Orville Peck
Orville Peck is a South African country musician based in Canada. He wears a fringed mask and has never shown his face publicly. He released his debut album "Pony" in 2019, followed by the EP "Show Pony" the next year. His second studio album "Bronco" was released on April 8, 2022. Early life. Peck was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and lived there until he was 15. As a child, Peck did not receive any formal music training, he taught himself music by playing on an acoustic guitar and an old Casio keyboard. He is the son of  a sound engineer, and he did voice-over work for cartoons and other media as a child. Growing up, he trained in ballet for 12 years, and performed in musical theatre. By the time he was in his early 20s, Peck had been on national tours of musicals. In his mid-20s, he moved to London to study acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, and later starred in a play on the West End. Career. "Orville Peck" is a pseudonym; he has been described as "presumably older than 20 and younger than 40". Peck self-produced his  debut album, "Pony", and released it in 2019 through a collaboration with Sub Pop. He has noted that he "wrote, produced and played every instrument he could" on the album while working in a coffee shop and living with his parents. In June of that year, he performed his songs "Dead of Night" and "Take You Back" live on CBC Radio One's "Q". "Pony" was named to the initial longlist for the 2019 Polaris Music Prize in June 2019. The album also received a Juno Award nomination for Alternative Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2020 . Peck performed "Dead of Night" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" on January 29, 2020. He also announced a tour of selected cities in the United States, including performances at the Coachella and Stagecoach festivals. In May 2020, Peck announced the follow-up to his debut album, an EP titled "Show Pony", with a release date of June 12, 2020. In July, 2020, Peck announced the delayed release of "Show Pony" until August 14, 2020, in recognition of the Black Lives Matter movement and the ongoing protests against police brutality in the United States. Peck recorded a cover of "Smalltown Boy" for  the 2020 Pride edition of the Spotify Singles series. The song was released exclusively on Spotify on June 29, 2020, and everywhere else on July 31, 2020. In April 2021, Peck was featured on American drag queen and singer Trixie Mattel's EP, "Full Coverage, Vol. 1". He appeared on the song "Jackson", a duet cover of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash's "Jackson." In June, he was revealed to be the sixth artist on Lady Gaga's upcoming album "Born This Way The Tenth Anniversary", with Peck reimagining the song "Born This Way" in a country style. Identity  speculations. Sources have speculated that Peck is a persona of Daniel Pitout, drummer of the Canadian punk band Nü Sensae, based on the similarity of Peck's tattoos, as well as Peck mentioning that he was in a punk band. Pitout was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, as was Peck. Pitout also starred as a replacement in "Peter Pan Goes Wrong" in the West End in 2016, which lines up with Peck mentioning he was in a West End play while he lived in London. Peck has not confirmed his identity on the record. Pitout is listed by ASCAP as  the songwriter for Peck's song "Old River" and other songs that match the titles of the songs released by Peck, such as "Roses Are Falling". Personal life. Peck is gay. Regarding his reasons for wearing a mask to perform, Peck has stated that "the only reason I don't talk about it in depth is not because I want to dodge any questions, but because I want people to have their own take on it. I don't want to lay it out and pin it down. I just don't think that's important." Regarding his nationality, he  stated in 2022 that "[e]veryone thinks I'm Canadian because I lived in Canada for a long time, but I'm not. I was born in South Africa—I grew up in Johannesburg until I was 15. I never talked about where I was from only because I wanted to wait—obviously, I'm a man of mystery and I like to not give everyone everything all at once... I'm so proud to be South African. I go back there all the time."