LONDON, UK (Top40 Charts) Alison
Goldfrapp and Will Gregory - the luminary electronic duo
Goldfrapp - are the recipients of the highly prestigious 2021 Ivor Novello Inspiration Award, which was presented at a star-studded ceremony in London, on
September 21.
The multi-platinum selling duo, who formed in 1999, have released seven albums, each charting their singular course through pop music and beyond. Their unique sound is the product of diverse influences drawing expansively from visual art and wider cultural elements; whilst the music itself developed to encompass elements of electronic music, glam stomp and a more modern form of folk, so did their influence - as trailblazing iconoclasts they have informed generations of other artists, a fact reflected in award recognizing their widespread and diverse appeal.
This is Goldfrapp's second Ivor; in 2003 the duo won the Dance Award for their hit single Strict Machine and, over the years, the group have also been nominated for four Grammy awards and for the Mercury Prize.
Alison
Goldfrapp said: "I suppose as an artist in any discipline, part of the concern and interest is to create work that is relevant and resonant for others; in our case with music hopefully this is as much to do with those within the business as it is to the listeners and audiences. So it means a lot to us to be recognised in this way. Thank you to the Ivors and everyone who has supported us".
On receiving Ivors Inspiration award Will Gregory says: "We've been somehow allowed to continue plowing our niche furrow for the last 20 years. In the midst of the crazy turbulent music biz, which propels careers into the stratosphere and then drops them into oblivion in a heartbeat, we seem like some anomalous lucky miracle. Really, it's because of our marvellous record company and
Daniel Miller, our fans, our managers, along with many others supporting us over the years that has made this happen. We are all people who believe it is important to support music outside of the mainstream, who love music in all its myriad forms and wonderfully diverse guises, irrespective of its chart position - who believe that a varied diet is healthy and nourishing."
Since forming in 1999
Goldfrapp have released seven albums, including their most recent album, 2017's
Silver Eye, which debuted at number 6 on the U.K. album chart, a success which has been mirrored globally.
The group's striking image and often sublime visual art is symbiotic with their intricate, exploratory musical landscape; according to Gregory, "music is a visual experience" and they often visualise their songs before writing them.
Recent years have seen
Goldfrapp further blur the boundaries between music and other creative disciplines. The group have also scored the soundtracks to the films My Summer of Love and Nowhere Boy and written the music for Carrie Cracknell's production of Medea at the
National Theatre.
Goldfrapp's music experiments with many different styles and genres, drawing elements of electronica, synth-pop, glam rock, ambient and folk to create a unique and daring musical experience. Rolling Stone wrote: "Goldfrapp has been a pioneering presence in international art-pop for over a decade… touching upon everything from…stomping electro-glam to pastoral folk. As their signature mid-2000s chart hits Strict Machine and Ooh La La permeated the mainstream, the duo left electronic beats behind and fled to the forest to produce 2008's idyllic Seventh Tree and 2010's dreamy, synth-spiked Head First".
Alison
Goldfrapp began her musical career performing with Dance Company Catherine Massin throughout the Netherlands during her early 20s. She later studied fine art and mixed media at Middlesex University, where she began to create her first live performance pieces. In 2013 Alison
Goldfrapp was chosen as the first 'Performer as Curator" for the Lowry in Salford for her "remarkable synthesis of music and visual imagery." She has since embarked on a successful photography and directorial career, shooting both the album artwork for Goldfrapp's
Silver Eye and directing the videos for the tracks Systemagic,
Everything Is Never Enough and Ocean. Alison continues to combine the visual arts and music with song-writing and producing.
Will Gregory was born in Bristol and later studied Western orchestral and chamber music at the University of York. In addition to his work with Goldfrapp, Gregory has performed with artists including
Tears for Fears,
Peter Gabriel, The Cure, Portishead, and Michael Nyman. His first opera, Picard in Space, premiered at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2011, and in 2014 he was commissioned to produce a piece for orchestra and Moog, performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Gregory also wrote part of the score for the
National Theatre of Scotland's
James III trilogy in 2016 which was subsequently performed nationally. Gregory is currently scoring the upcoming TV series Serengeti, executive produced by
Simon Fuller, as well as The Nature of Why with the British Paraorchestra at the Bristol Old Vic. His other passion is "The Will Gregory Moog Ensemble", a ten-piece orchestra of Mono Synths which recently performed at the Barbican in London and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and have a performance in Cardiff with the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales on 26 November featuring
Hannah Fry themed around Archimedes.
Both Alison and Will continue to collaborate as well as work individually with other artists and creatives to produce new material.
To celebrate the release and 20th anniversary of their first album Felt Mountain, in 2022
Goldfrapp will embark on their delayed 20th anniversary tour of the album. Buy Felt Mountain here: https://amzn.to/3CBJhtp
