Portishead () is an English band formed in 1991 in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

. The band is named after Portishead, Somerset, eight miles west of Bristol, along the coast. The band comprises vocalist

Beth Gibbons Beth Gibbons (born 4 January 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, which has released three albums. She released an album with Rustin Man, '' Out of Season'', in 2002, followed by an ...

, producer

Geoff Barrow Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak and supergroup Quakers, and has scored several films. Portishead—formed in 1991—was named after the ...

, and musician Adrian Utley; Dave McDonald, an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considerin ...

on their first records, is sometimes cited as the fourth member. Portishead's debut album, '' Dummy'' (1994), fused hip hop production with yearning vocals from Gibbons and an atmospheric, cinematic style reminiscent of spy film soundtracks. The album was met with commercial and critical acclaim, quickly becoming a landmark album in the emerging

trip hop Trip hop (sometimes used synonymously with " downtempo") is a musical genre that originated in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom, especially Bristol. It has been described as a psychedelic fusion of hip hop and electronica with slow tem ...

genre. However, the band disliked being associated with the term, and would consciously step away from that sound on later releases. Two other studio albums have been issued: '' Portishead'' in 1997 and ''

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hi ...

'' in 2008, both of which received similar acclaim. In 1998, the band released a concert album, '' Roseland NYC Live''.

History

''Dummy'' (1994)

and

met during a coffee break at an Enterprise Allowance course in February 1991. That year they recorded their first song for the album, "It Could Be Sweet". They then met Adrian Utley while they were recording at the Coach House Studios in Bristol, and Utley heard the first song Barrow and Gibbons had recorded, and began to exchange ideas on music. The resulting first album by Portishead, '' Dummy'', was released in 1994. The cover features a still from the band's own short film '' To Kill a Dead Man''. The credits indicate that at this juncture, Portishead was a duo of

and

. Adrian Utley, who co-produced the album with them (and who played on nine of the tracks and co-wrote eight), became an official band member shortly after its release. Despite the band's aversion to press coverage, the album was successful in both Europe and the United States (where it sold more than 150,000 copies even before the band toured there).

Biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or c ...

''AllMusic''. Retrieved 28 December 2007 ''Dummy'' was positively described by the ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' as "musique noire for a movie not yet made". ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' praised its music as "

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

hip-hop". ''Dummy'' spawned three singles: " Numb", "

Sour Times "Sour Times" is a song by English trip hop group Portishead, from their debut album, '' Dummy'' (1994). It was written by all three members of the band and released as a single by Go! Beat Records in August 1994, accompanied by three bonus tr ...

", and " Glory Box", and won the

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

in 1995. The success of the album saw the band nominated for Best British Newcomer at the 1995

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

.Portishead BRITs Profile
BRIT Awards Ltd. Retrieved 21 November 2012 In 2003, the album was ranked number 419 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The album is often considered one of the greatest

albums to date and is a milestone in the definition of the genre.

''Portishead'' (1997)

After their initial success, Portishead withdrew from the spotlight for three years until their second album, '' Portishead'', was released in 1997. The album's sound differed from ''Dummy'', characterised as "grainy and harsher", with increased use of live instrumentation and less reliance on sampling. Three singles, " All Mine", "

Over Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England * Over, Cheshire, England * Over, South Gloucestershire, England *Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England **Over Bridge * Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by P ...

" and " Only You" were released, the first one achieving a Top 10 placing in the UK. In 1997, the band performed a one-off show with strings at the

Roseland Ballroom The Roseland Ballroom was a multipurpose hall, in a converted ice skating rink, with a colorful ballroom dancing pedigree, in New York City's theater district, on West 52nd Street in Manhattan. The venue, according to its website, accommodat ...

in New York City. A

live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

primarily featuring these new orchestral arrangements of the group's songs was released in 1998. There was also a long-form VHS video of the performance, and a DVD followed in 2002, with substantial extra material including many early music videos.

Hiatus (1999–2006)

In 1999, Portishead recorded the song " Motherless Child" with

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer *Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in 1 ...

for his album '' Reload''. For the next few years, the band members concentrated on solo projects and other pursuits. In February 2005, the band appeared live for the first time in seven years at the Tsunami Benefit Concert in Bristol. Around that time, Barrow revealed that the band was in the process of writing its third album. In August 2006, the band posted two new tracks on its MySpace page (called "Key Bored 299 03" and "Greek Jam"), described by Barrow as "doodles". Around the same time, Portishead covered

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provoc ...

's "Un Jour Comme un Autre (Requiem for Anna)" on the tribute album '' Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited''.

''Third'' (2008)

On 2 October 2007, Portishead stated that the new album ''

'' had been mixed and was nearly complete, and was due for release in early April 2008. The release was later pushed to 28 April. On 8 and 9 December 2007, the band curated the All Tomorrow's Parties festival in

Minehead Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the boundary with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National ...

, England. The festival featured their first full live sets in nearly 10 years. They premiered five tracks from the new album: "Silence", "Hunter", "The Rip", "We Carry On", and "Machine Gun". On 21 January 2008, a European tour to support the album was announced, together with a headline spot at the

Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly called the Coachella Festival or simply Coachella) is an annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Coachella Valley in the Colorado Desert. ...

on 26 April 2008, their only U.S. date on the tour. ''Third'' was made available on Last.fm the week before release, attracting 327,000 listeners in just under 24 hours. It was the first time Last.fm had made an album available before its official release date. The album was released on 29 April 2008 to coincide with the band's appearance at Coachella. Portishead's Geoff Barrow realised a "boyhood fantasy" when

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped creat ...

of Public Enemy joined the band onstage at the "ATP I'll Be Your Mirror" festival curated by Portishead in Asbury Park, NJ in October 2011. He contributed his verse from the Public Enemy song "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" over Portishead's single "Machine Gun".

Later work (2008–present)

On 18 May 2008, Barrow expressed Portishead's enthusiasm for recording new material on their website's blog, stating that he "can't wait to write some new tunes". On 28 September 2009, Barrow announced "big plans" for a new project with a new angle, hinting that an album could arrive as soon as late 2010. Whilst the album had yet to materialise, on 9 December 2009, the band released the song " Chase the Tear" for Human Rights Day to raise money for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

UK. Additionally, on 3 December 2008, Universal Music Japan reissued the albums ''Dummy'' and ''Portishead'' in limited edition on SHM-CD. Adrian Utley - Portishead - 2

During Summer 2011, Portishead performed at a number of festivals in Europe, including, Pohoda Festival, Exit Festival,

Benicàssim Festival Benicàssim (; es, Benicasim ; ar, بنو قاسم, translit=banū qāsim, or ar, بني قاسم, translit=banī qāsim, label=none, according to numismatic findings) is a municipality and beach resort located in the province of Castelló, ...

in Spain,

Rock Werchter Rock Werchter is an annual music festival held in the village of Werchter, near Leuven, Belgium, since 1976 and is a large sized rock music festival. The 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012 and 2014 festivals received the Arthur award for ''best festiv ...

, Paleo Festival,

Roskilde Festival The Roskilde Festival is a Danish music festival held annually south of Roskilde. It is one of the largest music festivals in Europe and the largest in the Nordic countries. It was created in 1971 by two high school students and a promoter. In 1 ...

, the

Hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Dep ...

/Southside Festivals in Germany, and the

Super Bock Super Rock Super Bock Super Rock is a music festival in Portugal that takes place annually since 1995. It is organized by the Portuguese live entertainment company Música no Coração and is named after its main sponsor, the beer brand Super Bock. Over t ...

music festival. The band also headlined and curated the line-up for two All Tomorrow's Parties music festivals entitled ''I'll Be Your Mirror'', in London at Alexandra Palace on 23 and 24 July. The second took place in Asbury Park, New Jersey, from 30 September – 2 October. Portishead then visited several cities in North America, including New York, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Berkeley, Seattle, Vancouver, and Denver during October. The ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television ar ...

'' hailed the concert and noted: "horror-movie accents—Gothic organ, guitar lines thick with menacing reverb, spooky theremin—ensured a certain darkness". They finished their tour with a jaunt to Australia and New Zealand. Barrow stated in a ''Rolling Stone'' interview that he would begin work on his portion of the album in January 2012, jokingly pointing out that it could be another decade before a new album is released. Geoff Barrow - Portishead - Roskilde Festival 2011

Geoff Barrow - Portishead - Roskilde Festival 2011

In 2013 the band headlined the Other Stage at the Glastonbury Music festival and embarked on a European tour. In summer 2014, they played several concerts around Europe. 2015 saw Portishead continue to perform live, playing festivals such as fib (Benicassim, Spain), Latitude (Southwold, Suffolk, UK), and the Montreux Jazz Festival (Montreux, Switzerland). Additionally, Portishead produced a cover of

ABBA ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The grou ...

's song "

SOS is a Morse code distress signal (), used internationally, that was originally established for maritime use. In formal notation is written with an overscore line, to indicate that the Morse code equivalents for the individual letters of "SOS" ...

" for the soundtrack to the movie '' High-Rise'' which had a Gala screening at the London Film Festival on 9 October 2015. In 2016, the band won an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. On 22 June 2016, Portishead released a video for "SOS" that recontextualized the song in the wake of the then-recent murder of MP

Jo Cox Helen Joanne Cox ( Leadbeater; 22 June 1974 – 16 June 2016) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Batley and Spen from May 2015 until her murder in June 2016. She was a member of the Labour Party. Born in Ba ...

and the

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 Greenwich Mean Time, GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 Central Eur ...

vote. On 2 May 2022, Portishead performed for the first time in seven years at O2 Academy Bristol. Organized by War Child UK, the concert benefited refugees and children affected by the

Ukraine war The following is a list of major conflicts fought by Ukraine, by Ukrainian people or by regular armies during periods when independent states existed on the modern territory of Ukraine, from the Kyivan Rus' times to the present day. It also ...

Style and influences

Portishead's music was influenced by a wide range of singers and composers. Gibbons's voice has been compared to singer

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop s ...

. Utley mentioned the spaghetti western guitar composed by

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classi ...

; he said that " orricone's''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' ( it, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo, literally "The good, the ugly, the bad") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Clee ...

'' is the sort of soundtrack that I love".

Discography

* '' Dummy'' (1994) * '' Portishead'' (1997) * ''

'' (2008)

Awards and nominations

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Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the ...

, '' Dummy'' , Album of the Year , , - , NME Awards , rowspan=4, Themselves , Best Dance Act , , , - , MTV Europe Music Awards , Best New Act , , , - , Edison Awards , Best International Dance/Rap , , - ,

British Breakthrough Act The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, , , - , 1997 , GAFFA Awards (Denmark) , rowspan=2,

, Best Foreign Female Act , , , - , 1998 , Žebřík Music Awards , Best International Female , , , - , 1999 ,

Online Music Awards Online Music Awards was a UK-based awards ceremony for unsigned musicians which initially took place in 2011, and again in 2012. The awards were intended to take place annually with nominees, voting and winners announcements taking place on the On ...

, rowspan=4, Themselves , Best Alternative Fansite , , , - , rowspan=5, 2008 , rowspan=6, Rober Awards Music Prize , Best Band , , rowspan=2, , - , Cutting Edge , , - , Best Electronica , , , - , ''

'' , Album of the Year , , , - , " The Rip" , Single of the Year , , , - , 2011 , rowspan=2, Themselves , Best Live Artist , , , - , rowspan=3, 2016 , Ivor Novello Awards , Outstanding Contribution to British Music , , , - , Music Week Sync Awards , rowspan=2, "

" , Film Soundtrack , , - , Rober Awards Music Poll , Best Cover Version , ,

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control English electronic music groups English alternative rock groups English experimental rock groups Trip hop groups Downtempo musicians British musical trios Go! Beat artists Island Records artists Mercury Records artists Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in England Musical groups from Bristol