John Doe (musician)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

For other people named John Doe, see John Doe (disambiguation).
John Doe
Doe in 2006
Doe in 2006
Background information
Birth nameJohn Nommensen Duchac
Born (1953-02-25) February 25, 1953 (age 71)
Decatur, Illinois, United States
OriginLos Angeles, California
GenresPunk rock, alternative country, folk rock, roots rock
Occupation(s)
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • actor
  • poet
Instrument(s)Bass guitar, guitar, vocals
Years active1973–present
Member of
Formerly ofThe Flesh Eaters
Websitetheejohndoe.com

John Nommensen Duchac (born February 25, 1953),[1] known professionally as John Doe, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, poet,[2] guitarist and bass player. Doe co-founded LA punk band X, of which he is still an active member. His musical performances and compositions span rock, punk, country and folk music genres. As an actor, he has dozens of television appearances and several movies to his credit, including the role of Jeff Parker in the television series Roswell.

In addition to X, Doe performs with the country-folk-punk band the Knitters and has released records as a solo artist. In the early 1980s, he performed on two albums by the Flesh Eaters.[3]

Career

Music

Doe moved to Los Angeles, California, and in 1976 met guitar player Billy Zoom through an ad in the local free weekly paper, The Recycler.[4]

John Doe performing at Adams Avenue Street Fair, San Diego, 2006

As a musician with X, Doe has two feature-length concert films, several music videos, and an extended performance-and-interview sequence in The Decline of Western Civilization, Penelope Spheeris's seminal documentary about the early-1980s L.A. punk scene.[5]

Along with co-writer

A Minute to Pray, a Second To Die.[6]

Since 1990, Doe has recorded nearly a dozen albums as a soloist or in collaboration with other artists, and has contributed tracks to motion pictures. In the 1992 movie The Bodyguard (starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston), it is Doe's version of "I Will Always Love You" that plays on the jukebox when Costner's and Houston's characters are dancing. It was released on audio cassette by Warner Bros. in September 1992, but no version is believed to exist on CD. He co-wrote and played on the song "Lobotomy" with Tyler Willman for the eponymous 1998 debut studio album of the band Calm Down Juanita.[7]

Doe took part in

second soundtrack album. Country Club (2009), featuring Canadian indie rock band The Sadies
, covered country classics along with original songs.

Doe contributed a cover of "

Rave on Buddy Holly
.

His latest solo record, The Westerner, was released in 2016. Doe said that it was made in the desert, in Arizona, and that the genre is psychedelic soul.[4]

In November 2022, John Doe released a 3 song acoustic EP with East Nashville based indie label, 3Sirens, called "3Sirens Session: John Doe". The label was founded by The Grahams, who originally met with John Doe to record the session in Austin, TX at the ChurchHouse, produced by David Garza.[8]

Acting

In the 1989 biographical film

The Wizards of Waverly Place
.

Author

With co-author Tom DeSavia, Doe wrote and compiled stories for a book about the LA punk rock scene from 1977 to 1983. The book, Under the Big Black Sun, incorporated the punk ethos of contributions from other musicians that were part of the scene, people like Exene Cervenka, Jack Grisham, Henry Rollins, Mike Watt, Jane Wiedlin and others who wrote chapters. Doe wanted it to be a collective recollection, not just one person's perspective of the time.[4]

A sequel of sorts was released in 2019 entitled More Fun in the New World: The Unmaking and Legacy of L.A. Punk.[9] Doe and DeSavia again invited contributors to narrate the space of time from 1982 to 1987.[9]

Personal life

Doe was born in Decatur, Illinois. He was married to fellow X member Exene Cervenka between 1980 and 1985.[10] He remarried in 1987. He revealed to Adam Carolla in a podcast in September 2011[11] that he resided (at the time) in Fairfax, California.[12] He has three daughters. In early 2017, he announced that he would be moving to Austin, Texas.[13]

Discography

See also: X (American band) § Discography, and The Knitters § Discography
John Doe albums
Year Album Peak chart positions Label
US
US Heat
 US Indie US Country
1990 Meet John Doe 193 — — — Geffen
1995 Kissingsohard — — — — Forward/Rhino
2000 Freedom Is... — — — — spinART
2002 Dim Stars, Bright Sky — — — — Artist Direct BMG
2005 Forever Hasn't Happened Yet — — — — Yep Roc
2006 For the Best of Us — — — —
2007 A Year in the Wilderness — 42 — —
2009 Country Club (with The Sadies) — 10 37 32
2011
A Day at the Pass (with Jill Sobule
) 		— — — — Pinko
Keeper — 13 — — Yep Roc
2012 Singing & Playing (with Exene Cervenka)[14] — — — — Moonlight Graham
2014 The Best of John Doe: This Far — — — — Yep Roc
2016 The Westerner — — — — Cool Rock
2022 Fables in a Foreign Land TBD TBD TBD TBD Fat Possum
2022 3Sirens Session: John Doe — — — — 3Sirens
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Filmography

References

  1. ^ "United States Public Records, 1970-2009". FamilySearch.org.
  2. National Public Radio
    . Retrieved June 2, 2008.
  3. ^ Eakin, Marah (May 22, 2014). "John Doe on his first big movie, solo record, and day as a dad". The A.V. Club.
  4. ^
    Diffuser.fm
    . Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  5. ^ [1] Graff, Gary. “SXSW: John Doe of X, Kieran Leonard Give Accounts of Fatal Incident”. Billboard. March 13, 2014
  6. ^ "John Does - Songs". AllMusic. RhythmOne Group. Retrieved January 19, 2018.
  7. Seattle, Washington, US: Echo Records. 1998. inside front cover.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link
    )
  8. ^ "3Sirens Presents: John Doe – 'Little Tiger'". No Depression. Retrieved December 11, 2023.
  9. ^ a b Larsen, Peter (June 7, 2019). "What happened when LA punk splintered apart? John Doe and friends tell tales in 'More Fun in the New World'". Los Angeles Daily News. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
  10. ^ Mervis, Scott (June 10, 2014). "X (and Exene) coming to Altar Bar in August". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  11. ^ Carolla, Adam (September 20, 2011). "John Doe of X". The Adam Carolla Show. Archived from the original on October 6, 2011.
  12. IMDb
  13. ^ Curtin, Kevin (February 9, 2017). "John Doe Moves to Austin". The Austin Chronicle.
  14. ^ Hudson, Alex (April 3, 2012). "John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X to Release Duets Album". Exclaim!. Retrieved April 27, 2020.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Doe_(musician)&oldid=1218169397"