Tunde Adebimpe American musician, singer-songwriter, actor, director Date of Birth: 25.02.1975 Country: USA

1. Babatunde Adebimpe: Multifaceted Artist with a Unique Vision
2. Early Life and Education
3. Film and Television Career
4. Musical Career
5. Visual Arts

Babatunde Adebimpe: Multifaceted Artist with a Unique Vision

Babatunde Adebimpe is an American musician, singer-songwriter, actor, filmmaker, and visual artist best known as the frontman of the Brooklyn-based band TV on the Radio.

Early Life and Education

Born to Nigerian immigrant parents in the United States, Adebimpe's Yoruba name translates to "father has returned." He attended Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel, Pennsylvania, where he remains an active member of the board of directors. His late father was a psychiatrist in Pittsburgh. Adebimpe is married to French cartoonist Domitille Collardey, with whom he has a son.

Film and Television Career

Adebimpe worked as one of the early animators on the ultra-violent claymation program MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch in 1998. He starred in the 2001 indie film Jump Tomorrow [3], based on the student short film Jorge, in which he played the same character. In 2003, Adebimpe directed the music video for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' song "Pin."

In 2008, he appeared as the groom in Jonathan Demme's film Rachel Getting Married alongside Rosemarie DeWitt, who played his character's bride, and Anne Hathaway, who portrayed the bride's wayward sister. In the film, Adebimpe performs an a cappella cover of Neil Young's "Unknown Legend."

In 2011, Adebimpe directed the visual companion to TV on the Radio's fourth album, Nine Types of Light. For the film, he enlisted a roster of the band's favorite directors to create individual clips that would be stitched together into an abstract narrative exploring dreams, love, fame, and the future. Adebimpe directed the video for the song "Forgotten," as well as interstitial clips featuring a chorus of narrators who help connect the dots between the film's various segments.

In 2013, Adebimpe directed and animated the video for Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band's single "The Blast the Bloom." In 2015, he released the short film Silva.[8] Adebimpe played a cameo of himself in the IFC program Portlandia in the show's Season 4 premiere.

In 2016, he voiced Banana Guard #16 in the Adventure Time episode "The Thin Yellow Line." In 2017, he appeared in the second season of the series Girlfriend. Adebimpe portrayed Mr. Cobbwell in Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017).

In 2020, Adebimpe plays a small role as a street preacher in the second episode of the HBO miniseries Perry Mason. Adebimpe has a recurring role in the HBO drama series The Idol.

Musical Career

In addition to his work with TV on the Radio, Adebimpe occasionally performs solo and regularly collaborates with other musicians. He provides backing vocals on the track "Dragon Queen" on the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 2009 album It's Blitz!, which was produced by fellow TV on the Radio member David Andrew Sitek. He appears on several tracks on Dragons of Zynth's Coronation Thieves, also partly produced by Sitek. He produced and guests on "Your Glasshouse," a track on Atmosphere's 2008 album When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Shit Gold. He is featured on the song "Deathful" from Subtle's album Yell & Ice.

In early 2009, he played three gigs billed as a duo with Tall Firs drummer Ryan Sawyer, with the latter two under the name Stabbing Eastward. In 2009, Adebimpe played a show as a solo project billed as Fake Male Voice on the Japanese-Brooklyn label Heartfast. He played one more show under this name as a pickup group at the label's record release party. Fake Male Voice performed again at a Heartfast showcase during CMJ 2009, as a duo consisting of Adebimpe and Gerard Smith.

In 2009, Adebimpe collaborated with Massive Attack on the track "Pray for Rain." In 2010, Adebimpe was featured on Dave Sitek's radio show Maximum Balloon on the track "Absence of Light."

Adebimpe and members of TV on the Radio are featured on three tracks on Tinariwen's Tassili (2011) and on the Amadou & Mariam track "Wily Kataso" from their 2012 album Folila. Ian Brennan produced the Grammy-winning record.

In 2012, Adebimpe formed the band Higgins Waterproof Black Magic Band, which released a self-titled EP in October 2013 on their own ZNA records. Adebimpe provides vocals on "Bad Radio," a track from Leftfield's Alternative Light Source in 2015.

He is a member of the band Nevermen with Mike Patton and Doseone. Their debut album Nevermen was released in 2016.

Adebimpe provides vocals on the track "Thieves! (Screamed The Ghosts)" on Run The Jewels' Run the Jewels 3 in 2017.

Adebimpe collaborated with Rockstar Games and released "Speedline Miracle Masterpiece" (featuring Sal P. & Sinkane) as part of the Welcome to Los Santos soundtrack for Grand Theft Auto V. "The Crime" DLC.

In October 2022, he covered Sleater-Kinney's "Drama You've Been Craving" for the album Dig Me In: A Dig Me Out Covers Album, a tribute compilation marking the 25th anniversary of Dig Me Out. Pitchfork called the track "a career high," describing Adebimpe's rendition as "nearly unrecognizable, trading its furious grit for sultry synth-pop."

Visual Arts

Originally a cartoonist, Adebimpe continues to work in design, drawing, and painting. In addition to handling the artwork for all of TV on the Radio's album covers, he drew the cover art for the band's 2013 single "Mercy."

In 2009, Adebimpe released a self-published art comic titled Plague Hero. The hand-painted book depicts a boxing match between two anthropomorphic characters. Randomly selected copies included a DVD of "Mystery Sht," a compilation of song sketches and animations from Adebimpe's archives.

In May 2017, Adebimpe premiered "The Ghost of Warm Weather," a live multimedia performance commissioned by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.