Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock is one of England's most enduring contemporary singer/songwriters and live performers. Despite having been persistently branded as eccentric or quirky for much of his career, Hitchcock has continued to develop his whimsical repertoire, deepen his surreal catalog, and expand his devoted audience beyond the boundaries of cult stature. He is among alternative rock's father figures and is the closest thing the genre has to a Bob Dylan (not coincidentally his biggest inspiration).

Starting his career as a folkie in Cambridge, Hitchcock has been compared to such British folk-rock figures as Roy Harper and the Incredible String Band, specifically because of his acoustic guitar and loopy vocal style, though his rock voice bears shades of John Lennon and Syd Barrett. Switching gears early to front the Soft Boys, a punk-era band specializing in melodic, chiming jangle pop and clever lyrics ("Underwater Moonlight" remains a classic of the genre), it wasn't long before he quit the band and made his solo debut.

His reputation as an oddball was confirmed thanks to his titles "Brenda's Iron Sledge" and "Acid Bird" among others, with other releases exploring blazing psychedelia, artful jangle pop, rock, alternative country and an all-acoustic return-to-form embracing his folk roots. He recorded the soundtrack to the Jonathan Demme-directed concert film, "Storefront Hitchcock" and even took a bit role in the film makers's 2004 remake of "The Manchurian Candidate."