Brian Molko
Brian Molko (born December 10, 1972 in Brussels) is a vocalist, bassist and guitarist with the band Placebo. He writes most of the lyrics.Born to an American international banker father and a Scottish born-again Christian mother, the Molko family moved frequently during Brian's childhood, including spells in Liberia, Lebanon and Luxembourg. In 1990, he attended Goldsmiths College in London, where he studied drama. He describes his childhood as a period when he felt very lonely and alienated. He started to wear make-up at the age of 11. He was an actor in a school drama theater. His parents attempted, during his childhood, to bring him up according to their standards. His father wanted him to become a banker. However, the result was rebellion, as he forgot his own identity trying to escape from their educational, family and religious pressures, becoming the nail polish, lipstick and eyeliner-wearing, bisexual, androgynous, cross-dressing, drug-taking musician that would later find him fame and infamy.Brian Molko attended the same school as Stefan Olsdal in Luxembourg; however, they never communicated (it was an International high school). When Brian moved to London to study drama at Goldsmiths College, he met Stefan at a South Kensington Tube Station. Brian invited Stefan to one of his gigs in a club, which he played with Steve Hewitt, later to become a drummer in the band Placebo and out of politeness Stefan attended. Stefan soon fell in love with Brian's voice and together they formed Ashtray Heart; eventually they changed the name to Placebo. Together with drummer Robert Schultzberg (a friend of Stefan's from Sweden, as Stefan is Swedish) performed together in 1996. Schultzberg did not fit in the band and Brian and Robert did not get along with each other. Soon the drummer was replaced with Brian's friend Steve Hewitt, who played on Placebo's demo tracks.His musical influences include Dead Kennedys, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, Nick Drake, Joy Division and The Pixies. Brian taught himself playing guitar. At the age of 16 he got a fake telecaster as a present from his parents. He plays other instruments such as bass, harmonica, keyboard, saxophone, drums and turntables. Occasionally, Brian works as a disc jockey at clubs but he says he's not good at dj'ing. He does it for fun. Nowadays Molko listens to Peaches, Ladytron, At the Drive-In, Jane's Addiction and many more. He likes to experiment with electric sounds.Along with Steve Hewitt and Stefan Olsdal, he had a small role in the 1998 film ''Velvet Goldmine'', for which Placebo performed the T. Rex song "20th Century Boy". He played Malcolm, a singer of a glam rock band.He has performed as a guest vocalist on tracks by Timo Maas - 'Pictures', 'Like Seiamise', 'First Day', Alpinestars - 'Carbon Kid', Trash Palace - 'The Metric System', 'Je t'aime, moi non plus' (duet with Asia Argento - an Italian actress), the AC Acoustics - 'Crush', Kirsteen Young - 'No Other God', Dream City Film Club - 'Some' and with Jane Birkin - 'Smile'. He also wrote the English lyrics to 'Pink water' version 3, a song by Indochine from the album that is due to be released at the end of 2005.Brian Molko is friends with David Bowie (they sang Placebo's song 'Without You I'm Nothing' and the cover T. Rex's song '20th Century Boy' together live), Marilyn Manson, Nicola Sirkis from Indochine and many more.A photographer, Helena Berg was a Molko's girlfriend. She has done covers for Placebo's singles from 'Sleeping with ghosts' LP.
2005, Brian Molko and Helena Berg had a son: Cody Molko.Molko, Brian
Molko, Brian
Molko, Brian
Molko, Briancs:Brian Molko