Guy Garvey
Guy Edward John Patrick Garvey (born 6 March 1974, in Bury, Greater Manchester, England) is an English musician. He is the singer and principal songwriter of the alternative rock band Elbow. He is also a presenter for BBC 6 Music.
Early life
Garvey grew up in a working-class family in Bury, Greater Manchester. His father spent most of his working life as a newspaper proofreader, later joining ICI as a chemist; his mother was a police officer before becoming a psychologist. One of seven siblings, Garvey has five older sisters — Gina, Louise, Sam, Karen and Becky — whilst his younger brother is actor Marcus Garvey.
Career
In the early 90s, while at sixth-form college in Bury, Garvey formed Elbow with Mark and Craig Potter, Pete Turner, and Richard Jupp. He serves as the main songwriter and lyricist of Elbow, and has been widely praised for his songwriting throughout his career. As well as vocal duties Garvey has also played a wide variety of instruments live including both electric and acoustic guitar, trumpet, and various forms of percussion. Elbow won two Ivor Novello awards for best song writing for the 2008 single "Grounds for Divorce" as well as best contemporary song for "One Day Like This". He was awarded a lifetime achievement honour by the Radio Academy in 2014. In the same year, he also featured on the re-launched Band Aid charity's single to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in Africa. Garvey, with Elbow, was commissioned by the BBC to write the theme song for the 2012 London Olympics and Elbow performed this song, "First Steps" at the closing ceremony of the Olympics.
