Brian Molko

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Template:Wikiquote Brian Molko (born December 10, 1972 in Brussels) is a vocalist, bassist and guitarist with the band Placebo. He writes most of the lyrics.

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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. He speaks French. He is lactose intolerant.

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, openly bisexual, androgynous, cross-dressing, sometimes chain smoking rock musician that would later find him fame and infamy.

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Molko attended the same school as Stefan Olsdal in Luxembourg; however, they never communicated (it was a European School). When Brian moved to London to study drama at Goldsmiths College, where he graduated with a degree, 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. Molko taught himself to play guitar. At the age of 16 he got a fake Telecaster as a present from his parents, he soon bought a real guitar, with actual strings. He plays other instruments such as bass, harmonica, keyboard, saxophone, drums and turntables. Occasionally, Molko works as a disc jockey at clubs but he says he's not good at dj'ing. Nowadays Molko listens to Peaches, Ladytron, At the Drive-In, Jane's Addiction and many more. He likes to experiment with electric sounds.

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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 the fictional glam rock band, "The Flaming Creatures".

He has performed as a guest vocalist on tracks by Timo Maas - 'Pictures', 'Like Siamese', 'First Day', Alpinestars - 'Carbon Kid', Trash Palace - 'The Metric System', 'Je t'aime, moi non plus' (duet with Asia Argento), the AC Acoustics - 'Crush', Kristeen 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.

Molko is friends with David Bowie - with whom he sang Placebo's 'Without You I'm Nothing' and the cover T. Rex's song '20th Century Boy' live -, Marilyn Manson, and Nicola Sirkis from Indochine. He was also close to the late Simon Hobart.

In 2005, Brian's long term life partner, Helena Berg, gave birth to his first child, Cody.

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Filmography

(2001) Sue's Last Ride (Executive Producer)
(1998) Velvet Goldmine as Malcolm of the Flaming Creatures

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Appearances

4Music (2006)
Live 8 (2005)
Placebo: Androgyny (2005)
"Grand journal de Canal+, Le"
- Episode dated 13 October 2004
- Episode dated 13 September 2004
Placebo: Soulmates Never Die - Live in Paris 2003
"Tout le monde en parle"
- Episode dated 14 February 2004
- Episode dated 3 May 2003
"Double je"
- Episode dated 26 June 2003
"V Graham Norton"
- Episode #4.21 (2003)
"Rive droite - rive gauche"
- Episode dated 21 March 2003
The Kerrang Awards (2002)
"Never Mind the Buzzcocks"
- Episode #9.6 (2001)
- Episode #8.1 (2001)
- Episode #2.6 (1997)
"Paskvil"
- Episode #5.11 (2001)
"Rage"
- Placebo Guest Program Rage (1999)
"Late Night with Conan O'Brien"
- Episode dated 27 March 1999 (1999)
Brit Awards 1999cs:Brian Molko