Gotye

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gotye
Background information
Birth name	Wouter DeBacker
Also known as	Gotye
Origin	Born: Belgium Resides: Melbourne, Australia
Genre(s)	Indie Music
Years active	2003 – Present
Label(s)	Independent
Website	Official Gotye Site

Gotye is the musical project of Wally DeBacker, a Melbourne musician. He has released two albums independently: Boardface (2004) and Like Drawing Blood (2006), the latter of which was entirely made in bedrooms around Melbourne.

1 Biography
- 1.1 Origins Of 'Gotye'
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Biography

Born in Belgium but raised in Australia, Walter (real name Wouter) has been making music since his teens, first in moody local rock band Downstares, a fixture at underage shows in the North-East suburbs of Melbourne for a few years. When that band dissolved Wally started focusing on his solo project, cut'n'paste tunes that eventually would come under the moniker of 'Gotye'.

He is also one-third of Melbourne rock-country band The Basics.

As Gotye, his public exposure, like many alternative Australian musical acts, comes largely from youth radio station Triple J.

His first single, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" from Like Drawing Blood, was released in August, 2006.

Like Drawing Blood was featured by Triple J in May 2006 ^[1] and was voted Number 1 in the listeners poll of the Best Album of 2006. The album, was also nomiated for a J Award that year ^[2]. Two tracks from that album, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess", were rated 94 and 8 respectively in Triples J's Hottest 100 for 2006^[3].

In September 2006, Goyte was nominated for an Australian Recording Industry Music Award (ARIA award) for best independent release for his album Like Drawing Blood ^[4].

Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record (AIR) Chart Awards ^[5] and Like Drawing Blood is amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize^[6].

[edit] Origins Of 'Gotye'

Wally was embarking on a project that was, in his own words, "about refiguring past things (old vinyl sounds) with my own ideas". It therefore seemed appropriate to draw on his past for inspiration for the project's name. Wouter, Gotye's real name, from Flemish translates into French as Gaultier (or Gautier or Gauthier). Wally's Mum used to call him Gaultier as a pet name. Drawing on this and choosing his own spelling gives us 'Gotye'. Also for the record 'De Backer' means "the baker" and has nothing whatsoever to do with 'Gotye'.

Gotye is pronounced "gore-ti-yeah". (IPA: /ˈgotije/)

Gotye is also an acronym for game-of-the-year-edition; a re-release of a popular computer or video game.