Brian Molko is a Belgian-born songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of the band Placebo. He is known in particular for his nasal, high-pitched vocals, androgynous appearance, and unique, Sonic Youth-influenced guitar style and tuning.
Background
Ethnicity:
He was born to an American father of French-Italian heritage and a Scottish mother.
He was born to an American international banker father and a Scottish mother. Molko's family moved frequently during his childhood, growing up in Dundee, Liberia, Lebanon, and Belgian Luxembourg, where they eventually settled for quite a long time in the village of Longeau, just near to the border with Luxembourg, where the young Brian spent a lot of his childhood. This also explained his ability to speak perfect French. Brian Molko has referred to a period spent in his mother's home town of Dundee, Scotland, as "where I grew up".
While Molko was brought up in a strict household that disapproved of artistic expression (his father wanted him to become a banker), he rebelled by assuming an androgynous image, wearing nail polish, lipstick, and eyeliner, and listening to punk music. In his late teens, he came out as bisexual.
Education
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.
Molko initially attended the European School of Luxembourg but had to leave due to excessive bullying; he later attended the American International School of Luxembourg (AISL) and went on to study drama at Goldsmiths College in London.
Molko and Stefan Olsdal both attended the International School of Luxembourg in Luxembourg, but they were never friends. When Molko moved to London to study drama at Goldsmiths College, where he graduated with a degree, he met Olsdal at South Kensington Tube Station.
Career
Molko invited Olsdal to one of his gigs in a club, which he played with Steve Hewitt. Olsdal was impressed with Molko’s voice, and together they formed Ashtray Heart; eventually they changed the name to Placebo. Together with drummer Robert Schultzberg (a friend of Olsdal’s from Sweden) performed together in 1996. Schultzberg did not fit in the band, however, and was soon replaced with Steve Hewitt, who played on Placebo’s demo tracks.
Molko’s musical influences include David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Dead Kennedys, Bad Religion, Sonic Youth,PJ Harvey, Nick Drake, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Joy Division, The Cure and The Pixies. Molko taught himself to play guitar. At the age of 16 he got a Telecaster replica as a present from his parents. Soon After, he bought a real telecaster. He plays other instruments such as bass, harmonica, keyboard, saxophone, drums and turntables. Occasionally, Molko works as a disc jockey at clubs, he’s definately not very good at it. Nowadays Molko listens to electro-clash artist Peaches, his old favourite, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and many others.
Along with Hewitt and 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 the fictional Glam Rockband, the Flaming Creatures.
Molko has been open about his use of recreational drugs; in a 1997 interview with New York Doll, he admitted at one point that heroin was "probably the only drug on this planet I haven't tried".[9] However, he later admitted to experimenting with heroin as well. The band holds that the drug references within their music reflect the nature of current times, and the removal of such references would deteriorate the meaningfulness of their work.
In a 2010 interview Molko said that the band had stopped using drugs.
Discography:
"Placebo" (1996)
"Without You I'm Nothing" (1998)
"Black Market Music" (2000)
"Sleeping with Ghosts" (2003)
"Meds" (2006)
"Battle for the Sun" (2009)
Filmography:
"Velvet Goldmine" (1998) – Malcolm of The Flaming Creatures
"Sue's Last Ride" (2001) – executive producer