Adrian Belew (b 23rd December, 1949)
By the time Robert Fripp met Adrian Belew at a Steve Reich concert in New York in early 1980, the Kentucky-born guitarist had already played with Frank Zappa and David Bowie. Later in the same year Belew’s band GaGa supported The League Of Gentlemen.
Impressed by Belew’s energy Fripp invited Belew to take part in a new project, Discipline. However, plans were temporarily put on hold as Belew was by then playing with the expanded Talking Heads lineup as well as embarking on a solo career.
After finally joining Discipline/King Crimson in the spring of 1981 Belew went on to record six full studio albums during his tenure with King Crimson, playing his last date with the Double Duo incarnation of the group at New York’s Nokia Theatre on 17th August 2008.
In 2009 Belew released his 16th solo album, e, featuring his then-regular power trio band Julie and Eric Slick on bass and drums, and in 2011 he was invited to Amsterdam to perform an orchestral arrangement of e with the Metropole Orchestra at the legendary Paradiso venue.
In addition to continuing touring with his power trio, Belew explored his interests in painting and multi-media, scoring the Oscar-winning Piper in 2016 and launching his FLUX app wherein, as described by the developers, “It links hundreds of musical tracks, audio snippets and art into a visual language that conveys Adrian Belew, his ideas and his avant-garde style into an intriguing app. Through a roulette of digital algorithms, FLUX by Belew offers an infinite number of musical combinations to discover.”
In 2016 Belew was also part of Gizmodrome, a band featuring ex-Police drummer, Stewart Copeland, bassist Mark King from Level 42, and PFM keyboardist, Vittorio Costa who released a self-titled album in 2017.
Belew was also part of the Celebrating David Bowie tour featuring ex-Bowie alumni and special guests. The tour played the USA, UK, Australia, Japan, Mexico, and South America and continues to tour intermittently between the players’ other commitments. In 2022 he released his latest solo album, Elevator, and continued touring with Jerry Harrison performing Talking Heads’ 1981 album, Remain In Light during 2022 and into 2023.
Adrian Belew with King Crimson
Discipline (1981)
Beat (1982)
Three Of A Perfect Pair (1984)
THRAK (1995)
The ConstruKction Of Light (2000)
The Power To Believe (2003)
