Presenting Duncan Sheik...

Having recently dropped in a date at Leamington’s Assembly with Howard Jones, Duncan Sheik reveals how music and Buddhism have been his navigation through life.

To this date Duncan has composed music for many Broadway and West End shows, including Spring Awakening for which he won two Tony Awards. He wrote the original music for a New York Shakespeare Festival production of Twelfth Night. Some of his work has been used for the musical adaptation of American Psycho. Music is something Duncan found very early on in life, with the encouragement of one individual in particular.

Born in New Jersey and then quickly uprooted to his grandparents’ house in South Carolina when his parents separated, Duncan’s early musical inclination gained praise and approval from his doting grandmother, a graduate of Julliard.

"There was always a piano in the house" explains Duncan, "and my Grandma would play Rachmaninoff. She was really encouraging to me".

With his mum dating the odd musician from time to time, there always seemed to be appropriate guides around who would teach Duncan more about his gift, from all about "Gibson hollow body guitars" to "what a delay pedal does".

As he grew up, music became his catharsis and his safety line when facing the "emotional turmoil everyone goes through when growing up". Modestly put, but not every raging adolescent has the ability to formulate their anxiety into song form the way that Duncan has done.

Now closer to 40, the singer songwriter has a new reason to write music. "The most important thing is that music moves me, as the person who’s made it- and therefore you have the hope that it might also reach somebody else".

Yet since finding Buddhism, Duncan believes that there’s more to life than selfish motives- even in song writing. On Buddhism, he agrees that it’s "largely about overcoming obstacles and understanding that the reason why we are here is to create value for everyone".

"When you really do have compassion for other people, then it really does affect your work- therefore your work becomes something that other people can respond to".

Duncan is currently touring the UK with Howard Jones through to the beginning of October.