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Mark Mothersbaugh

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Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh ( born May 18, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, author and visual artist. Mothersbaugh came to prominence in the late 1970s as co-founder, lead singer, keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, whose "Whip It" was a Top 20 single in the US in 1980 and which has since maintained a cult following. Mothersbaugh is one of the main composers of Devo's music. In addition to his work with Devo, Mothersbaugh has made music for television series, films and video games via his production company, Mutato Muzika. Most notably, he composed the music for the 13-year-run of the animated series Rugrats and its three related theatrical films. As a solo musician, he has released four studio albums: Muzik for Insomniaks, Muzik for the Gallery, Joyeux Mutato and The Most Powerful Healing Muzik in the Entire World. In 2004, he received the Richard Kirk award at the BMI Film and TV Awards for his contributions to film and television music. In 2008, Mothersbaugh received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Kent State University, his alma mater. His lifelong interest in creating multimedia art pieces has resulted in gallery exhibitions of items such as his "Beautiful Mutants" photograph series, postcard diaries, art rugs, sculptures and musical instruments created from salvaged organ pipes and bird vocalizations. He has married twice and is the father of two adopted children.
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Born
1950-05-18
Birth Place
Akron, Ohio, U.S.
Famous As
Singer songwriter composer multi-instrumentalist record producer music programmer author visual artist
Residence
Los_Angeles,_California
Spouse(s)
Nancye Ferguson (m.; divorced) Anita Greenspan (m.)
Children
2
Relative(s)
Bob Mothersbaugh (brother) Jim Mothersbaugh (brother) Silas Hite (nephew)
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Stereogum

We’ve Got A File On You: Mark Mothersbaugh

Over 50 years ago, Mark Mothersbaugh met Jerry Casale at Kent State, and the origin story of Devo began. It would take most of the ’70s, but eventually Devo arrived as a bizarre, ground-breaking band. You could lump them in with the post-punk and new wave movements, but they were always an aberration — a couple of guys from Ohio, making weirdo art-punk with brainy theory and cartoonish elements alike — to the point that over the decades many people haven’t known quite what to do with them, even as they’re also regarded as one of the more important bands of their time.
MUSIC
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Billboard

Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh Talks Rock Hall and Neil Young’s ‘David and Goliath’ Spotify Fight

“Well, you know what they say – third time’s the charm,” Mark Mothersbaugh says with a small laugh after seeing the nominations for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022. Mothersbaugh, who is also an acclaimed composer and founder of Los Angeles-based music production company Mutato, co-founded Devo in the mid ’70s as a conceptual art project that morphed into an off-kilter rock band at the forefront of the burgeoning new wave genre. “Somebody there must like us, there’s somebody tenacious over there,” he says of Devo popping up for a third time on the Rock Hall ballot. “We’ll see what happens. It’s a nice honor if it would happen – but I look at all the other people [nominated this year] and I would vote for them, too.”
MUSIC
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publicradiotulsa.org

ST Presents Museum Confidential: Mark Mothersbaugh

On StudioTulsa today, we share another episode in the Museum Confidential podcast series. Mark Mothersbaugh has been an artistic force to be reckoned with for well over 40 years. From co-founding DEVO to scoring countless movies and TV shows to creating a range of visual artworks, he has made, and is still making, an interdisciplinary impact that is undeniable. Mark's body of work also includes several movie-scoring collaborations with filmmaker Wes Anderson -- e.g., "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Rushmore" -- and he has more recently provided an exclusive musical experience for Philbrook Museum's "THIS IS AN ADVENTURE: Accidentally Wes Anderson" exhibit (which closes later this month).
MUSEUMS
publicradiotulsa.org

Mark Mothersbaugh

Mark Mothersbaugh has been an artistic force to be reckoned with for well over 40 years. From co-founding DEVO to scoring countless movies and TV shows to creating a range of visual artworks, he has made, and is still making, an interdisciplinary impact that is undeniable. Mark's body of work also includes several collaborations with filmmaker Wes Anderson (e.g., "The Royal Tenenbaums"). We at Philbrook invited Mark to provide an exclusive musical experience for our special exhibition, "THIS IS AN ADVENTURE: Accidentally Wes Anderson" (which closes soon). To our great surprise, Mark said yes. He also kindly agreed to an interview.
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Mark Ruffalo
Variety

Phil Lord, Christopher Miller and Mark Mothersbaugh Go Inside the Music of ‘Mitchells vs. the Machines’

“The Mitchells vs. the Machines” centers around a dysfunctional family battling a Skynet-style robot uprising during a family road trip. And what’s a road trip without stellar tunes? Mark Mothersbaugh served as the composer for the Netflix animated feature, working alongside producers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The soundtrack also includes songs by Los Campesinos!, Bangs, Talking Heads, Le Tigre, Sigur Rós, Grimes and Alex Lahey. One of the film’s songs, “On My Way,” is about new beginnings as Katie (voiced by Abbi Jacobson) seeks to grow up and looks for new adventures. The pic, vying for a spot in the Oscar animated...
MOVIES
mixonline.com

Video: Mark Mothersbaugh on Composing for ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines’

In this exclusive panel from the Mix Sound for Film & Television event, composer Mark Mothersbaugh discusses his work blending the electronic and the orchestral to bring life to Director Michael Rinda’s animated The Mitchells vs. The Machines. Finding the Score of ‘The Lost Daughter’. From his mid-1970s emergence with...
MOVIES
thepitchkc.com

Tim Story and Mark Mothersbaugh on how Moebius Strips reflects collaboration

The new collaborative project, Moebius Strips, was created by musician Tim Story as a way to honor his late friend, Dieter Moebius, of the bands Cluster and Harmonia. Taking loops created by the late musician from an array of disparate sources, Story recomposed them into short pieces, and then sent them out to a cavalcade of collaborators to reinterpret them as they saw fit.
MUSIC
NPR

Mark Mothersbaugh: The Craziest Day of My Entire Career

Mark Mothersbaugh doesn't need much of an introduction. He's a composer who's worked in TV and film for almost 40 years now. That includes classics like Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Rushmore, and Taika Waititi's Thor: Ragnarok. And, of course, he's also the co-founder and frontman of Devo, the beloved new wave/post-punk band....
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Laredo Morning Times

Composers Atli ?-rvarsson, Mark Mothersbaugh, Mark Isham Lead BMI Film/TV Awards

Örvarsson, the Icelandic composer, is now up to 29 BMI honors with the six he adds this week. His new shelf’s worth of awards came for work on “Chicago P.D.,” “Chicago Med,” “Chicago Fire,” “FBI,” “FBI: Most Wanted” and “Defending Jacob.”. More from Variety. Mark Mothersbaugh, of Devo as well...
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