Lullaby)". NME likened its "ghostly" arrangement to Radiohead's album In Rainbows.[263] Noah has since released several songs and is due to release an EP, Cerebral Key.[264] He also performs with James Knott as the noise duo Hex Girlfriend.[265]
In August 2015, Yorke and Owen announced that they had separated amicably.[266] Owen died from cancer on 18 December 2016, aged 48.[267] In September 2020, Yorke married the Italian actress Dajana Roncione in Bagheria, Sicily.[268] Roncione appears in the video for the Radiohead song "Lift" and Yorke's short film Anima.[269] They live in Oxford.[25]
Yorke practises meditation.[270] He has suffered from anxiety and depression, which he treats with exercise, yoga and reading.[271] While recording in California with Atoms for Peace, he took up surfing, which he said taught him patience in creativity.[158] His younger brother and only sibling, Andy, is the singer of the band Unbelievable Truth.[272] In 2023, a species of fossil stingray from Italy was named Dasyomyliobatis thomyorkei in honor of Yorke.[273]
