- Album list
- Singer Intro
Peter Joseph Yorn (born July 27, 1974) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He first gained international recognition after his debut record, Musicforthemorningafter, was released to critical and commercial acclaim in 2001. He is known for playing the bulk of the instruments on his records and is often credited with helping to usher in the singer-songwriter resurgence of the late 90's and early 2000's.
Yorn was encouraged enough to maintain a focus on music while attending Syracuse University (class of 1996) where he was a major in the department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies and a member of the Delta Upsilon fraternity. After graduating, Yorn moved to Los Angeles, where he began to attract a following with his performances at Largo. Shortly after signing to Columbia records in 1999, film producer Bradley Thomas (Kingpin & There's Something About Mary) liked Yorn's act enough to request Yorn send him some rough demos for possible inclusion in the Farrelly Brothers' film Me, Myself and Irene. Soon after, Yorn landed a job scoring all of the music to the film and also contributed the songs 'Strange Condition' and 'Just Another' to the film and its soundtrack. Yorn has spoken of the busy time mixing both his debut record while working on the Farrelly's scoring project. 'Just Another' was also used in the soundtrack for 'Bandits,' the 2001 bank-robbery film starring Bruce Willis, Cate Blanchett, and Billy Bob Thornton.
After experiencing this taste of success, Yorn released his 2001 LP debut, entitled musicforthemorningafter, which went gold on the strength of the album's lead single, 'Life on a Chain.' Rolling Stone Magazine named Yorn one of 'Ten [artists] to Watch in 2001' and gave the album a favorable four-star rating. Yorn and his band 'Dirty Bird' toured for 18 months straight in support of his debut record.
Yorn went on to release the 2003 album Day I Forgot which has sold over 300,000 copies to date and scored a third radio hit with the song 'Come Back Home.' Q Magazine, in its 4 star review, described the record as simply 'wonderful'. The record also featured the now classic 'Crystal Village', and 'Turn of The Century'. The latter was featured in the 2004 film 'The Girl Next Door'. On the heels of the extensive 'Day I Forgot' tour, Yorn released a double live album, 'LIVE From New Jersey', which was recorded at the Community Theater in Morristown, New Jersey.
In 2006, Yorn released his third album, Nightcrawler and toured extensively in support of it. He preceded every show with an instore acoustic appearance at an indie record shop in the town he was passing through. All of these instore performances were recorded, thus creating an extensive series of Live EP's. (complete list of instore EP's below). Nightcrawler was named one of the top 20 records of 2006 by Paste magazine.
Guitarist Peter Buck of the band R.E.M. has made appearances on several Pete Yorn recordings, including instrumentation on the single version of 'Strange Condition' and a number of songs from the Day I Forgot LP. Yorn has worked with producers R. Walt Vincent, Brad Wood, and Ken Andrews of Failure and Year of the Rabbit, in addition to several other producers including Scott Litt, Butch Walker and Sonic Youth producer Don Fleming.
Yorn has shared bills with the Dave Matthews Band, R.E.M., Crowded House, Foo Fighters, Weezer, Coldplay, The Dixie Chicks, Semisonic, and Sunny Day Real Estate, among others.
Yorn has played at Carnegie Hall on two occasions as part of tributes to Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen. Yorn gave the 2011 commencement address to the Visual and Performing Arts class at his alma mater, Syracuse University.
Yorn's song, 'Lose You' can be heard just before the ending credits of the episode 'Simple Explanation' during Kutner's funeral on the Fox show House, MD.
Yorn mentions the Nova Scotia band Sloan as one with great influence on him, even admitting after seeing them live in 1999, he was so blown away by their talent that he wondered whether it would be worth continuing to even pursue his debut album. Sloan would later tour with Yorn in the US.
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