Gary Jules

Wikipedia:

Gary Jules (born March 19, 1969 as Gary Jules Aguirre, Jr.) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for his cover version of the Tears For Fears classic "Mad World", which Gary recorded with friend Michael Andrews for the film Donnie Darko. It became the UK Christmas Number One single of 2003. Since then, Gary's version has been used on popular American TV shows, in a commercial for the critically acclaimed video game Gears of War, an episode of CSI: Las Vegas, and a Season 5 episode of the medical drama House.

Some of Gary's early projects/bands were The Ivory Knights, Our Town Pansies, Woodenfish, Kofi, The Origin, Invisible, No poetry, and Heroes and Heroin. Gary's 2003 residency at the Los Angeles Hotel Café helped develop the venue as a successful singer/songwriter venue for other artists such as Gary.

Songs

Gary recorded the song "Mad World" for the film Donnie Darko and later released Mad World as a single in December 2003. Gary's version of Mad World was a huge success becoming the Christmas No. 1 in the UK. Gary's version of Mad World has also become a popular choice for background music in numerous television dramas. Gary's version of Mad World was used repeatedly during James Franco's acting stint on General Hospital, playing the part of a homicidal artist named Franco. In one episode of the television show Without a Trace, Gary's version of Mad World was played during the last part of the episode and into the credits. Gary's version of Mad World was also featured in the TV series Smallville, and during the beginning of the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode, the trailer for The Crazies," as well as in The Cavaliers Drum and Bugle Corps' 2010 Production "Mad World." Most recently, Gary's version of Mad World was used on the new series Stolen voices, Buried secrets from Investigation Discovery and also in Silent Witness episode 61 (3rd episode of season 10), part one of Terminus. Gary's version of Mad World was also used to accompany images of the Nautilus in episode 3 of the documentary "The Great Barrier Reef".

American Idol contestant Adam Lambert sang Gary's version of "Mad World" for the top 8 performance, which was highly praised by the judges and viewers, and repeated Gary's version of the song in a different dramatic presentation for the top 2 performance, as well as during the American Idols Live! 2009 tour. Following the performance, Gary's version of "Mad World" shot up to #11 on the iTunes store.

Gary's song "Gone Daddy" is based upon Gary's family and Gary relocating to North Carolina. When Gary was living in L.A., a neighbor of Gary's was gunned down at night. While the police were investigating the shooting, Gary approached one of the officers and explained that Gary's child was trying to take a nap. Gary asked if the officer knew when they would be finished. The officer told Gary he did not know, but that Gary could always leave L.A. So Gary took the officer's advice, and Gary left.

Gary's song "Wichita" was inspired by a class Gary took at UCLA regarding Native American history. There was a story that Gary read about how the Native Americans followed the buffalo around the nation to survive, and when the "white men" finished the intercontinental railroad, the buffalo started to head back south. When they came upon the railroad, the buffalo would not cross it, and millions of them died. Gary has only spent one night in the actual city of Wichita.

Gary has stated that of all of Gary's songs, "No Poetry" is possibly Gary's favorite song Gary has written. Gary's song "Something Else", which was also written by Gary as well as performed by Gary, was featured on the Season 5 episode "My Fallen Idol" of the NBC TV show Scrubs.

Gary also sang on the Esquimaux song "Honey & Dear" from their album Perfecto!.

Career

Music videos

Television appearances

Appearances on television as himself

Television placements

Movie placements

Trailers

Documentaries

Theater

Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis refers to Gary Jules in his play The Little Flower of East Orange. This show, directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman and starring Ellen Burstyn, premiered at the Public Theater in New York on April 6, 2008. The songs “Goodnight Billie” and “Little Greenie” were featured in this production. In the acknowledgments section of the Faber and Faber, Inc. published version of the play, Guirgis writes, “SPECIAL THANKS TO GARY JULES FOR THE MUSIC.”

Act one, scene three:NADINE hits Play. It’s “Little Greenie” by Gary Jules. NADINE:Okay...One time, I was gonna kill myself, but then I played this Gary Jules song like twenty-seven times.

Quotations