Peter Murphy

Deemed "the Godfather of Goth," Peter Murphy built the paradigm for surly, baritone-voiced broodfests. When the English singer broke through the London gloom-tune scene in the late '70s with his seminal band, Bauhaus, he already had the high-cut cheekbones and deep voice of David Bowie, along with the androgynous costumes...

By Niki D'Andrea

June 5, 2008

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Deemed "the Godfather of Goth," Peter Murphy built the paradigm for surly, baritone-voiced broodfests. When the English singer broke through the London gloom-tune scene in the late '70s with his seminal band, Bauhaus, he already had the high-cut cheekbones and deep voice of David Bowie, along with the androgynous costumes and posturing. Bauhaus' 1979 classic "Bela Lugosi's Dead" has long been hailed as one of the signature songs of the goth scene, and Murphy's performance of the song in the 1982 vampire flick The Hunger, starring Catherine Deneuve and (hey) David Bowie, helped propel the film into the realm of cult classic. Even after the initial breakup of Bauhaus in 1983, Murphy continued to be the card-carrying king of the darkwave music scene, with contemporaries like Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor, Sascha Konietzko of KMFDM, Tricky, Justin Bennett of Skinny Puppy, and Mark Gemini Thwaite of The Mission U.K. collaborating with him on side and solo projects. After two Bauhaus reunions (one in 1998 and one in 2006), Murphy's back in the solo spotlight, albeit touring with no new album to support. That won't matter to fans, though, who'll come out in droves hoping his sets include some Bauhaus songs.
Wed., June 11, 8 p.m., 2008

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