Don Lennon is an independent musician from

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

Early life

Little personal information is known about Lennon. Several interviewers have implied that his name is a

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

. His style is often compared to that of Beat Happening,

The Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel '' Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocalist, as well as fr ...

and most notably fellow New Englander Jonathan Richman.

Career

Lennon was the guitarist and singer of the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

-based band The Umpteens (sometimes, incorrectly, "The Endless Upteens" ).Strong, Martin C. (2003) "Don Lennon", in ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, Shortly after the group's breakup in 1997, Lennon recorded his first solo album, ''Maniac''. Many of the songs were originally played by The Umpteens. His website states that some of these songs were written as early as 1993. Two recurring themes throughout the album are

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

("Party Coordinator," "Party In September" and "Party All The Time") and friends ("Best Friends Forever" and "I Need Friends"). ''Don Lennon'', a quasi-autobiographical album, came in 1999. Much of the album's lyrical content spoke about the musician's trials and tribulations in previous years while playing concerts promoting ''Maniac''. ''Downtown'' was released in 2002 on the independent label

Secretly Canadian Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Berlin. Secretly Canadian is a label included in Secretly Group, which ...

. The record dealt with the music industry, name checking

Dave Matthews Band Dave Matthews Band (also known by the initials DMB) is an American rock band formed in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 1991. The band's founding members were singer-songwriter and guitarist Dave Matthews, bassist Stefan Lessard, drummer and bac ...

, Lenny Kravitz,

The Mekons The Mekons are a British band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. The band's style has evolved over time to incorporate aspects of ...

, Bongwater and John Cale (of

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...

). Bizarrely, Secretly Canadian soon after began distancing itself from Lennon and the album, eventually removing it as a release from its catalog (although it was originally SC #62). 2005 saw the release of Lennon's fourth full-length album, ''Routine''. The subject matter dealt primarily with stand-up comedy and the construction of a comedian's routine, but also focused on Monster.com,

John Ritter Johnathan Southworth Ritter (September 17, 1948 – September 11, 2003) was an American actor. Ritter was a son of the singing cowboy star Tex Ritter and the father of actors Jason and Tyler Ritter. He is known for playing Jack Tripper on the ...

and

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NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

's John Brady cited the album as one of the three best records of 2005, while Sweden's prominent ''Digfi'' magazine rated it the number one.Zachrisson, Stefan (2005)
Bäst 2005, Stefan Z
", ''digfi''

Discography

* ''Maniac'' (Martin Philip, 1997) * ''Don Lennon'' (Martin Philip, 1999) * ''Downtown'' (

/Martin Philip, 2002) * ''Routine'' (Martin Philip, 2005) * ''Ich Heisse Don'' (Popfrenzy, 2005) * ''Radical'' (Martin Philip, 2006) * ''Nick and Mary'' (2010)

References

External links

Don Lennon's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lennon, Don Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American rock singers American rock guitarists American male guitarists American male singers Singers from Massachusetts American indie rock musicians Secretly Canadian artists Guitarists from Massachusetts