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All Music Guide:
Best known as the mastermind behind the Magnetic Fields, singer/songwriter Stephin Merritt has juggled multiple projects throughout his career, releasing a string of acclaimed albums with the Magnetic Fields while also working as a solo artist, a magazine journalist, and a member of several different bands. Raised by his countercultural mother, he spent much of his youth moving from house to house throughout the Northeast. It was during that time that Merritt became enamored with Top 40 pop, specifically ABBA. His interest in music began to take on a physical form at the age of 14, when he made his first recordings with a cheap synthesizer and an old four-track recorder. That sound -- a blend of electronics and lo-fi pop -- still captivated the artist in later years, prompting him to form the Magnetic Fields in 1989. Based in Boston, the group initially resembled a solo project more than an actual band, with Merritt playing all the instruments himself. Claudia Gonson, who'd played with Merritt during the pair's high-school days, eventually signed on as drummer and manager, and the band's membership swelled during the 1990s. The Magnetic Fields released numerous records during that decade and earned the most acclaim with 1999's 69 Love Songs, an epic three-disc set that catapulted Merritt out of the underground and into the upper crust of indie pop.
Meanwhile, he released material with other groups like the 6ths, the Future Bible Heroes, and the Gothic Archies, almost all of which featured Merritt as the prime (if not only) member. Putting his talent as a wordsmith to another use, he also served as a copyeditor at Spin and wrote reviews for Time Out magazine in New York. Music proved to be Merritt's bread and butter, though, and he provided the soundtrack to the James Bolton film Eban & Charley in 2002, followed by his first proper solo release, which was titled Two Chinese Operas and issued under his own name in 2005. Showtunes followed in 2006, featuring selected compositions written for Chen Shi-Zheng's Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005). The Magnetic Fields continued releasing new music, too, having left the band's previous label, Merge Records, to sign with Nonesuch during the early 21st century. Not altogether willing to part with the band, Merge reached into its own archives for Obscurities, a 2011 compilation that included rarities and unreleased tracks from the band's early days.
Wikipedia:
Stephin Raymond Merritt (born 1966) is an American singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles (formerly in New York City), best known as the principal singer and songwriter in the band The Magnetic Fields. He is known for his distinctive and untrained bass voice.
Musical projects
He created and played principal roles in the bands The Magnetic Fields, The 6ths, The Gothic Archies and Future Bible Heroes.
He briefly used the name The Baudelaire Memorial Orchestra as an attribution for a song written for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, entitled "Scream and Run Away". Further music was recorded for the audiobook versions of the series and is attributed to The Gothic Archies. The Tragic Treasury was released by Nonesuch Records in October 2006 along with the 13th and final book of the series.
Under his own name, he recorded and released the soundtracks to the films Eban and Charley and Pieces of April. The soundtrack to the Nickelodeon show The Adventures of Pete & Pete featured many of his songs.
He and director Chen Shi-zheng have collaborated on three pieces of musical theatre; Orphan of Zhao (2003), Peach Blossom Fan (2004), and My Life as a Fairy Tale (2005) Select tracks from these works have been released on Nonesuch Records under the title Showtunes.
Additionally, he is one-third of the infrequent, live-only musical extravaganza the Three Terrors ensemble, whose other principal members include 69 Love Songs album's Dudley Klute and LD Beghtol; past themes of these performances have included: French pop, movie themes (including the title song from Deep Throat), intoxication, and New York. Kenny Mellman (of Kiki & Herb), James Jacobs, Daniel Handler, Jon DeRosa and others have performed with The Three Terrors at these sporadic gala events.
Merritt wrote and sang "I'm In a Lonely Way" in a television commercial for Volvo that aired in the summer and fall of 2007. He also performed "The Wheels on the Car".
Merritt penned the music and lyrics for a 2009 Off-Broadway stage musical of "Coraline", based on the novel by Neil Gaiman. In the MCC Theater production, his music will be performed by a piano “orchestra” – complete with a traditional piano, a toy piano, and a prepared piano (a piano that has had its sound altered by attaching objects – such as tin foil, rubber bands and playing cards – to the strings).
He produced a score for the silent film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea that was performed at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco on May 4, 2010 as part of the San Francisco International Film Festival.
Songwriting topics
Merritt is gay, and his lyrics are known for bending and blurring gender lines; examples include the song "When My Boy Walks Down the Street", which contains the lyric "and he's going to be my wife," and on the single "Andrew in Drag", from the album Love at the Bottom of the Sea, he sings, "A pity she does not exist, a shame he's not a fag. The only girl I ever loved is Andrew in drag."
Personal life
Merritt has never met his father, folk singer Scott Fagan, who had a brief affair with Merritt's mother. Merritt attended progressive Massachusetts high school The Cambridge School of Weston and briefly attended NYU before moving back to Boston. He has worked as an editor for Spin Magazine and Time Out New York. Merritt has a chihuahua named Irving, after Irving Berlin.
Merritt is known for having a dry personality, embracing a persona and life that is very different from the traditional rock star image. In a September 2005 interview conducted by The Onion's The A.V. Club, alternative rock musician Bob Mould was reminded of an interviewer who once referred to Mould as "the most depressed man in rock". Mould's response was, "He's never met Stephin Merritt, obviously."
Merritt suffers from a hearing condition known as hyperacusis; any sound heard louder than normal begins to "feedback" in his left ear at increasingly louder volumes. This has largely influenced the reserved live setup of The Magnetic Fields, which usually consists of acoustic instruments and little to no percussion. Merritt also wears earplugs during performances, and typically covers his left ear when the audience applauds.
Merritt is the subject of a documentary, Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields, which premiered in March 2010.
