Trent Reznor life and biography

Trent Reznor is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer. Leader of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails and currently a member of How to Destroy Angels, he was previously associated with bands Option 30, Exotic Birds, and Tapeworm, among others. Reznor left Interscope Records in 2007, and is now an independent musician.

Reznor, in collaboration with Atticus Ross, composed the score for The Social Network, a 2010 theatrical film about the founding of Facebook. The duo won the 2010 Golden Globe for Best Original Score and the Academy Award for Best Original Score for their collaboration. The soundtrack album was released by The Null Corporation, Reznor's own independent record label. Earlier this year, Reznor announced that the pair would once again be collaborating with David Fincher by composing the score to the US film adaptation of the novel The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, set for release in late 2011.

Trent Reznor - Life and career:

Michael Trent Reznor was born in Mercer, Pennsylvania, halfway between Pittsburgh and Erie, to Michael Joseph Reznor and Nancy Lou Clark. Reznor was called by his middle name to avoid confusion with his father. After his parents divorced, he lived with his grandparents, while his sister Tera lived with their mother. Reznor is a direct descendant of George Reznor, founder of the Reznor Company (founded 1888), a heating and air conditioning company. The family sold the business in the 1960s.

Reznor began playing the piano at the age of five and showed an early aptitude for music. In a 1995 interview, his grandfather, Bill Clark, remarked, 'Music was his life, from the time he was a wee boy. He was so gifted.' His former piano teacher Rita Beglin said 'Reznor always reminded me of Harry Connick, Jr.' when he played.

Reznor has acknowledged that his sheltered life in Pennsylvania left him feeling isolated from the outside world. In a 1994 interview with "Rolling Stone", he makes reference to his choices in the music industry.

However, Reznor later said, 'I don't want to give the impression it was a miserable childhood'.

At the Mercer Area Junior and Senior High Schools, Reznor learned to play the saxophone and tuba. He was a member of both the jazz and marching band. Former Mercer High School band director Dr. Hendley Hoge remembered Reznor as 'very upbeat and friendly'. Reznor also became involved in theater while in high school. He was voted 'Best in Drama' by classmates for his roles as Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar" and Professor Harold Hill in "The Music Man". Reznor graduated from this high school in 1983 and enrolled at Allegheny College, where he studied computer engineering.

Nine Inch Nails' debut album, "Pretty Hate Machine" was released in 1989. It was a moderate commercial success, and was certified Gold in 1992. Amid pressure from Reznor's record label to produce a follow-up to "Pretty Hate Machine", Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid record company interference, resulting in the "Broken" EP, released in 1992. In 1993 Nine Inch Nails won a Grammy for 'Best Metal Performance' for the song 'Wish' from "Broken", and the same year, the band was included in the Lollapalooza package tour.Nine Inch Nails' second full-length album, "The Downward Spiral", entered the Billboard 200 in 1994 at number two, and remains the highest-selling NIN release in the United States. To record the album, Reznor rented and moved into the 10050 Cielo Drive mansion, site of the 1969 Manson Family murders. Reznor built a studio space in the house, which he renamed Le Pig, after the message scrawled on the front door with Sharon Tate's blood by her murderers. Reznor told "Entertainment Weekly" that despite the notoriety attached to the house, he chose to record there because, 'I looked at a lot of places, and this just happened to be the one I liked most'.Nine Inch Nails toured extensively over the next few years, including a performance at Woodstock '94, where he admitted to the audience that he did not like to play large venues. Around this time, Reznor's studio perfectionism, struggles with addiction, and bouts of writer's block prolonged the production of a follow-up record.Five years elapsed before NIN's next major album, "The Fragile", a double CD that debuted in September 1999 at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 228,000 copies in its first week and receiving favorable reviews. Another six years elapsed before Nine Inch Nails' next full-length album, "With Teeth", which also debuted on the top of the Billboard 200. The album was written and recorded following Reznor's battle with, and recovery from, alcoholism and substance abuse.Nine Inch Nails's most recent major studio recording, "Year Zero", was released in 2007, alongside an accompanying alternate reality game. Unlike the introspective approach of Nine Inch Nails' previous releases, "Year Zero" was written from the perspective of multiple fictitious characters in a fictitious world set 15 years in the future.

In 2007, Trent Reznor announced that Nine Inch Nails split from its contractual obligations with Interscope Records, and will distribute its next major album independently. The last Interscope release from Nine Inch Nails will be a remix album based on material from "Year Zero".

During the five years between his albums "The Downward Spiral" (1994) and "The Fragile" (1999), Trent Reznor struggled with depression, social anxiety disorder, writer's block, and the death of his grandmother. It has also been revealed by Reznor that he had been suffering from alcohol and drug addiction during the "Fragile" era (circa 1999-2002). In a 2005 interview with "Kerrang!", Reznor makes a note of his self-destructive past: 'There was a persona that had run its course. I needed to get my priorities straight, my head screwed on. Instead of always working, I took a couple of years off, just to figure out who I was and working out if I wanted to keep doing this or not. I had become a terrible addict; I needed to get my shit together, figure out what had happened.' Since recovering from his addictions, Reznor admitted in a 2005 interview with "Revolver" that 'I'm pretty happy right now'.In the late 1990s Reznor was involved in a feud with Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, calling Durst a 'moron' and saying in a 1999 interview in "Rolling Stone", 'Fred Durst can surf a piece of plywood up my ass.' It is noted, however, that Reznor is credited as a writer of the song 'Hot Dog' on Limp Bizkit's album, "Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water", due to this song's use of lyrics from 'Closer,' in particular the phrase 'I want to fuck you like an animal.'Reznor is a fan of David Bowie, and has cited Bowie's 1977 album "Low" as one of his favorite albums. Reznor has stated that he played the album constantly during the recording of "The Downward Spiral" for inspiration.

Reznor was the credited producer for Marilyn Manson's albums "Portrait of an American Family" (1994), "Smells Like Children" (1995), and "Antichrist Superstar" (1996), as well as the soundtrack for the films "Natural Born Killers" and "Lost Highway". Reznor is credited for 'Driver Down' and 'Videodrones; Questions' on the soundtrack for "Lost Highway", while another track, 'The Perfect Drug,' is credited to Nine Inch Nails instead.The original music from id Software's video game "Quake" is credited to 'Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails'; Reznor helped record sound effects and ambient audio, and the NIN logo appears on ammunition boxes in the game.Reznor's association with id software began with Reznor being a fan of the original Doom. He reunited with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for "Doom 3", though due to 'time, money and bad management', he had to abandon the project, and his audio work did not make it into the game's final release.Under the band name Tapeworm, Reznor collaborated over the span of nearly 10 years with Danny Lohner, Maynard James Keenan, and Atticus Ross, but the project was eventually terminated before any official material was released. The only known released Tapeworm material was a reworked version of a track called 'Vacant,' retitled 'Passive,'on A Perfect Circle's 2004 album "eMOTIVe".

In 2006, Reznor played his first 'solo' show(s) at Neil Young's annual Bridge School Benefit. Backed by a four piece string section, he performed stripped-down versions of many Nine Inch Nails songs.Reznor co-produced Saul Williams' 2007 album "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!" after Williams toured with NIN in 2005 and 2006. Reznor convinced Williams to release the album as a free download, while giving fans the option of paying $5 for higher quality files, or purchasing the actual CD.

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