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Loudon Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina) is an American songwriter, folk singer, humorist, and actor.

Biography

A graduate of St. Andrew's School, Wainwright is best known for a 1972 novelty song hit "Dead Skunk (in the Middle of the Road)", and for playing Captain Spalding (the "singing surgeon") on three episodes of the American television show M*A*S*H in its third season (1974-1975), but his musical reputation is much deeper. Using a witty, self-mocking style and unusual, high-pitched voice, Wainwright has recorded over twenty albums on eleven different labels. Two of his albums have been nominated for Grammy awards.

Wainwright has also appeared in a number of films, including small parts in The Aviator, Big Fish, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and the television series Undeclared. Wainwright came to the attention of many people in Britain for the first time when he appeared as the resident singer with Jasper Carrott in his UK show, Carrott Confidential, in the late 1980s.

Wainwright's career began in the late 1960s. He had played the guitar while in school, but would later sell it for yoga lessons while living in San Francisco. Later in life, while living with his grandmother in Rhode Island, Wainwright's grandmother got him a job working in a boatyard. He was inspired by an old lobster fisherman named Edgar to borrow a friend's guitar and write his first song (entitled "Edgar"). Soon after, Loudon bought a guitar and in about a year, Wainwright had written near twenty songs. He decided to go to Boston, New York and began playing live shows in folk clubs. He was eventually "discovered" by a man named Milton Kramer who became his manager and acquired a record deal with Atlantic Records who released his first album in 1970.

Wainwright has claimed that, like many of his contemporaries, he was inspired musically by seeing Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in 1962. He was one of many young folksingers tagged as the "new Dylan" in the early 1970s.

His father, Loudon S. Wainwright, Jr., was a well-known writer and editor for Life magazine, while his mother, Martha T. Wainwright, was a noted yoga teacher. Wainwright grew up in Bedford, New York, a wealthy town in Westchester County. He is a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant. Amongst his sisters is Sloan Wainwright, also a singer.

Wainwright's son Rufus Wainwright and daughter Martha Wainwright by his onetime marriage to Canadian singer/songwriter Kate McGarrigle, are both singer/songwriters as well. Rufus was the subject of two of Loudon's more famous songs, the breastfeeding ode "Rufus Is a Tit Man" and the retrospective "A Father and a Son", while Martha entered the world to "Pretty Little Martha", turned five to the post-divorce child-rearing anthem "Five Years Old" and entered her teenage years with the brutally clinical "Hitting You". (Rufus, in turn, has covered Loudon's "One Man Guy" and wrote "Dinner at Eight" about a dispute, while Martha has covered Loudon's "Pretty Good Day" and states that her song "Bloody Mother Fucking Asshole" is about her father.[1])

Loudon also has a daughter, Lucy Roche, by the singer Suzzy Roche, and a third daughter, Lexie Kelly.

He is one of the inspirations for Doonesbury minor character Jimmy Thudpucker.

Free samples

On Wainwright's homepage, the song Presidents' Day, created in early 2004, is available for free download. The singer expresses his hope to be able to look forward again to the annual Presidents' Day in February.

Discography

Studio and Live albums

• Loudon Wainwright III (1970)
• Album II (1971)
• Album III (1972)
• Attempted Mustache (1973)
• Unrequited (1975)
• T Shirt (1976)
• Final Exam (1978)
• A Live One (1979)
• Fame and Wealth (1983)
• I'm Alright (1985)
• More Love Songs (1986)
• Therapy (1989)
• History (1992)
• Career Moves (1993)
• Grown Man (1995)
• Little Ship (1997)
• BBC Sessions (1998)
• Social Studies (1999)
• Last Man on Earth (2001)
• So Damn Happy (2003)
• Here Come the Choppers (2005)

Compilations

• Fame and Wealth / I'm Alright (1991)
• One Man Guy: The Best of Loudon Wainwright III 1982-1986 (1994)

Singles

• Dead Skunk / Needless to Say (1973, CBS 4-45726)
• Down Drinking at the Bar / I am The Way (1974, CBS 2172)
• Five Years Old / Rambunctious (1983, Demon D1016)
• Cardboard Boxes / Colours (1985, Demon D1039)
• Unhappy Anniversary / The Acid Song (1986, Demon D1044)
• Thank You, Girl (John Hiatt) / My Girl (with John Hiatt) (1987)
• Your Mother and I / At the End of a Long Lonely Day (with John Hiatt) (1987, D1051)
• T.S.D.H.A.V. / Nice Guys (1989, Silvertone, ORE 15)
• Jesse Don't Like It (live) / T.S.D.H.A.V. (live) (1990, Hannibal cassette single HNC 0705, Hannibal 7" vinyl HNS 0705)

Contributions

• "Turkish Revelry" & "Good Ship Venus" for Hal Willner's Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006, ANTI-)

Selected actor filmography

• For Your Consideration (2006) .... Nominee Ben Connelly
• Elizabethtown (2005) .... Uncle Dale
• The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) .... Priest
• The Aviator (2004) .... Cocoanut Grove Vocalist #2
• Big Fish (2003) .... Beamen
• Undeclared (2001) TV Series .... Hal Karp
• 28 Days (2000) .... Guitar guy
• Jacknife (1989) .... Ferretti
• The Slugger's Wife (1985) .... Gary
• The T.V. Show (1979) (TV) .... Dead Man on Telethon/Spinal Tap Keyboardist

External links

• Fan Site
• MySpace site
• Short autobiography
• Loudon Wainwright III on VH1
• “The Guardian profile: The Wainwrights” by Richard Jinman. Published by The Guardian on 2005-04-15.
• Perfect Sound Together interview
• All Music Guide
• Video of Loudon Wainwright III from the Kennedy Center - October 13, 1999
• Kennedy Center article
• Discography Review

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