Alan Vega

David Nobahkt, penned the documentary-biography of ‘Suicide’ named ‘No Compromise’, which was released in the UK in the later part of 2004.

At the ‘Deitch Projects’ in 2009, two short documentaries filmed on Alan Vega and his works were screened. One was ‘Autour d’Alan Vega (extraits) (1998)’, filmed by Hugues Peyret, and the other one was ‘Alan Vega (2000)’ documented by Christian Eudeline.

This famous man, originally named Alan Bermowitz was born in a Jewish family, in the city of Brooklyn on 23rd June, 1938. He studied Physics and Fine Arts at the prestigious ‘Brooklyn College’. Kurt Seligmann and Ad Reinhardt were his teachers in Fine Art, and had a profound impact on his works.

After graduating in 1960, he was closely associated with the ‘Art Workers’ Coalition (AWC)’, and strongly backed the need for reforms in museum policy. He also co-founded the ‘Projects of Living Artists’, which was a first of its kind alternate venue run by artists, in New York.

A fine arts graduate, Alan started his career in the early 1970’s as a visual artist and sculpted objects from electronic debris. His sculptures were on display at the ‘Projects of Living Artists’ in Soho, New York, which was founded by the ‘AWC’.

Impressed by the performance of the Proto punk band ‘Iggy and the Stooges’, this vocalist came up with his own band named ‘Suicide’, along with instrumentalist Martin Reverby in 1970. The band’s unconventional style of music went on to become an inspiration for future generations of electronic artists all over the world.

The band in their initial days used to stage performances at the ‘OK Harris gallery’, but later they started playing at a venue called ‘Projects of Living Artists’.

A drummer named Mari Reverby joined the band in 1971, after Paul Liegbott, the original guitarist dropped out of the troupe. The band garnered a lot of acclaim after performing at clubs like ‘Mercer Arts Center’, ‘Max’s Kansas City’, and ‘CBGB’,

Despite the release of the two albums, the band faced hostility from critics and faltered to gain foothold. But soon this vocalist’s first solo record released in 1980, featuring the chartbuster ‘Jukebox Babe’. The song grabbed the eyeballs of major record labels.

The 1980 chartbuster song ‘Juke Box Babe’ from the singer’s debut solo album, won this vocalist a lot of international acclaim, and also helped him grab the attention of all major record labels.