Įno was educated at St Joseph's College, Ipswich, which was founded by the De La Salle Brothers order of Catholic brothers (from whom he took part of his name when a student there), at Ipswich Art School in cybernetic theorist Roy Ascott's Groundcourse and the Winchester School of Art, graduating in 1969. Maria had already had a daughter (Brian's half-sister Rita), and together William and Maria would have two further children, Roger (b. The unusual surname Eno, long established in Suffolk, derives from the French Huguenot surname Hennot. He continues to release music, produce, and write, and maintains a regular column in Prospect Magazine.īrian Eno was born in 1948 at Phyllis Memorial Hospital, Woodbridge, Suffolk, the son of Catholic parents William Arnold Eno (1916–1988), who had followed his father and grandfather into the postal service, and Maria Alphonsine Eno ( née Buslot, 1922–2005), a woman originally from Belgium whom William had met during his service in World War II. Dating back to his time as a student, he has also pursued a variety of multimedia projects in parallel with his music career, including sound installations and his mid-70s co-development of Oblique Strategies, a deck of cards featuring cryptic aphorisms intended to spur creative thinking. In subsequent decades, Eno continued to record solo albums, collaborate, and produce for other artists, including U2, Coldplay, Laurie Anderson, James, Grace Jones, and Slowdive. During the 1970s, Eno would also begin a parallel career as a producer, which included work on albums by Talking Heads and Devo, the no wave compilation No New York (1978), and recordings by avant-garde artists such as John Cale, Jon Hassell, Laraaji, and Harold Budd, among others. He frequently collaborated with artists such as Robert Fripp, Harold Budd, Cluster, David Bowie on his "Berlin Trilogy", and David Byrne on 1981's My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. After recording two albums with the band he departed in 1973 to record a number of solo albums, contributing to and ultimately coining the concept of ambient music with works such as Another Green World (1975), Discreet Music (1975), and Music for Airports (1978). īorn in Suffolk, Eno studied painting and experimental music at art school in the late 1960s before joining glam rock group Roxy Music as synthesizer player in 1971. He has been described as one of popular music's most influential and innovative figures. A self-described "non-musician", Eno has helped to introduce a variety of unique conceptual approaches and recording techniques into contemporary music, advocating a methodology of "theory over practice" throughout his career. He is best known for his pioneering work in rock, ambient, pop, and electronic music. Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, RDI ( / ˈ iː n oʊ/ born and originally christened Brian Peter George Eno) is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer, writer, and visual artist.