ARTIST

Warren Zevon

A fiercely intelligent Los Angeles-based songwriter, Warren Zevon (b. Jan. 24, 1947, Chicago) is renowned for his sardonic, often bitter lyrics, which provided a welcome contrast to the laid-back rock typically emerging from the west coast during the '70s. Like the best fiction writers, Zevon has a knack for personalizing absurd characters and situations that, in less skillful hands, would seem two-dimensional and transparent.

Still, though Zevon's fame as a songwriter may stem from the bizarre characters he has created--whether it be Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner or the Werewolves of London--his real artfulness is displayed in the emotional territories he has chosen to explore. While other writers such as Tom Waits or even Rickie Lee Jones have touched on the...
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