Roland Orzabal was born 62 years ago as Roland Jaime Orzabal de la Quintana in Portsmouth, England, is married and has 2 sons. He is a singer/songwriter, musician, record producer and author, and is best known as one of the members of the new wave/synthpop/rock band Tears for Fears.
At just 7 years old, he started to write songs and in his teenage years met his fellow band member Curt Smith. Together they formed a group named ‘Graduate’ which disbanded shortly after the release of their first album. In the early 80s, they went on to join a band ‘Neon’ but left and founded ‘Tears for Fears’. Both of them sang and played the guitars, whilst Roland wrote the band’s tracks.
In 1983, their debut album was released, which peaked in the UK albums chart. A second album followed 2 years later, likewise reaching first place, this time on the US Billboard 200. This album featured 2 number one hits: ‘Shout’ and ‘Everybody wants to rule the World’. A third album was issued in 1989, which included the famous track ‘Sowing the seeds of Love’. Two years later, Roland and Curt went their own ways, however, Roland still released a couple of albums under the band’s name, one in 1993 and the other in 1995.
Orzabal recorded an album as a solo artist in 2001, and that same year wrote ‘Mad World’ which was used as a soundtrack for the movie ‘Donnie Darko’. Consequently, it was released as a single 2 years later and became a number one UK hit. He also collaborated with other singers in the production of their albums. ‘Tears for Fears’ released 2 more albums, in 2004 and 2022.
Roland also published a novel in 2014. During his career so far, he received 3 Ivor Novello Awards.
*Image: no infringement intended. Source: pinterest.co.uk