Ed Harcourt Ed Harcourt

Ed Harcourt (born Edward Harcourt-Smith, 14 August 1977, Lewes, East Sussex, England) is an English singer-songwriter. Born the third son of a army officer, his family home is the manor house of Wooton, Kent. He is a great-nephew of the food author Elizabeth David and of Nicholas Ridley, Baron Ridley of Liddesdale, and a great-grand nephew of the one-time Mayor of Eastbourne, Roland Gwynne. Harcourt's primary instrument is the piano, but he also plays numerous less common keyboard instruments as well as the guitar and percussion. When performing live he is most often accompanied by a band typically comprising a drummer, guitarist, violinist and trumpeter, but sometimes performs solo. He is regularly accompanied by acclaimed guitarist Leo Abrahams, who has worked with many musicians including Jarvis Cocker, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry and Paul Simon. Besides being a headliner himself, he has also played support for a lot of artists over the years, like R.E.M., Snow Patrol, Wilco and Neil Finn. Bands and artists who have supported Ed on his own tours include Magnet, The Magic Numbers and Feist, as well as a wide variety of emerging British talents, notably The Smoke Fairies and Hush the Many (Heed the Few). He recorded several tracks with the French Jazz quartet Erik Truffaz for their album "Arkhangelsk", released in 2007. Harcourt also performed live with the group to promote the album. In mid-October 2007, Ed released the retrospective collection Until Tomorrow Then: The Best of Ed Harcourt, collecting some of his best material from the first 7 years of his solo recording career. A tour of the UK followed. Before going solo Harcourt played the bass and keyboards for Snug. He has a side-project rock band known as Wild Boar.