Early life

Brickell was born in Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas, to her mother, Larry Jean (Sellers) Linden, and father, Paul Edward Brickell. She was raised with her older sister, Laura Strain. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, and later studied at Southern Methodist University until she joined a band and decided to focus on songwriting.

Music career

In 1985, Brickell was invited to sing one night with friends from her high school in a local folk rock group, New Bohemians. She would join the band as lead singer. After the band was signed to a recording contract, the label changed the group's name to Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. Their 1988 debut album, Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars, became a critical and commercial success, including the single, "What I Am." The band's follow-up album, Ghost of a Dog (1990), was a deliberate effort to highlight the band's eclectic personality and move away from the pop sensibility of their first record.

Brickell had a role as a folk singer in the 1989 film Born on the Fourth of July. Her version of Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is featured on the film's soundtrack. She also sang a cover version of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wild Side" in the 1990 film Flashback.

As a solo artist, Brickell released Picture Perfect Morning (1994) and Volcano (2003). The video for Picture Perfect Morning's "Good Times" was included as part of the multimedia samples featured on Microsoft's Windows 95 Companion CD-ROM. In 1992, she worked with producer Bob Wiseman in New York and Toronto on a collection of songs, utilizing a wind ensemble, unusual keyboards, and Ron Sexsmith. The songs were rejected by the record company and remained unreleased. In 2006, with all of the original members of New Bohemians, she made another album titled Stranger Things.

In 2010, Brickell became a founding member of new band The Gaddabouts, consisting of Steve Gadd on drums, Edie Brickell as lead vocalist and guitar, Andy Fairweather Low on electric and acoustic guitars and background vocals, Pino Palladino on bass and guitar, and featuring Dan Block, Ronnie Cuber, Joey DeFrancesco, Gil Goldstein, and Marcus Rojas. In 2011, Brickell wrote the title track, "The Meaning of Life," for Tamar Halpern's film, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life.

Love Has Come For You was released on April 23, 2013. The album is a collaboration with Steve Martin. Both appeared on talk shows, such as The View and Late Show with David Letterman, to promote and perform the song in April 2013.

Starting in May 2013, she toured with Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers throughout the United States and North America.

In 2016, the musical Bright Star — to which she contributed music, lyrics, and story — opened on Broadway at the Cort Theatre.

Personal life

Brickell married singer-songwriter Paul Simon on May 30, 1992. Brickell was performing on NBC's Saturday Night Live on Saturday November 5, 1988, when she noticed Simon standing in front of the cameraman. "Even though I'd performed the song hundreds of times in clubs, he made me forget how the song went when I looked at him," she said with a smile. "We can show the kids the tape and say, 'Look, that's when we first laid eyes on each other.'" Brickell and Simon have three children.

Discography

Albums

• It's Like This... (cassette-only, 1986)
• Shooting Rubberbands at the Stars (1988) US #4, 2x platinum
• Ghost of a Dog (1990)
• Picture Perfect Morning (1994)
• The Live Montauk Sessions (2000)
• The Ultimate Collection (2002)
• Volcano (2003)
• Stranger Things (2006)
• The Heavy Circles (2008) - The Heavy Circles
• Edie Brickell (2010)
• The Gaddabouts (2011) - The Gaddabouts
• Look Out Now! (2012) - The Gaddabouts
• Love Has Come For You (2013) - with Steve Martin
• LIVE: Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell (2014)
• So Familiar (2015) - with Steve Martin

Singles

• "Pretty Little One" (Steve Martin and Steep Canyon Rangers featuring Edie Brickell)
• "Like to Get to Know You" (duet with Paul Simon). (2014)
• "What I Am" (1988) #7 on US Billboard Hot 100

Other contributions

• Trios (1994) - Rob Wasserman
• Windows 95 (1995) - "Good Times" Video
• First Wish (1995) - Chris Botti
• WFUV: City Folk Live VII (2004) - "Take a Walk"
• MSG Grateful Dead 1993 (1993) - "SPACE>THE OTHER ONE> GDTRFB"

[ Source: Wikipedia ]