Duncan Sheik

Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, composer and actor.

After graduating from Phillips Academy, Andover in 1988, Sheik studied semiotics at Brown University; while at Brown, he played guitar in a band with fellow Brown student Lisa Loeb.

Following his graduation from Brown in 1992, he moved to Los Angeles.

Early in his musical career, Sheik played guitar for other artists, including Liz and Lisa (with Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb).

Sheik also played on His Boy Elroy's 1993 album through his connections from a fellow Brown alum, Tracee Ellis Ross.

Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single "Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

In 1996, Sheik released his self-titled debut album, which was certified gold.

The album featured the hit single "Barely Breathing", which peaked at number 16 and remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 55 consecutive weeks.

"Barely Breathing" also enjoyed Top 20 success on Adult Contemporary radio, reached No. 2 on the Adult Top 40 charts, and garnered Sheik a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

In 1998, Sheik recorded "Embraceable You" for Red Hot + Rhapsody, a George Gershwin tribute to increase AIDS awareness, and also recorded "Songbird" for another tribute, Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

Also in 1998, Sheik released Humming, an experimental follow-up with string arrangements.

Sheik sang a duet with singer Howard Jones on Jones' 2000 single entitled Someone You Need.

Sheik released Phantom Moon, a Nick Drake-influenced album on which he collaborated with poet and writer Steven Sater, in 2001.

The following year, Sheik released Daylight, a brighter, more modern-sounding album which included the singles, "On A High" and "Half-Life".

He composed original music for the 2002 New York Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night.

In 2004, he composed the score for the film A Home at the End of the World.

The AllMusic reviewer wrote: "...takes the sensitivity and tension of the film's plot and crafts incidental music and new songs that complement the movie well."

He composed the score for the 2005 film Through the Fire with Pete Miser.

After a four-year recording break, Sheik released White Limousine (2006), an album which included companion software on a DVD-ROM to remix individual tracks.

Sheik wrote the music for Spring Awakening (2006) in collaboration with Steven Sater.

Written over a period of eight years, the musical, which premiered off-Broadway during the summer, opened on Broadway to critical acclaim later in the fall.

The musical was based on the controversial German expressionist play The Awakening of Spring, written by Frank Wedekind.

Sheik won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Orchestrations for his work on Spring Awakening, and he and Sater won a Tony Award for Best Original Score.

In addition, Spring Awakening won the Tony Award for Best Musical and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

The guitar that Sheik used to compose songs for Spring Awakening was displayed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center.

He has composed music for motion pictures and Broadway musicals, winning the 2007 Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Orchestrations for his work on the musical Spring Awakening.

Sheik is a native of Montclair, New Jersey.

Following his parents' divorce, he split time between his father's house in New Jersey and his mother's home in South Carolina.

He is the half-brother of Broadway actress Kacie Sheik.

Sheik's Juilliard-trained grandmother introduced him to the piano, and he later took up the electric guitar.

By age 12, he was playing guitar with high school students in a cover band.

In 2008, Sheik was a judge at the 7th annual Independent Music Awards.

In 2009 he released Whisper House, a concept album which provided the score for the musical of the same name.

The stage musical premiered at The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in January 2010, after a workshop at Vassar College, produced by New York Stage and Film in 2009.

In 2011, Sheik released Covers 80's, an album including covers of popular 1980s songs.

Concert dates in support of the album were later canceled due to Sheik seeking treatment for alcohol addiction.

A remixed version of the album was released the following year.

As of 2012, Sheik was composing music for a feature-film adaptation of Spring Awakening, an adaptation almost a decade in the making.

Sheik released a new studio album entitled Legerdemain in October 2015.

In addition to being a singer-songwriter, Sheik has also composed music for plays, musicals, and movie soundtracks.