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George Ezra
English singer-songwriter (born 1993)
George Ezra Barnett is an English singer-songwriter. After releasing two EPs, Did You Hear the Rain? (2013) and Cassy O' (2014), Ezra rose to prominence with the release of his hit single "Budapest", which reached number one in several countries.
His debut studio album, Wanted on Voyage, was released in June 2014, reaching number one in the UK and the top ten in seven other countries. It was also the third-best-selling album of 2014 in the UK.
George Ezra Barnett was born on 7 June 1993 in Hertford, Hertfordshire. His parents were teachers, with his father, Paul, teaching at Barnwell School in Stevenage. Barnett attended Bengeo Primary School and then Simon Balle Secondary School. He studied at Hertford Regional College. He moved to Bristol in 2011 to study songwriting at the British and Irish Modern Music Institute. Ezra has an elder sister named Jessica who accompanies him on tour, and a younger brother named Ethan who is also a singer-songwriter, under the stage name Ten Tonnes.
Ezra cites Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie as his main musical influences. The Financial Times described it as music that "approximates rock… but without any hint of danger, or unpredictability". When the Gramophone Rings described him as having "a voice beyond his years", with "a soulful tone that somehow would feel more at home coming from an Alabama bartender than a 21-year-old Bristolian". Zane Lowe, a former BBC Radio 1 DJ, called him "one of the most compelling and powerful new vocalists around".
George Ezra Barnett, (born 7 June 1993) is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist.
George cites Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie as his musical influences. His bass-baritone range has been described as bluesy, with 'a voice beyond his years.'
Brother to .
Also known as: Ezra, George Ezra Barnett
From Discogs (free to use). Their entry
Liner notes
George Ezra, the records, oldest first
Did You Hear the Rain?
2013 ep
Cassy O'
2014 ep
Wanted on Voyage
2014 album
wanted
Staying at Tamara’s
2018 album
wanted
Staying at Tamara's (acoustic tracks and demo versions)
2018 ep
wanted
Christmas Collection
2020 ep
Gold Rush Kid
2022 album
Records from MusicBrainz; covers from the Cover Art Archive.
"Budapest" is a song by English singer-songwriter George Ezra, from his debut studio album, Wanted on Voyage (2014). It was released as the album's second single on 13 December 2013 in Italy, and on 13 June 2014 in the United Kingdom.
The song was co-written by Ezra with Joel Pott and produced by Cam Blackwood.
Background
Ezra told The Daily Telegraph that "Budapest" was "[his] first attempt to write a love song, and it uses the first three guitar chords [he] ever learned. There's a lot to be said for that simplicity." Ezra has also insisted that, despite its title, the lyrics of "Budapest" do not have anything to do with the Hungarian capital and that he had never even been there before. He said, "I was in Malmö in Sweden and the Eurovision Song Contest was being held in Malmö on that night, and I didn't have a clue about it but everyone there seemed to be really excited about it and having parties. But I didn't know you couldn't buy alcohol after 10 o'clock at night. So I ended up buying a bottle of like, rum, or something like that from a guy in a park...
Critical reception
Chris Willman of Billboard called it an "acoustically inclined, eminently hummable single".
Music video
An official music video for "Budapest" was first released onto YouTube on 21 April 2014. It consists of a large crowd of people all with different styles and accessories all standing motionless together in a tight-knit crowd, occasionally being inter-cut with footage of one of them doing something minor like shifting slightly where they stand, one of them sneezing gaining the attention of everyone around and George playing his guitar and singing to the camera with a smile. As the video goes on, the people start to move and interact by passing their accessories around, a group of three young men having one of them bite into a very spicy chili pepper, a party attendee in a sash and tiara talking on the phone to someone, the crowd looking up...
"Shotgun" is a song by British singer-songwriter George Ezra. The song was written by Ezra, Fred Gibson and Joel Pott and produced by Cam Blackwood.
It was released as a digital download on 18 May 2018, as the third single from Ezra's second studio album, Staying at Tamara's. The song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Ezra's first number-one song in the United Kingdom and was certified septuple platinum there.
Composition
"Shotgun" is originally in the key of F major, with a tempo of 116 beats per minute and a chord progression of F–B♭–Dm–C.
Critical reception
In a review for NME, Rhian Daly described the song as "anthemic" with a "balmy sound". Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger named it "a song about summer travel which sounds, like all [of Ezra's] songs, exactly like it was first written on a borrowed acoustic in a rented villa on the Adriatic. You play the role of a fellow guest trying to sleep."
Music video
A lyric video, which has Ezra performing the song in multiple locations, was first released on YouTube on 18 May 2018 and has over 300 million views as of March 2022. The official music video was also released on YouTube on 14 June 2018 and has over 70 million views as of March 2022.
