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Jonathan Richman

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Jonathan Richman was born May 15th 1951 to a Jewish family in Natick, Massachusetts. He began playing music and writing his own songs in the mid-1960s. In 1969 he moved to New York City, where he spent time living on the couch of The Velvet Underground’s manager and working odd jobs while trying to break in as a professional musician. Failing at this, he returned to Boston. Having moved back, he formed The Modern Lovers, a proto-punk garage rock band. Other notable members of the group were keyboard player Jerry Harrison and drummer David Robinson, who later joined Talking Heads and The Cars, respectively. In 1972 they recorded a series of songs with John Cale producing, including the seminal “Roadrunner,” which were eventually released on the group’s sole album, Modern Lovers, in 1975.

Shortly after these recordings were made, Richman broke up the band and embarked on his long and eclectic solo career. For a while he continued recording under the “Modern Lovers” name (or rather, the more telling “Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers” appellation), but all the members were different, and in the new incarnation were essentially his backing band. The sound of the new group was considerably different as well, focusing on acoustic instrumentation rather than the prior electric guitars and drums. The album Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers was released in January 1977, Rock and Roll with the Modern Lovers followed a month later, and Modern Lovers Live in 1978.

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singer-songwriter, indie, proto-punk, rock, punk
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I, Jonathan
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Because Her Beauty Is Raw And Wild
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Action Packed: The Best of Jonathan Richman
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Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love
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Top Tracks

1	Egyptian Reggae	196
2	I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar full track	158
3	That Summer Feeling full track	131
4	Velvet Underground full track	126
5	You Can't Talk to the Dude full track	82
6	Roadrunner	80
7	Vincent Van Gogh	69
7	Because Her Beauty Is Raw and Wild	69
9	True Love Is Not Nice	64
10	Parties in the U.S.A. full track	63
11	When She Kisses Me full track	60
12	Tandem Jump full track	58
13	Rooming House on Venice Beach full track	55
14	The Neighbors full track	54
15	A Higher Power full track	52

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hape60 wrote:
last month

the bern concert last monday was worth the waiting!

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kingrizla wrote:
last month

Ice Cream Man is 26 places lower than it should be.

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borntoitlejonet wrote:
September 2009

I WAS DANCING IN THE LESBIAN BAR AOUH AOUH

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mortytoad wrote:
September 2009

The "real" King.

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ForbittenLover wrote:
August 2009

perskeles

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austinonfire wrote:
July 2009

the most real person to have ever lived

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hape60 wrote:
July 2009

he's always giving concerts but never comes to switzerland! i saw him for the last and only time in zürich, 1987. please stop on by! hahaha

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LongLiveTheD wrote:
June 2009

jews fucking rule. [2]

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willywonka091 wrote:
June 2009

jews fucking rule.

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iFailedPE wrote:
June 2009

OMG. I just started listening to this guy and he's AMAZING. ♥

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oliversorbas wrote:
May 2009

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!

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PolegaR wrote:
April 2009

oh god! how i like this guy! he's amazing! just it! fantastic.. oh shit! i would like to be in your show.

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LiamBrady80 wrote:
March 2009

Saw him live yesterday - what an experience! More than amazing!

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CouponOnMyGrave wrote:
March 2009

Any ideas how I could get into a 21+ show put on by Jonathan? Does he have an address I could send a letter to? :)

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motherknowsbest wrote:
March 2009

he must be like the coolest cat ever.

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TheVeryMost wrote:
March 2009

It's hard for me to put into words how his music makes me feel. It's amazing.

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vandaleyes wrote:
March 2009

so i'm pretty much in love with jonathan richman. if everyone listened to i, jonathan the world would be a much happier place.

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aphidsss wrote:
March 2009

great dude

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franzzz11 wrote:
March 2009

I hope that he'll sing any song in spanish in the concert that i'm gonna see.

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jebstark wrote:
March 2009

the european tour can't end i the UK, can it? scandinavia needs jojo!

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Videos

Events

Dec 2 Jonathan Richman Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR, Portland, United States
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Dec 6 Jonathan Richman The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco CA, United States
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Feb 2 Jonathan Richman The Social, Orlando FL, United States
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Recent Activity

philmyhead added Jonathan Richman to philmyhead’s library. 10 hours ago
metawirt wrote about Jonathan Richman in "Milestone-Tracks". 12 hours ago
metawirt wrote about Jonathan Richman in a deleted journal. 12 hours ago
metawirt wrote about Jonathan Richman in a deleted journal. 12 hours ago
jlgorham, TCvegan and Girasolcita added Jonathan Richman to their libraries. yesterday evening
JabuJabu tagged Jonathan Richman with proto-punk and indie. yesterday afternoon
catloye, hesterbangs, Mirkocho and 6 other people added Jonathan Richman to their libraries. yesterday morning
Eliza-Day tagged Jonathan Richman with ‘seen live’. Friday morning
mlemilys, stefaneatungor and valgran added Jonathan Richman to their libraries. Thursday evening
bloodandmood added Jonathan Richman to the lineup of Jonathan Richman at Cat's Cradle. Thursday morning