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Guy Berryman
Background information
Born	12 April 1978 (1978-04-12) (age 31) Kirkcaldy, Scotland
Genres	Alternative rock
Occupations	Bassist
Instruments	Bass guitar, Piano, Keyboard, Guitar, vocals, drums,mandolin
Years active	1998-present
Associated acts	Coldplay, Apparatjik
Notable instruments
Fender Precision Bass

Guy Rupert Berryman (12 April 1978, in Kirkcaldy, Scotland) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as the bassist for the group Coldplay.

Coldplay

As Berryman started an engineering degree at University College London, he somehow heard rough versions of Chris Martin's songs, and, drunkenly, approached him in the student bar demanding to be admitted into the "band", which then consisted of Chris Martin and his best friend Jonny Buckland.^[1] Soon after, he dropped out of his engineering course and switched to a seven-year architecture program.^[1] He dropped out of his architecture degree after one year to focus on playing bass with Coldplay. While his bandmates were still continuing their degrees, Berryman worked as a barman in a local London pub.

He is called the "most handsome one in the band" with Chris Martin usually commenting on his good looks. Jonathan Ross has also stated "Guy, I think you're the best looking one in the band!"

During the Twisted Logic Tour for the promotion of Coldplay's third album, X&Y, Berryman took candid pictures of the band with disposable cameras and threw them to the audience.^[2]

Personal life

Berryman was educated at an independent school in Scotland, The Edinburgh Academy, and Kent, at Kent College Canterbury, before attending University College London. In 2004, Berryman married Joanna Briston, his childhood sweetheart,^[3] in a low key ceremony in the City of Westminster. They have one daughter, Nico, born on 17 September 2006.^[4][5] Briston used to run a clothing shop called Jezebell in London, which has closed due to debt with running the business. The opening of the store was attended by bandmates Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, and their partners. In March 2007, Coldplay's spokesman confirmed that Guy and Joanna separated after three years of marriage. They are now divorced, but see each other frequently for the wellbeing of their daughter Nico,3.^[6]

Berryman is an avid marathon runner and likes to run in the nearest parks or around the neighborhoods of the hotels whenever the band is touring. He also has an interest in photography, fashion and electronic gadgets.^[2]

Berryman owns a vintage retro style juke box and collects Motown and Stax 7" singles to play on it. He jokes that he knows "every secondhand vinyl shop in every major U.S. city". Berryman once said to have been starstruct by the late James Brown in concert.^[2]

According to an article released by MSN UK in April 2008, Berryman has an estimated wealth of £25 million.^[7]

According to Coldplay.com's "Oracle", Guy has a brother currently living in Scandinavia.^[8]

Other musical projects

Berryman playing the bass during Coldplay's 2008 Viva la Vida Tour in Milan

In 2004, Guy (and Will Champion) collaborated with Magne Furuholmen of a-ha, Guy's big musical hero^[9], on his solo album Past Perfect Future Tense playing the song Kryptonite.

In 2008, Berryman participated to the Movie Soundtheme of Umi no Shanghai. He also played the bass guitar in Furuholmen's A Dot of Black in the Blue of Your Bliss.

In the same year he collaborated with Magne Furuholmen, Jonas Bjerre (of Mew) and Martin Terefe under the band name of Apparatjik for the theme to the BBC2 series, Amazon^[10]. The theme is available along with exclusive tracks from various other artists on the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival. Apparatjik has recently announced on their Twitter and Facebook pages that a new track called "Electric Eye" will be available on the 30th of November, as a free download on their website. Apparatjik made their very first live performance at the eleventh edition of club transmediale, an annual festival in Berlin, due to take place between 28th January and 7th February 2010. This first ever performance of Apparatjik took place inside a specially constructed cube at the WMF on Monday, February 1st, 2010.[1] On the same day saw the release of their debut album, titled We Are Here.. Berryman is left-handed but chooses to play the bass the orthodo way.

Non-musical credits

Berryman was credited with providing photographs for the inner sleeve of the album Foot of the Mountain, released by Norwegian pop band a-ha in 2009.^[11]

Notes

External links

• Coldplay's Official site
• Coldplay's Wiki
• Guy Berryman's fansite
• Apparatjik's Official website (Created by Guy Berryman and the supergroup themself)

From Wikiquote

Guy Berryman

Guy Rupert Berryman (born 12 April 1978) is the bass player for the group Coldplay.

Sourced

• I'm in love with a lot of things. Some of those things love me back. And some of them don't--and one of them is Radiohead.
  • In response to Thom Yorke's comment that Coldplay makes "lifestyle music"
  • Gordon, Devin (2005-05-30), "Hot for Coldplay". Newsweek. 145 (22):64-68

Unsourced

• At first, we spent a lot of time treading water and not really knowing which songs we were doing and which way we were going, ... And then we locked into the right groove. Everything really came together in the last three months. It just took a long time to find our feet, so to speak.

• Chris has an amazing ability to get the crowd going and get everyone singing along, ... He tries to make them feel very much that they're contributing to the atmosphere of the place. I think if you can make people feel involved like that, then it makes for a better experience for the audience and for us on stage.

• I don't think we've been influenced massively by our success and by our travels. The lyrics [singer Chris Martin] writes are more basic than that, more basic, emotional ideas rather than life experiences. There's probably a few lines in there which reflect what's happened in the last year or so, but it's hard to say.

• I think I've kind of got the best position. I get all the benefits of being in one of the biggest bands in the world and have a certain anonymity as well. So I'm perfectly happy with the situation.

• I'll take a run around the venue and right past all the fans, and nobody realizes I'm running past them.

• It was pretty weird. And it's pretty amazing that no one died in that crash. It's not the best way to start a tour.

• On X&Y we're utilizing the band a bit more, ... In the same way that when you listen to Pink Floyd and the Beatles, just for example, it's all about the band. It's a development and a natural organic growth from where we left off.

• Speed of Sound demonstrates one side of the album. So we thought we should do a different style of song, a ballad, just to show there are other aspects to the album.

• The first single is the hardest to pick because basically you're trying to express the whole album through one song.

• White Shadows is one of my favorite songs on the record, ... It's just really strong rhythmically. And the fact that it's going down so well with crowds is very cool.

About

• We have very similar brains. But they come out in different personalities.
  • Chris Martin, on Berryman's reticence
  • Scaggs, Austin; Corbijn, Anton (2005-08-25), "COLDPLAY'S QUIET STORM". Rolling Stone. (981):40-46

External links

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Guy Berryman