Biography for
Elvis Costello More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

25 August 1954, Paddington, London, England, UK

Birth Name

Declan Patrick MacManus

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Elvis Costello was born Declan Patrick MacManus in London, England and raised in Liverpool. The son of British band leader Ross MacManus, Costello took his pseudonym from Elvis Presley and his mother's maiden name (Costello). He began performing professionally in 1969 and was a musician and/or singer in many bands around London before forming a moderately successful pub-rock band called "Flip City" in the mid-1970s. Working full time as a computer operator, he landed his first record deal with Stiff Records in 1977 and recorded his first album "My Aim Is True" while on vacation. The album was a smash hit in England and landed Costello a worldwide distribution deal with Columbia records. Forming his backup group, "The Attractions", for his second album, Costello went on to record several popular and influential albums over the next decade. Today, he is regarded as one of the most influential and popular singer/songwriters in modern music. In 1998, he collaborated with legendary tune smith, Burt Bacharach, on a highly successful album of love songs "Painted From Memory".

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ralph Haber

Spouse

Diana Krall	(6 December 2003 - present) 2 children
Cait O'Riordan	(16 May 1986 - 2002) (divorced)
Mary Burgoyne	(November 1974 - ?) (divorced) 1 child

Trade Mark

Black horn rim glasses

Fender guitars

Trivia

Legally changed name to Elvis Costello in 1977, then to Declan Patrick Aloysius MacManus in 1986. Post-1986, he used both names for professional purposes, though he usually performed under the Costello moniker. "Aloysius" was not one of his original middle names.

In addition to recordings as "Elvis Costello" (often backed by The Attractions), has recorded music 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".

Son of Ross MacManus

Plays the guitar, harmonica and piano.

Lead singer and guitarist of Elvis Costello and the Attractions.

Fan of Liverpool Football Club.

Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of the Elvis Costello and the Attractions) on 10 March 2003.

May 2003 - announced engagement to Canadian jazz singer, Diana Krall.

Attended the special dinner at Sony Studios in Los Angeles to honor the singer and activist Sting as MusiCares 2004 Person of the Year. The evening celebrated Sting's contribution to popular music and honored his charitable work with Amnesty International and the Rainforest Foundation. Other stars in attendance included Kylie Minogue, Elton John & Dido. (6th February 2004).

He was voted the 30th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.

Is a big fan of Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.

Has twin sons, Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James, born December 6, 2006, with wife Diana Krall.

Through Diana Krall, Jamie Chisholm is related to Elvis Costello.

The instrumentals for his debut album, "My Aim Is True" were provided by a band called, Clover. For the album sessions, they were without their lead singer, Huey Lewis.

Resides in New York City.

Personal Quotes

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.

Sometimes doing an old song is like returning to the text of a play. It's not invalid, just because it's old, otherwise nobody would be acting [William Shakespeare]--not to say that everything I do is Shakespeare!. But it's inevitable that it changes its meaning or impact. That's why I never really sing anything from a nostalgic point of view, because even if it's 25 years old, it's in the moment. That's the beauty of live performance.

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 . . .

[on Van Morrison's "Astral Weeks"] It might be the best record of original thought that anybody's ever made. It's so completely unlike anything that went before it. And the vocal performances are the freest that I think Van ever recorded.

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.