Jonny Greenwood

Jonathan "Jonny" Richard Guy Greenwood (born November 5, 1971) is a member of Radiohead. He is also the brother of fellow band member Colin Greenwood.

Jonny Greenwood

Jonny is often credited as the second major artist in Radiohead. He is a gifted multi-instrumentalist, capable of playing lead ('abusive') guitar, organ, synthesizer, piano, xylo, harmonica and other instruments which he has never recorded. Jonny's original contributions to Radiohead include the slow rock song "the Tourist" and the Beatlesque avalanche "A Wolf at the Door" – two closers respectively of OK Computer and Hail to the Thief. Thom Yorke has noted that the track "Just" from The Bends was, "a competition by me and jonny to get as many chords as possible into a song".

Jonny had classical training in music and has adept knowledge of music theory. Because of this Thom would often write the "bones" of a song and Jonny would be one of the most important influences in fleshing it out so that it works as a piece of music. He is considered one of the finest modern musicians of his time "breaking the boundaries" of music, however he feels differently - "Many people view me as this extremely talented musician, one guy said I 'bend the walls or music as it is known'. I have to say I don't agree with them, there are other guitarists who I look up to, who I believe have undeniably more versatility than I do. I have a large effects board which is very useful and can be utilised in various combinations but when there are people like Tom Morello out there creating simialar stuff with like 4 pedals it's almost impossible to even put us in the same league...I believe."

Jonny's extremely aggressive guitar playing has led him in the past to repetitive strain injury in his right arm. Advised by a doctor to wear an arm brace for a period of time, his brace has become a trademark of sorts. "I enjoy putting it on before I play ... It's like taping up your fingers before a boxing match." He is also an outspoken champion of the Ondes Martenot, an early synthesizer, which he lists as one of his favorite instruments. He has composed a piece entitled Smear for a pair of Ondes Martenot. The Ondes can be heard on many Radiohead tracks, notably "The National Anthem" from Kid A. He also utilizes modular synthesizers and devices such as the Korg Kaoss Pad on newer tracks. In recent years, Jonny has continued his progression as an artist in Radiohead and in 2003 he released his first solo album, Bodysong (2003), the soundtrack for the movie with the same title by filmmaker Simon Pummell. His brother Colin also featured on the album. Jonny was hired by the BBC as its composer in residence in (May 2004). He will be appearing in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire along with bandmember Phil Selway and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker as members of the band the Weird Sisters. Thom and Jonny also collaborated on a new project, performed by the London Synfonietta at the Ether Festival in March this year[1]. Jonny premiered in 23 April 2005 his new work commissioned by BBC Radio 3, with music performed live by the BBC Concert Orchestra in London[2].

Jonny is married to wife Sharona and has a son named Tamir (to whom Hail to the Thief was dedicated) and a daughter named Omri.

Collaborations

Velvet Goldmine

Thom and Jonny got together with Bernard Butler, Andy Mackay, and Paul Kimble to form the band, The Venus in Furs. They recorded five songs for the Michael Stipe produced movie, Velvet Goldmine. The tracks are:

• "2HB"
• "LADYTRON"
• "BABY'S ON FIRE"
• "BITTER-SWEET"
• "TUMBLING DOWN"

Pavement

Jonny Greenwood played harmonica on Pavement's LP, Terror Twilight. He played on the songs "Platform Blues" and "Billie". Also notice that the album was produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich ( which explains why Jonny had a little part on it)

See Also

• Rolling Stone's List of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time

External Links

• Talk in Maths: A Not Even Remotely Official RADIOHEAD FAQ