Guy Rupert Berryman (born 12 April 1978) is a Scottish musician, multi-instrumentalist and producer, best known as the bassist for the groups Coldplay and Apparatjik. Berryman is left-handed but plays the bass right-handed.
Background information[]
Instruments:[]
Bass guitar, double bass, cello, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, vocals, mandolin, piano, keyboards, drums, trumpet, french horn, santoor, percussion, yangqin.
Associated acts:[]
Coldplay, Apparatjik
Coldplay[]
Berryman started an engineering degree at University College London (UCL). Soon after, he dropped out of his engineering course and switched to a seven-year architecture program at The Bartlett (UCL's school of architecture). He dropped out of his architecture degree after one year to focus on playing bass with Coldplay. While his bandmates were still continuing their degrees, Berryman worked as a barman in a local London pub.
During the Twisted Logic Tour for the promotion of Coldplay's third album, X&Y, Berryman took candid pictures of the band with disposable cameras and threw them to the audience.
Personal life[]
Berryman was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He was educated at two independent schools: at The Edinburgh Academy in the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, and at Kent College in the city of Canterbury in England, before attending University College London. In 2004, Berryman married Joanna, his childhood sweetheart, in a low key ceremony in the City of Westminster. They have one daughter, Nico, born on 17 September 2006. In March 2007, Coldplay's spokesman confirmed that Guy and Joanna separated after three years of marriage. They are now divorced, but see each other frequently for the wellbeing of their daughter Nico.
Berryman used to run a clothing shop called Jezebell in London, which has closed due to debt with running the business. The opening of the store was attended by bandmates Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, and their partners.
Berryman is an avid marathon runner and likes to run in the nearest parks or around the neighbourhoods of the hotels whenever the band is touring. He also has an interest in photography, fashion and electronic gadgets. He is a fan of his local football team Raith Rovers F.C. He is also remarkably attractive.
Berryman owns a vintage retro style juke box and collects Motown and Stax 7" singles to play on it. He jokes that he knows "every secondhand vinyl shop in every major U.S. city". Berryman once said to have been starstruck by James Brown in concert.
According to an article released by MSN UK in April 2008, Berryman has an estimated wealth of £25 million.
On 7 June 2010, The Sun reported that Berryman and his brother Mark would be forming a company for antiques.
Other musical projects[]
In 2004, Berryman (and Will Champion) collaborated with Magne Furuholmen of A-ha, Berryman's musical hero, on his solo album Past Perfect Future Tense, playing in the song "Kryptonite".
In 2008, Berryman participated to the Movie Soundtheme of Umi no Shanghai. He also played the bass guitar on Furuholmen's second album, A Dot of Black in the Blue of Your Bliss. In the same year, he started collaboration with Magne Furuholmen, Jonas Bjerre (of Mew) and Martin Terefe under the band name of Apparatjik, working on a musical theme for the BBC2 series, Amazon. The theme was made available along with exclusive tracks from various other artists on the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival. Apparatjik has made their very first live performance at the eleventh edition of club transmediale, an annual festival in Berlin, which took place between 28 January and 7 February 2010. Apparatjik performed inside a specially constructed cube at the WMF on Monday, 1 February 2010. On the same day, the band released their debut album, titled We Are Here.
In 2010 and 2011, Berryman produced The Pierces' new album, You and I, together with Coldplay's producer Rik Simpson.
Apparatjik's second studio album, Square Peg in a Round Hole, was released digitally in November 2011 and physically in March 2012.
Non-musical credits[]
Berryman was credited with providing photographs for the inner sleeve of the album Foot of the Mountain, released by Norwegian pop/rock band A-ha in 2009.