Johnny Borrell

Infobox Musical artist


Img_capt = Johnny on guitar
Name = Johnny Borrell
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Jonathan Edward Borrell
Alias =
Born = Birth date and age|1980|4|4
Origin = London, England
Instrument = Guitar, vocals, bass,piano,keyboard
Genre = Indie rock
Occupation = Musician
Years_active =
Label =
Associated_acts = Razorlight
The Libertines
URL =
Notable_instruments = Gibson L6-S Custom and Deluxe

Jonathan Edward Borrell (born 4 April 1980, in Muswell Hill, London, England) is an English singer and guitarist, and frontman of Razorlight.

Life and career

Of English, Irish, Scots and Ukranian heritage, Borrell grew up in the city of London, in Muswell Hill, and attended first St. Michael's, then St. Anthony's School, Hampstead, then EABJM in Paris, and then Highgate School, with John Hassall, former bassist of The Libertines and frontman of Yeti. He completed his A Levels in English, French and Philosophy at Fine Arts College, Belsize Park, Hampstead.Fact|date=January 2008 He currently resides in Paris, Scotland and London. Johnny was involved in music and the Camden scene while still at school. Knowing he was never good enough to be in the Libertines at 17 he played bass guitar in a band called Violet, regularly gigging on the camden circuit. The band recorded an EP and started to gain some recognition before splitting acrimoniously live on stage at Dublin Castle in late 97/early 98. The title track of the EP was subsequently used in the Soundtrack of the 1998 Michael Winterbottom film 'I Want You'. After leaving school, he played around the london circuit as a solo artist; often appearing with gospel singers, and covering The Clash and Leadbelly songs. Many of these shows were played with close friends "The libertines". In 2002 he went on to form a band which played house parties, rehearsing at a Hackney warehouse called Unit 13, comprising of Carl Dalemo, Christian Smith Pancorvo (Later replaced by Andy Burrows) and Björn Ågren. The band were watching a video recording of them playing a gig, and a random jam section came across with a distorted lyric of Razo light. So they thought 'razor light'. So they adopted the name. After the top 10 hit "Golden Touch", their debut album "Up All Night" charted at number 3 in the UK, and stop-gap single "Somewhere Else" just missed out on the number 1 spot. Their self-titled follow-up album was released July 17, 2006, and debuted at number 1 in the UK album chart, giving the band their first release to top the chart. Johnny and Razorlight scored their first UK number 1 single with "America" on the 8th of October '06. In 2008 Borrell contributed the song "Carrikfergus" (featuring the Suri tribe) to the Survival International charity album "Songs for Survival".

Borrell has also been romantically linked with Beth Ditto, American actress, Kirsten Dunst and more recently, Harry Potter star, Emma Watson [http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/article794804.ece] .

Reputation and controversy

Borrell has sometimes been regarded as having a very arrogant attitude towards the press and is famous for his proclamations of his own abilities. [cite news |first= A.L.|last= Harper|authorlink= |coauthors= |title= Interview: Razorlight Frontman Johnny Borrell Looks Back and Ahead|url= http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/09/10/134301.php|work=BC Music |publisher= |date=2006-09-10 |accessdate=2007-07-21 ] However, like many other artists who come across negatively in NME interviews, Borrell and supporters have accused the magazine of misrepresentation and emphasising quotes out of context. [cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title= 'I'm paying some karma'|url= http://music.guardian.co.uk/rock/story/0,,1966974,00.html|work=Guardian Unlimited |publisher= |date=2006-12-08 |accessdate=2007-07-21 ]

Borrell and The Libertines

Borrell is one of "The Dalston Set", a clique of indie notables connected to the early days of the London scene of the early 2000s, along with Dominic Masters of The Others, Pete Doherty, Carl Barât, John Hassall, and the Queens of Noize. It has been reported that he was briefly a stand-in bassist for The Libertines before they were signed, but in recent interviews he has claimed that this is not true. In Pete Welsh's Kids in the Riot, it is alleged that Borrell was sacked as The Libertines' bassist for unreliable behaviour and not having the same musical ability as the others members [cite book | last = Welsh | first = Pete | year = 2005 | title = Kids in the Riot: High and Low with the Libertines | publisher = Omnibus Press | location = London | id = ISBN 1-84449-716-X] , but in general there is little animosity between the two bands, and Borrell remains friends with Carl Barât. The Libertines' song "The Boy Looked At Johnny" is reputedly about Borrell, and Razorlight's "Don't Go Back To Dalston" is reputedly directed at Pete Doherty, telling him to curtail his drug habit. Another Razorlight song talking about curtailing a drug habit is "Up All Night", which is largely misinterpreted as being a love song. However, Borrell's former friend Pete Doherty, severely inebriated, attempted to headbutt him backstage at the Leeds Festival in 2005.

Borrell and Other Contempories

In the May 17, 2006 issue of the NME, Borrell became embroiled in a spat with fellow NME favourites The Kooks, as a result of his remarks that their music is 'shit' and the lead singer 'boring'. In an interview with the popular music magazine NME Borrell is quoted as saying "He models his style on me. And that record is the most horrible thing I've ever heard. It sounds like the band are literally rolling over, sticking their arse in the air and begging Radio 1 to fuck them. I heard their single on the radio the other day and if he can live with himself after that production, and if he feels like he has to slag people off to keep up, then I'm sure his nights are long and those moments of doubt are really painful." [3] " implying that The Kooks had "sold out" to the commercial music industry by signing to Virgin Records and adjusting their sound to become more marketable.

Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the Killers is reported to be a huge fan of Razorlight. He told the sun newspaper "The new Razorlight album is unbelievable. They’re so good, they’ve really grown and they have their own sound. They make me feel I have to try harder”.

In late 2006, Tim Rice-Oxley, pianist and songwriter with Keane, wrote a song entitled "The Frog Prince", allegedly; it is rumoured to be about Borrell.

Mighty Boosh

*He has appeared twice on "The Mighty Boosh", once alone as a giant rapist rabbit in the 2006 stage show and once with Razorlight in the episode "The Priest and the Beast". Noel also opened for Razorlight at their two sold out Alexandra Palace shows in 2005 and appeared in the Razorlight video for the song 'in the morning'

Vogue Cover

*Borrell appeared on the front cover of the May 2007 issue of Vogue Magazine, alongside supermodel Natalia Vodianova, in his trademark skinny white jeans and, of course, topless. Borrell is one of only seven men who have appeared on the cover of the British Vogue [ [http://www.catwalkqueen.tv/2007/04/johnny_razorlig.html Catwalk Queen: Johnny 'Razorlight' Borrell on the cover of Vogue ] ] .

Acting career

It has been reported that Borrell will star in an Irvine Welsh scripted film alongside Colin Firth and Robert Carlisle called "The Meat Trade" [ [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466235/ The Meat Trade (2009) ] ]

*In 2008 Borrell and bandmate Andy Burrows appeared at the Teenage Cancer Trust comedy night at the Royal Albert Hall, hosted by Borrell's friend Noel Fielding. The two played a short acoustic set.

References

External links

* [http://www.razorlight.co.uk Razorlight official site]
*imdb|1659994|Johnny Borrell

Persondata
NAME=Borrell, Johnny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English rock singer
DATE OF BIRTH=April 4, 1980
PLACE OF BIRTH=Muswell Hill, London, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=