Mr Duke (born 1 April 1983 as David Edwards) is a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

country singer-songwriter. Born in Snowdonia, North Wales he took his name from a character in

Hunter S. Thompson Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of '' Hell's Angels'' (1967), a book for which he s ...

's 1971 novel '' Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas''. At the age of 17 he left North Wales for London to join prog band ''Elysium Field'' whom, he stayed with until 2003. The following couple of years resulted in Duke hitch-hiking all over Europe, reading 1950’s American Beat literature, which would have a profound effect, as did the music of that era. After returning to the UK, and ready to record again, Mr Duke’s first solo album was released by

Earth Monkey Productions Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surface ...

in May 2007, entitled, ''I Can't Find My Keys''. Later in the same year, Duke released ''Is this anti-folk'',

anti-folk Anti-folk (sometimes referred to as unfolk) is a music genre that emerged in the 1980s in response to the remnants of the 1960s folk music scene. Anti-folk music was made to mock the perceived seriousness of the time's mainstream music scene, a ...

a genre Duke had not long discovered, and by which he was deeply influenced. In Cardiff, 2008, Mr Duke formed his backing band, known as ''The Hoodlum Circus'', taken from a

book, '' Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs''. This band consisted of Cristian "Amigo" Marcico (Drums), Josh "Yoshi" Webber (Bass) and Gareth "Macauly Crackpipe" Grant (Guitar). In 2008 Mr Duke, backed by 'The Hoodlum Circus' released ''Who Shot Mr Duke?'' described as the "Welsh Flaming Lips" by Tom Robinson, bbc6 music. 2010 saw the very small release (25 copies) of ''The Trail Of......'' a collection of unfinished work, inspired by Peter Sellers The backing band also had several rolling members, including Simon Bartlett, and Jacob Powell. Following the disbanding of ''The Hoodlum Circus'', Mr Duke retreated to Snowdonia, where he recorded ''Be There to Love you'', a countryesque album, and a homage to Townes Van Zandt, released by Blue Chartists in March 2011, which featured Sophie Cochrane from the bands Spencer Mcgarry Season and Barefoot Dance of the Sea

Discography

*''I Can't Find My Keys'' (EMP037) 2007 *''Is This "Anti-Folk?'' (AFUKEMP001) 2007 *''Who Shot Mr Duke?'' (BabyBlue033) 2008 *''The Trail of.......'' (BabyBlue056) 2010 *''Be There to Love you'' (BlueCrt001) 2011

Notes

External links

I Can't Find My Keys
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke, Mr 1983 births Living people 21st-century Welsh male singers Welsh buskers Welsh guitarists Welsh singer-songwriters 21st-century British guitarists British male singer-songwriters