Declan MacManus Declan Patrick Aloysius McManus
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Awards
Elvis Costello’s 1977 debut album My Aim Is True made him an instant star in England. He formed The Attractions for his second album This Year’s Model 1978, which Rolling Stone ranked number 98 on its 500 Greatest Albums list. Over his career, he has won a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction 2003 and an OBE in 2019. His work has influenced many singer-songwriters.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Elvis Costello — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Elvis Costello by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Elvis Costello — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Elvis Costello was born Declan Patrick MacManus on August 25, 1954, in Paddington, London. His father, Ross McManus, was a British band leader. His parents separated when he was seven, and he moved to Liverpool with his mother before returning to London as a teenager. He attended St Mark’s Catholic School and St Francis Xavier’s College. By 1969, he was performing professionally, working as a computer operator while playing in bands like Flip City.
Costello signed with Stiff Records in 1977 and recorded his debut album My Aim Is True while on vacation from his computer operator job. The album was a smash hit in England and earned a worldwide distribution deal with Columbia Records. He formed The Attractions for his second album This Year’s Model 1978, which Rolling Stone ranked number 98 on its 500 Greatest Albums list. In 1998, he collaborated with Burt Bacharach on the album Painted From Memory. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 as a member of Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
Costello has been married three times: to Mary Burgoyne from 1974 to 1984, to Cait O’Riordan from 1986 to 2002, and to Diana Krall since December 6, 2003. He and Krall have twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, born December 6, 2006. He resides in New York City and is a fan of Liverpool Football Club. He prefers to be called by his birth name by family.
Elvis Costello was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003 as a member of Elvis Costello and the Attractions. Rolling Stone voted him the 30th Greatest Rock n Roll Artist of all time. His album This Year’s Model is ranked number 98 on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums list. He received an OBE Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to music. His influence on singer-songwriters endures.
The complete filmography of Elvis Costello — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Elvis Costello — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Elvis Costello — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
There Is Something Kind of Absurd About People Who Live in Such a Comfortable, Cushioned, Spoiled Society Tattooing Themselves and Piercing Themselves to Make Them Appear Tribal. We’re Trying to Act Like We’re Some Sort of Tribe That’s Been Discovered in the Mall.
Be Nice to the British Boy. I’m the Only Ally You Have Left.
You Can Always Say It Could Be Better, but If You’re Not Careful with Ambition, the Next Thing You Know You’re Sailing a Statue of Yourself Down the River . . .
Writing About Music Is Like Dancing About Architecture – It’s a Really Stupid Thing to Want to Do.
Do I Resent People Looking for the Autobiographical in My Songs? No, I Don’t Resent It. I Just Blame John Lennon. It’s the Plastic Ono Band, That Album Started It All. After That, Everything Was Supposed to Be Fucking Confessional. the Early ’70S Were Full of All These People Baring Their Fucking Souls for Public Scrutiny. There Were Records Whose Authenticity Depended on Their Confessional Aspect, and If You Read Certain Magazines and the Background Interviews, You Knew What These Songs Were About. and That, for Me, Always Used to Spoil It. Particularly When You Found Out What Dickheads Some of the People Were That They Were Writing About. I’d Rather Have Them Be Like Smokey Robinson Songs, Which Could Be About Anyone.
It’s When You’re Drinking and You’re Not Happy, That’s When You’ve Got to Worry. That’s When It’s Gonna Affect the Way You Look at Things, Because You’re Probably Drinking for the Wrong Reasons. and That’s When Things Start to Get Warped and You Don’t Think Anything Through.
I’ll Never Admit That I’m Drunk. but We All Drink. and Sometimes It’s for the Right Reasons…to Let Your Mind off the Leash for a While and Have a Bit of Fun, and Then You Don’t Mind If You Make a Bit of a Prat of Yourself. and It Doesn’t Matter If You End up Shouting at People, or Have a Punch-up or Whatever, as Long as You Wake up the Same Person. It’s When You Don’t Want to Wake up the Same Person That You’ve Got a Problem.
Was I Purposefully Fucking up My Life to Give Myself Something to Write About? I Think I Did That for About a Year. at the Very Most. Then I Began to Mistrust the Results. Because If You Do That, It’s Like When They Pour Acid in Rabbit’s Eyes or Something. What Does It Prove? It Proves That It Hurts the Animal. Very Smart. It’s Unnecessary Research. and I Guess I Did Some Unnecessary Research for a While. Then I’d Write Something That Would Scare the Hell Out of Me. Like There’s a Couple of Songs on Get Happy!! That, When I Read Them Back, I Just Scared the Hell Out of Myself. and I Thought, ‘Uh-uh…better Not Think Any More About This…it’s Going Too Far.’ Because You Can Think Too Fucking Much, You Know? and It Gets a Bit Fucking Evil.
It Was Difficult to Develop an Original Style. I Have No Idea Who It Was I Might Have Been Imitating, Whether Consciously or Unconsciously.
My Mother Tells the Story of Me Bringing a 45 Home and Saying, ‘It’s Unbreakable!’ and Bending It…and It Broke.
I Get to Play Festival Occasions with an Orchestra – a Jazz Orchestra or a Symphony Orchestra. Believe Me, That Stops It from Getting Monotonous. Each Performance Requires Slightly Different Dynamics Really, Really Keeps the Music from Getting Routine.
Generally, I Think the Best That Can Be Achieved by Songs Like ‘Tramp the Dirt Down’ Is Something Like ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ Achieved. the Record Didn’t Get Mandela Released, but It Did Increase the Membership of the Anti-apartheid Movement, Because Jerry Dammers Very Intelligently Printed Their Address on the Sleeve. and the Record Introduced Mandela to a Lot of People Who Maybe Otherwise Would Never Have Heard of Him. and There’s a Point Where Political Art Only Works on That Level – the Communication of Basic Information.
I Don’t Know Much About Morrissey. Apart from the Fact He Sometimes Brings Out Records with the Greatest Titles in the World That Somewhere Along the Line He Then Neglects to Write Songs For.
So, I Think You’d Better Hold Your Tongue/ Although You’ve Never Been That Strong/ I’m Sorry to Say/ That I Knew All Along/ You Don’t Mess with That Sulky Girl.
I Find Some Confessional Music Indulgent. It Has a Misplaced Confidence in How Interesting It Is to Hear About People’s Rawest Experiences in Real Time. the Most Confessionally Impressive Songwriters Have a Degree of Craftsmanship That Informs Their Account of Emotional Events. They Don’t Just Assume That Unedited Emotion Is Enough, Because It Frankly Isn’t.
Little-known facts about Elvis Costello — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
Costello plays the guitar, harmonica, and piano.
His stage name combines Elvis Presley’s first name with the maiden name of his paternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth Costello, not the comedian Lou Costello as often assumed.
He legally changed his name to Elvis Costello in 1977, then to Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus in 1986. Post-1986, he used both names for professional purposes, usually performing under the Costello moniker. Aloysius was not one of his original middle names.
The instrumentals for his debut album My Aim Is True were provided by the band Clover, who were without their lead singer Huey Lewis at the time.
He is a big fan of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.
He has twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, born December 6, 2006, with his wife Diana Krall.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2003, as a member of Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
He resides in New York City.
He announced his engagement to Canadian jazz singer Diana Krall in May 2003.
He was voted the 30th Greatest Rock n Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
He married his third wife Diana at Elton John’s home.
In addition to recordings as Elvis Costello often backed by The Attractions, he has recorded under names such as Declan MacManus, Napoleon Dynamite & The Royal Guard, The Coward Brothers with T Bone Burnett, Nick Lowe & His Sound, The Emotional Toothpaste, and The Imposter.
He is the son of Ross McManus.
He attended a special dinner at Sony Studios in Los Angeles to honor Sting as MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year on February 6, 2004.
He prefers to be called by his birth name by family and when not performing.
He is a fan of Liverpool Football Club.
He is the lead singer and guitarist of Elvis Costello and the Attractions.
He was awarded the OBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to music.
Through Diana Krall, Jamie Chisholm is related to Elvis Costello.
He is of Irish descent.
His new band the Imposters broke the album The Delivery Man.
His parents separated when he was seven years old.
As a teenager he moved to Liverpool with his mother before returning to London a few years later to become a singer-songwriter.
His second album, This Year’s Model 1978, is ranked number 98 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
As of 2018, his last solo album was released in 2010.
As of 2018, he was working on a musical based on the 1957 film A Face in the Crowd and had 18 tracks written.
His latest album North was released in September 2003.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Elvis Costello.
Celebrities similar to Elvis Costello — same craft, ranked by reach.
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