Gnarls Barkley
Danger Mouse (real name: Brian Burton)
Cee-Lo (real name: Thomas Callaway)

Gnarls Barkley is a collaboration between Baltimore-based DJ and producer Danger Mouse and rapper Cee-Lo, from Atlanta though now resides in Baltimore. Their first album, St. Elsewhere, was released by Warner Music on April 24, 2006 in the UK and on May 9 in the US by Atlantic/Downtown Records.

Gnarls Barkley Biography:

In 1998, Brian Burton was a distracted art student at the University of Georgia who spent his idle hours tinkering with a drum machine in his dorm room. So when Burton flipped Goodie Mob rapper Cee-Lo his glitchy demo after a show, he didn’t expect much to come of it. Fast-forward to 2003: Burton, now calling himself Danger Mouse (and just months away from blowing up with the Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up The Grey Album), is producing an album by New York MC Jemini. Cee-Lo — who had recently put out a critically acclaimed solo album of freaked-out soul — agrees to sing on a track, impressed with Burton’s wacky, symphonic production. "It was right down my alley," says Cee-Lo. "I was like, ’Let me get on a couple of your tracks.’ And he said, ’I don’t do tracks, I do albums.’ "

Coming from Cee-Lo, who scored a hit with his 2003 Timbaland-produced "I’ll Be Around" and Danger Mouse, who produced Gorillaz’ Demon Days, it’s no surprise that St. Elsewhere (the pair’s first album as Gnarls Barkley) is a genre-defying mix of hip-hop, soul, electro and, uh, college rock (check the funked-up cover of the Violent Femmes’ "Gone Daddy Gone").

"Crazy", their first single, based on samples of the song "Nel Cimitero Di Tucson" (1968) by Gianfranco Reverberi, gained some of its popularity due to its use on primetime BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe’s television advert, and it was also made Record of the Week by Ken Bruce of BBC Radio 2. It was released as a single on April 3, 2006, preceded by its release as digital download and 12" vinyl single in March 2006. On 2 April 2006, it became the first ever UK number one single based on download sales alone.

Some of the popularity is also due to the performance of the song at The 2006 MTV Movie Awards, where the band performed in Star Wars costumes — including the garb of Rebel Alliance pilots, Imperial officers, Stormtroopers, Chewbacca, Jango Fett, Obi-Wan, with Cee-Lo singing as an unmasked Darth Vader.

Many think the name Gnarls Barkley is related to the former NBA basketball player Charles Barkley. In the June 18, 2006 New York Times Magazine Burton explains the name came from friends, "making up fictional celebrity names like Prince Gnarls and Bob Gnarley. When someone came up with Gnarls Barkley, Burton wrote it down."

Gnarls Barkley Discography

Gnarls Barkley Album
Gnarls Barkley St. Elsewhere (2006)

Gnarls Barkley Singles

Gnarls Barkley "Gone Daddy Gone" ::2006
Gnarls Barkley "Crazy" ::2006
Gnarls Barkley "Smiley Faces pt2" ::2006
Gnarls Barkley "Smiley Faces" ::2006

Gnarls Barkley photos & wallpapers:

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