Today's Birthday 20/1

Today's Birthday, January 20: Kevin Parker, Australian singer, songwriter, record producer (1986 - ).

One of Australia's most talented musicians was on the brink of another career trajectory when one phone call changed it all.

Driving to his final astronomy exam, Kevin Parker received a call from Australian record label Modular Recordings, wanting to sign his band Tame Impala. And with that, Parker turned his car and life around, and headed straight towards music history.

Born in Sydney, Parker mostly grew up in Perth and recalls a childhood playing the guitar with his father, who played him music by the Beatles and the Beach Boys.

And while he credits his father, originally from Zimbabwe, as a major musical influence, he also cautioned him against making music a career, saying it would lose its mystery and ruin its magic.

Starting with the drums aged 11, one year later Parker was recording his first songs with two tape machines and a multi-track. This early manifestation of producing music - playing and recording everything himself - he's continued throughout his career.

Following his father's advice, Parker enrolled in engineering at university, and then astronomy. But after signing with Modular Recordings Parker threw himself entirely into his solo project Tame Impala.

While Parker tours Tame Impala with bandmates mostly from Perth, the project is entirely his vision, writing, recording and producing most of the content.

Tame Impala has released three studio albums: 2010's Innerspeaker, Lonerism in 2012 and 2015's Currents. Starting with a J Award from national radio station triplej for Innerspeaker, Parker has also won several awards from Rolling Stone magazine and accumulated several ARIAs, including Producer of the Year and Album of the Year in 2015.

Parker has been involved with several local bands like Pond and Koi Child, and has recently been linked with big-name artists including Lady Gaga, the first person he says he's ever written lyrics with.

He continues to produce large-scale projects with Mark Ronson, the pair recently unveiling a collaboration with SZA during their DJ set at the 2017 Governors Ball music festival in New York.

In February 2018 Parker will be back in his Fremantle hometown for the annual Laneway Festival, playing a special DJ set.

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