Ed Robertson
Ed Robertson of Barenaked Ladies in 2005
Background information
Birth name	Lloyd Edward Elwyn Robertson
Born	October 25, 1970 (1970-10-25) (age 37) Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
Occupation(s)	Singer Songwriter Record producer
Instrument(s)	Vocals Guitar
Associated acts	Barenaked Ladies

Lloyd Edward (Ed) Elwyn Robertson (born October 25, 1970 in Scarborough, Ontario) is a lead singer, guitarist and songwriter in the band, Barenaked Ladies. Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Scarborough (ˈskɑrˌbəroʊ ( 2001 Census 593297 is the area that forms the eastern part of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both In the Music industry, a record producer or music producer has many roles among them controlling the recording sessions coaching and guiding the musicians organizing A musical instrument is a device constructed or modified for the purpose of making Music. Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, which is often contrasted with Speech. The guitar is a Musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Juno -winning and Grammy -nominated Canadian Alternative Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a Year 1970 ( MCMLXX) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link shows full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Scarborough (ˈskɑrˌbəroʊ ( 2001 Census 593297 is the area that forms the eastern part of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada The lead vocalist (or lead singer) is the member of a band who sings the main vocal portions of a song A guitarist is a Musician who plays the Guitar. Guitarists may perform solo pieces or play with ensembles and bands of a wide variety of genres A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both A musical ensemble is a group of two or more Musicians who perform instrumental or vocal Music. Barenaked Ladies (often abbreviated BNL or occasionally BnL) is a Juno -winning and Grammy -nominated Canadian Alternative Robertson is, along with Steven Page, a founding member of the group. This article is about the Canadian musician for the Australian choreographer see Stephen Page.

Early life and career

Robertson was the youngest of five children, and claims to have been named on a bet. He believes that his birth was an "accident" due to the fact that he is several years younger than his other siblings (who were all born about one year apart). He credits this situation with allowing him to have the experience of being both in a big family, and an only child — once his siblings moved out of their home ^[1].

He was brought up in a home where country music almost exclusively played (he is still fond of it today). He would sing harmonies with his family and learned how to play guitar, which his father also played. ^[2] Once he began playing guitar for other people, around the fifth grade, he knew he wanted to be a performer^[1]. He was in several bands during his school days including a cover band that played a notable collection of rock artists (Rush and Kim Mitchell being notable contributors to their repertoire). Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968 in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, currently comprised of Joseph Kim Mitchell (born July 10 1952 in Sarnia Ontario) is a Canadian Guitarist.

In the fourth grade, Robertson entered the gifted program at Churchill Heights Public School. Gifted education (also known as Gifted and Talented Education ( GATE) Talented and Gifted ( TAG) or G/T) is a broad term for special Churchill Heights Public School is an Elementary school on Brimorton Drive in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Canada. Robertson's first run-in with Page, who was a year ahead in the same gifted program, was when he unknowingly "stole" Page's best friend. It would be several years before the two would really speak to each other. Page saw Robertson at a Harvey's restaurant after a Peter Gabriel concert and was surprised to find that Robertson was also a fan. Harvey's is a Fast food restaurant chain that operates in Canada, with locations concentrated in southern and Eastern Ontario, southern Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950 in Chobham, Surrey, England) is an English Musician and Songwriter. This ultimately led to them talking and becoming friends^[1].

Robertson attended Woburn Collegiate Institute with Page, and around the twelfth grade, realized he needed to focus on passing his courses to get into university, believing his goal of being musician was somewhat of a "pipe dream". It was around this point when he began playing with Page^[1]. The two would become counsellors at Scarborough Schools Music Camp in the summer of 1988, and spent a lot of time together, singing songs and playing guitar. Page was flattered that Robertson knew some of his songs, which he had learned after acquiring a copy of a tape Page had made. Page was also impressed by Robertson's ear for singing harmony^[3]. Robertson ultimately turned to Page when he was scheduled to play at a benefit and his band had just broken up. The two played the benefit and in the process, formed Barenaked Ladies. He was accepted to York University, but dropped out after only half a year, choosing to devote his time completely to the band. York University (Université York is a public Research university located in Toronto, Ontario. He and Page spent the next two years building the reputation and following for Barenaked Ladies, joined along the way by Andy and Jim Creeggan, and Tyler Stewart. Andy Creeggan (born Andrew Burnett Creeggan 4 July 1971, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada) was the keyboard and James Raymond Creeggan, better known as Jim Creeggan (born February 12 1970, in Scarborough Ontario) is the Bassist for Tyler Joseph Stewart (b September 21, 1967) is the Drummer for the Canadian Music group Barenaked Ladies.

Role in Barenaked Ladies

Robertson is the primary guitarist for the band, playing dominantly rhythm guitar (evenly split between acoustic and electric). Three of his four bandmates also play guitar with the band on certain songs (Page sometimes on another rhythm part, Kevin Hearn sometimes on lead, and Jim Creeggan occasionally playing guitar for songs he sings lead on) but Robertson is the only member who plays guitar on nearly every song. Kevin Neil Hearn (born July 3, 1969 in Grimsby Ontario, Canada) plays keyboards and other instruments for Barenaked James Raymond Creeggan, better known as Jim Creeggan (born February 12 1970, in Scarborough Ontario) is the Bassist for He is capable of playing several other instruments including drums, pedal steel guitar, banjo and mandolin, but he rarely plays anything other than guitar, or occasionally 6-string banjo, on stage. A drum kit (also drum set or trap set) is a collection of Drums Cymbals and sometimes other Percussion instruments such as cowbells The pedal steel guitar is a type of Electric guitar that uses a metal slide to stop the strings rather than fingers on strings as with a conventional guitar The banjo is a Stringed instrument developed by enslaved Africans in the United States, adapted from several African instruments A mandolin is a musical instrument in the Lute family (plucked or strummed Guitjo is a Plucked string instrument in the guitar or banjo family He also considers himself a drummer (at some level at least). On each passing album, he has sung lead on an increased number of songs, to the point where he now shares approximately equal duty with Page, and has sung lead on a number of the band's singles since the success of 1998's One Week. " One Week " is a 1998 hit single by Barenaked Ladies.

Robertson contributed to the writing for the band from their first album. Much of his contribution initially came in the way of co-writing with Page. As the years have passed, Robertson has written more and more on his own (and also more and more with Steve). He credits Jason Plumb in part for changing his perspective on songwriting, in that instead of trying to write one great song, he would commit to writing a certain number of ideas and they might not all be great, but parts of the songs would sometimes fit together into great songs. Jason Plumb is a Canadian singer-songwriter who was the lead singer and front man of The Waltons. As well, Plumb encouraged Robertson to simply come up with an idea that fascinates him, and then to analyse it. The first song he wrote with this method was "When I Fall", based on the concept of "a window washer who's afraid of heights".

Besides Tyler Stewart, who doesn't typically write, Robertson is the only other band member who has not written and recorded songs outside of the Barenaked Ladies for himself in the form of a side project. Tyler Joseph Stewart (b September 21, 1967) is the Drummer for the Canadian Music group Barenaked Ladies. Robertson has preferred to spend creative energy outside the band in co-writing and producing songs for other people (including Andy Kim and Jason Plumb). Andy Kim (born Andrew Youakim, 5 December 1952) is a Canadian Pop singer and Songwriter.

Ed's Up

In 2006, Robertson filmed a program called Ed's Up for OLN Canada. OLN ( Outdoor Life Network) is a Canadian English language Cable television Specialty channel. The program covered his journeys by plane to various locations given to him only in the form of GPS coordinates, where he learned about and participated in various interesting local occupations. Basic concept of GPS operation A GPS receiver calculates its position by carefully timing the signals sent by the constellation of GPS Satellites high above the Earth The series premiered on November 1, 2006; Robertson filmed a second season in the summer of 2007, which premiered on November 7. Events 996 - Emperor Otto III issues a deed to Gottschalk Bishop of Freising which is the oldest known document using the name Ostarrîchi Year 2006 ( MMVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. [1]

Daily Planet

In 2008, Ed Robertson co-hosted Daily Planet on Discovery Channel with Kim Jagtiani. Discovery Channel is an American Satellite and Cable TV channel (also delivered via IPTV, Terrestrial television and Kim Jagtiani (born Komila Jagtiani on August 8, 1980) is an Indian Canadian Television personality who hosts tv programmes

Personal life

Robertson was the second member of the band to get married, and the first to have children. He married his longtime girlfriend, Natalie, in June 1994. They had their first child, Hannah on November 17, 1995. Their second child, Lyle was born September 29, 1999. They also have a second son, Arden, born August 7th 2002. As the first in the band to have children, he was also one of the first to advocate for more time at home with his family. When he is not working with Barenaked Ladies, Robertson prefers to spend as much time as he can with his family in Toronto. Toronto (təˈrɒntoʊ colloquially pronounced or) is the largest city in Canada and is the provincial capital of Ontario

Robertson lost a brother in a motorcycle accident, and the experience had an impact on him personally. It also came through in his songwriting; the song "Am I The Only One?" was initially about his future wife, but ended up being about his brother's loss. The song "Leave" is about the image of his brother haunting him in hotel rooms while on tour.

Other activities and interests

Robertson received his pilot's license in 2005, and the 2007 season of Ed's Up was purportedly designed around his attempting to earn his floatplane license. He also rides a motorcycle, which he has taken on some of the band's tours in the past to ride during off time.

Robertson is fan of video games, and claims to have had almost every console system released since he was a child. He usually brings several consoles and many games on tour with him. Robertson is a fan of the popular machinima series Red vs. Blue, lending his voice to the series to voice Captain Butch Flowers, during a time travel episode. Machinima (məˈʃiːnəmə or /məˈʃɪnəmə/ Red vs Blue The Blood Gulch Chronicles, often abbreviated as RvB, is a Machinima Comic science fiction video series created This is a list of characters in the Machinima series Red vs Blue. Originally for a one-off episode, Captain Flowers was re-introduced in late season 5, 4 episodes before the announced finale. This is a list of episodes for season 5 of the Machinima comedy series Red vs Rooster Teeth Productions has also made special videos, using Red vs. Rooster Teeth Productions is an award-winning production group from Buda Texas that specializes in the creation of Machinima, or films created using real-time interactive Blue characters, to be shown at Barenaked Ladies shows.

Robertson has several tattoos. A tattoo is a permanent marking made by inserting ink into the layers of Skin to change the pigment for decorative or other reasons The first one he got was on his right deltoid — a stylized Canadian flag with a green maple leaf and diagonal red bars. The next one he got was a Mercator projection of the continents of Earth circling his left deltoid. The Mercator projection is a cylindrical map projection presented by the Flemish geographer and cartographer Gerardus Mercator, in 1569 For his next tattoo, he visited a shop in Portland, Oregon run by Matt Reed. Portland is a city located in the Northwestern United States, near the Confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers Reed enhanced the Canadian flag, and recoloured the map. He also added a third tattoo; a jumping fish, on Robertson's left arm, above the map. At his next session, Robertson got a band of acorns and Oak leaves on his right arm, below the flag (possibly also from Reed). The acorn is the nut of the Oak tree (genera Quercus, Lithocarpus and Cyclobalanopsis, in the The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of Trees and Shrubs in the Genus Quercus (from Latin Robertson decided to exclusively use Reed for his tattoos, and has said that he gets a new one every time he is in Portland. Reed has also designed t-shirts for the band. He e-mailed Reed photos of both arms (each having a band and a single image, in about the same place) and asked him to design a way to tie everything together. Reed enhanced the existing tattoos by framing the fish with a nautical themed frame, and the flag with a natural wooden themed frame, and adding backgrounds. In 2004, on the Au Naturale tour, Robertson added a dragonfly across part of his chest while in Portland.

Robertson won Humber College's inaugural Euterpe Award at the close of the 2005 Humber Songwriting Workshop. Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning (generally referred to as Humber) is a College in Toronto, Ontario, In his honour, the school named a scholarship after him for their summer songwriting workshop.

Having an interest in acting, Robertson had a brief appearance in Charlie's Angels 2, which was offered to him by director McG, who had directed Barenaked Ladies' video for "One Week". Charlie's Angels Full Throttle is a 2003 action / Comedy film the second of the Charlie's Angels cinematic releases Robertson quotes McG has telling him that he would hand a baby to Carrie Fisher, so he figured Robertson would want to do it. Carrie Frances Fisher (born October 21, 1956) is an American actress, Screenwriter and Novelist. Robertson had a larger role in the independent Canadian film Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, which was directed by childhood friend Sudz Sutherland. Love Sex and Eating the Bones is a 2003 Canadian Romantic comedy Film directed and written by Sudz David "Sudz" Sutherland is a Canadian film director and screenwriter

References

External links

• Ed Robertson at Allmusic
• Ed's Up homepage
• Ed's Up Mobovivo page