Luke Elliot (born June 30, 1984) is an American musician, producer, and actor.

Biography

Luke Elliot was born in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

, the second of five children, to Lorna Silver, a poet, and Norbert Elliot, an English language professor. He grew up in

Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Lawrence Township is a township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the south and the Raritan Valley region to the north, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New Yo ...

. He currently resides in Europe.

Career

Playing in New York's Lower East Side, Elliot and his band made their way from the small bar scene to some of New York's more popular venues. Director Paul Cantagallo asked Elliot to compose the music for his film, ''Benny the Bum'', which won Best Local Film at the 2012 Philadelphia Independent Film Festival. Elliot began headlining Philadelphia venues such as North Star and World Cafe Live. After a chance meeting with an influential journalist led to his music being promoted in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...

's biggest daily newspaper, Elliot traveled for the first time outside of the U.S. to Norway in 2014. There, he formed a band, toured the country, and recorded his debut album
Dressed for the Occasion
with producer John Agnello in Halden, Norway at Athletic Studio. The album was released in 2015, and they toured Europe and the world to enthusiastic response. Soon after, he moved permanently to Oslo, met and married a Norwegian woman, and had a child. Elliot's evocatively titled sophomore album
The Big Wind
released in 2020, is a barometer of these turbulent times. It is a boldly textured and instantly immersive album with a film noirish touch that is simultaneously sleek and modern at the eye of the storm. “These songs have to do with a pull to come into a stable existence,” Elliot explains. “While writing them, I had no permanent residence, but I stopped being a mess and I scrambled to get this record done.”
Rolling Stone France
picked ''The Big Wind'' as its "Album Of The Month" upon release and referred to Elliot as an "undeniable talent combined with a truly stunning voice."

MOJO Magazine ''Mojo'' is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom, initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer. Following the success of the magazine '' Q'', publishers Emap were looking for a title that would cater for the bur ...

in the UK called him “…a master of accessible, twisted, gothic

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

.” His two critically acclaimed albums and EP, part of his growing discography, have garnered top scores and rave reviews. He has toured and sold out venues all over the world, and is especially cherished by his European fan base. Elliot is also an accomplished actor and has appeared in several Norwegian productions, alongside

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...

in the hit series '' Wisting''. He has also been featured in Thomas Giersten’s ''Helt perfekt'', Øystein Karlsen’s series ''Exit'' and narrated for Gry Hivju’s ''Fearless'', starring collaborator and friend,

Kristofer Hivju Kristofer Hivju (; born 7 December 1978) is a Norwegian actor. He is best known for playing the roles of Tormund Giantsbane in the HBO fantasy series ''Game of Thrones'' and Connor Rhodes in ''The Fate of the Furious''. Early life Hivju was ...

Style and influences

Elliot has been described as having a dark

crooning Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

style, with a traditional,

melancholic Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...

and melodic sound. He has garnered favorable comparisons to roots, folk, and rock icons such as Hank Williams, Big Joe Turner, PJ Harvey, and Nick Cave.

Discography

* ''Provisions'' (2014) * ''Dressed for the Occasion'' (2016) * ''The Big Wind'' (2020) * Let ‘em All Talk (2023)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Luke Living people American male singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from New Jersey 1985 births American male composers 21st-century American composers Lawrence High School (New Jersey) alumni Mercer County Community College alumni People from Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Musicians from Princeton, New Jersey Musicians from Jersey City, New Jersey 21st-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from New York (state)