Danger Mouse & Sparklehorse
Bio
Brian Joseph Burton (born July 29, 1977), better known by his stage name Danger Mouse, is an American musician and producer. He came to prominence in 2004 when he released The Grey Album, which combined acappellas from Jay-Z's The Black Album with instrumentals from the album The Beatles (also known as The White Album).
He formed Gnarls Barkley with Cee-Lo Green and produced their albums St. Elsewhere and The Odd Couple. He produced the second Gorillaz album, 2005's Demon Days, as well as Beck's 2008 record, Modern Guilt. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Producer of the Year category. In addition, Burton worked with rapper MF DOOM as DANGERDOOM and released the albums The Mouse and The Mask and Occult Hymn.
In 2009 he collaborated with James Mercer of the indie rock band The Shins to form Broken Bells. The group's first album was released on March 9, 2010.
Sparklehorse's first album, Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot (1995) featuring Bob Rupe of The Silos and Cracker, was a modest college radio success. In 1996, while touring Europe with Radiohead shortly after the album's release, Linkous overdosed on a combination of anti-depressants, valium, alcohol and heroin in a London hotel room. Unconscious and with his legs pinned beneath him for almost fourteen hours, the resulting potassium build up caused his heart to stop for several minutes after his body was lifted up. The ensuing surgery almost caused him to lose the use of both legs and left him wheelchair-bound for six months.
Good Morning Spider (1998) was recorded following this incident.
2001 saw the release of It's a Wonderful Life, featuring appearances by Tom Waits, PJ Harvey, Bob Rupe, Vic Chesnutt, Nina Persson and Dave Fridmann.
On September 25, 2006, Sparklehorse released their fourth album. Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain, collaborating with Danger Mouse, Christian Fennesz and Steven Drozd.
In 2009, Sparklehorse teamed up with Dangermouse and David Lynch to produce Dark Night of the Soul.
Linkous committed suicide in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 6, 2010.
