Biography
Bartees Strange (born Bartees Leon Cox Jr.) is an American singer, songwriter and producer who spent his early childhood in the United Kingdom before his father's military work brought the family to Oklahoma.[1]
He grew up in Mustang, Oklahoma, raised on opera and gospel from his mother alongside the region's country music, and came up through hardcore and emo before turning to British post-punk and newer alternative and R&B.[1]
He released a folk-leaning album in 2017 and the 2020 EP Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy, which reimagined songs by The National. His debut album Live Forever followed in October 2020 on Memory Music, and he is associated with the Washington, D.C. music scene and Brooklyn.[2]
References
- 'I don't feel like I'm breaking anything': Bartees Strange on the personal history behind Live Forever (The Current) — Interview on upbringing, genre, and the album's themes
- Live Forever review (Paste) — Critical reading of the song and Strange's earlier work