Ezra Michael Koenig is an American musician, singer, songwriter, radio host, and screenwriter, well known as the co-founder, vocalist, guitarist, and pianist of the American rock band Vampire Weekend.
He started composing music around the age of 10. Together with his friend Wes Miles, with whom he created the experimental group "The Sophisticuffs". It was from that moment that he began working on several musical projects. In his early musical endeavors, he also saw him form the rap group "L'Homme Run" with Andrew Kalaijian and Chris Thomson. He has worked with American indie rock bands Dirty Projectors and The Walkmen.
His real breakthrough came after the formation of "Vampire Weekend" with Rostam Batmangliy, Chris Thomson and Chris Baio. Koenig is the creator and host of Apple Music's two-week radio show Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig. He is also the creator of the US-Japanese animated television series Neo Yokio.
Childhood and youth Ezra Koenig
Ezra Michael Koenig was born on April 8, 1984 in New York, USA, to a Jewish family of Robin Koenig and Bobby Bass. His father is a costume designer for films and television programs, and his mother is a psychotherapist. His family migrated to the US from Europe.
He grew up in upstate New Jersey and attended Glen Ridge High School. He has a younger sister named Emma, who is the author of the book: Heck! I'm over twenty", and also wrote the ABC-TV comedy Manhattan Love Story.
Koenig began composing music when he was about ten years old; "Bad Birthday Party" was his first song. He majored in English Literature at Columbia University.
During his high school and college years, he joined childhood friend Wes Miles (currently the frontman of the American indie rock band Ra Ra Riot) and worked on several musical projects. The two also formed an experimental group, the Sophisticuffs.
After graduating from university, Koenig began teaching English at High School No. 258 in Brooklyn, New York through the nonprofit Teach For America (TFA). As his students recall, Koenig would bring his guitar to class, even though he didn't divulge anything about his musical career.
He interacted well with students, but was considered a somewhat "laid-back" teacher. His teaching career ended later in autumn 2007 when he signed a deal with British independent label XL Recordings.
Ezra Koenig's personal life
Koenig is single, but has been romantically involved with American actress, director and producer Rashida Jones for several years now. The actress is best known for starring as Ann Perkins on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation.
The couple has been in a relationship since 2017. Koenig and Jones welcomed their first child, son Isaiah Jones Coing on August 22, 2018. As of now, the couple is living a happy life with their child. Although they are already like a real family, neither Koenig nor Rashida mentioned plans for marriage.
Career: Formation of the group "Vampire Weekend"
In 2004, Koenig, along with Chris Thomson and Andrew Kalaijian, performed with the rap group L'Homme Run, which spawned the famous comedy track "Pizza Party", as well as "Bitches", "Giving Up Da Gun" and "Interracial". Koenig also played saxophone and guitar, and provided background vocals for the American indie rock band 'Dirty Projectors' from 2004 to 2005, and again in 2016. He also remained a trainee in the American indie rock band The Walkmen.
His big break came when he formed the rock band Vampire Weekend in 2006 with Rostam Batmangliy, Chris Thomson and Chris Baio. The band's name was chosen from the title of a short film project that Koenig worked on with his friends during their college summer break.
Vampire Weekend began airing shows at Columbia University. Their first show was at the "Group battle" event held at Lerner Hall, Columbia University's student center in 2006. The band began to garner rave reviews from sites such as Pitchfork and Stereogum after their demos surfaced online. The band soon sold out the show and featured on the cover of the American music magazine Spin.
Ezra Koenig's first album: XL Recordings
On January 29, 2008, Vampire Weekend released their self-titled debut album through XL Recordings. The chart break peaked at #17 on the US Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum by the United Kingdom (BPI) and Gold by the US (RIAA), Canada (Music Canada) and Australia (ARIA).
Time magazine ranked it as the 5th best album of 2008. Rolling Stone also ranked the album #24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time.
The critically and commercially successful album not only supported Koenig's musical career, but brought him considerable international recognition and exposure.
Koenig gained a lot of fame with Vampire Weekend, which ended up with two more hits with XL Recordings. The first, "Contra", debuted at the top of the US Billboard 200 and peaked at number 1 on multiple charts.
The second, "Modern Vampires of the City", released on May 14, 2013, became the band's second Numero-Uno album in the US to debut at number one on the US Billboard 200. It won a Grammy for "Best Alternative Music Album" in 2014 year.
Looking to the success of Vampire Weekend, Koenig is currently working with the band members on their fourth studio album, slated for a 2018 release.
In the meantime, he created a two-week radio show, Time Crisis with Ezra Koenig, which he hosts regularly. The show began airing on July 12, 2015 on Apple Music's 1/80 music radio station "Beats 2018" and has already aired over XNUMX episodes as of November XNUMX, and is currently in its fourth season.
He often hosts this show along with Jake Longstreth. Over the years, several guest hosts such as Jonah Hill, Jamie Foxx and Rashida Jones have also appeared on the show. Various topics such as 1970s rock music, corporate catering politics and history are covered in the show.
Koenig also created, wrote and executive produced the US-Japanese co-animated series Neo Yokio. The series, produced by Japanese anime studios Deen and Production IG, premiered on Netflix on September 22, 2017. Japanese anime series style, Koenig calls it "anime inspired" rather than traditional anime.
The show received mixed reviews. On October 9, 2018, it was announced that a Christmas special titled "Neo Yokio Pink Christmas" would be released on December 7, 2018.
He has also collaborated with several artists over the years. These efforts include vocals for the song "Carby" from Discovery's debut album, "LP", in 2009; providing vocals in the music video for "Barbra Streisand" and featured on Major Laser's song "Jessica" in 2013.
He also voiced the character "Ryland" in the American adult animated series Major Lazer and starred in the American HBO television series Girls. And participated as one of the writers and producers of the song "Hold Up" by Beyoncé, which received a Grammy nomination in the category "Best Pop Solo Performance" in 2017.
In early 2016, Batmangliy announced that he had left Vampire Weekend but would continue to play with them in the future. That same year, the band began work on their fourth album with collaborators such as Rechtshaid, Justin Meldal-Jonsen, Daniel Chaim and Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors.
In early 2019, Vampire Weekend released a couple of songs, including February's "Hall of Harmony" and "2021", ahead of the release of Father of the bride, a double album released in May via Columbia Records' Spring snow.
