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Main article: Lists of atheists

This page contains musician who are/were atheists.

Music

Björk
Björk
Collins (copyright Greydon Square)
Collins (copyright Greydon Square)
Rimsky-Korsakov
Rimsky-Korsakov

Notes and references

  1. ^ "I was among friends and family who packed a chapel at Golders Green crematorium on Friday to hear more than two hours of tributes to Larry Adler. In accordance with Larry's wishes - he was an inveterate atheist who refused to recognise the supernatural in any shape or form - there were no religious observances. " Richard Ingrams, 'Larry Adler: brilliant musician, formidable campaigner', The Observer, 12 August 2001, Observer News Pages, Pg. 24.
  2. ^ "I think of myself as a militant atheist and I never knew quite where Tony [Benn] was coming from on the religion side. " The Writing on the Wall: An Interview with Roy Bailey (accessed 14 April 2008).
  3. ^ From the March 2001 issue of Kerrang magazine: ""Being an atheist means you have to realise that when you die, that really is it. You've got to make the most of what you've got here and spread as much influence as you can. I believe that you only live through the influence that you spread, whether that means having a kid or making music. "
  4. ^ "If I get into trouble, there's no God or Allah to sort me out. I have to do it myself. " [1]
  5. ^ " "I honestly believe that my initial questions haven't changed at all. There are far fewer of them these days, but they're really important. Questioning my spiritual life has always been germane to what I was writing. Always. It's because I'm not quite an atheist and it worries me. There's that little bit that holds on: Well, I'm almost an atheist. Give me a couple of months. " [Laughs]" David Bowie interviewed by Anthony Decurtis in June 2003, 'In Other Words: David Bowie', Rolling Stone.
  6. ^ When asked "Do you still consider yourself an atheist?" Brock replies "Pretty much, but there are things that make me think. . . I'm 100 percent on the whole Christianity thing being a crock of shit. . . " [2]
  7. ^ "Geoffrey Burgon [. . . ] has declined a generous Hollywood offer to write the music for award-winning John Carpenter's remake of The Thing, a 1950s horror film. An atheist with a remarkable feel for "church" music, Burgon tells me that time prevents his crossing the Atlantic; he is busy writing two operas [. . . ]" Peter Watson, 'The Times Diary', The Times, 12 January 1982; pg. 8; Issue 61129; col C.
  8. ^ "A religious and political freethinker, convinced of the truth of Darwinism and not inclined to conceal his beliefs, Burstow encountered some prejudice—indeed his views deterred some from contributing to the funds set up to relieve his poverty. However, he seems to have become something of a local celebrity: articles on Burstow appeared in newspapers and magazines, focusing on his singing, bell-ringing, prodigious memory, fascination with figures, and even his atheism. "
  9. ^ "Burstow was a fascinating man. A shoemaker by trade, he shared the radical and non-conformist attitudes of many who followed the gentle craft. His reading included Darwin and Lyle and he was a convinced atheist, this in spite of the fact that he was a well known church bell-ringer. " Vic Gammon, Chairman of the Oral History Society, 'The Grand Conversation: Napoleon and British Popular Balladry', 26 March 1999 (accessed 2 May 2008).
  10. ^ "Aside from his undisputed powers as composer, pianist and man of letters, Busoni was an enterprising (if sometimes erratic) conductor, a passionate bibliophile, a talented draughtsman and a bon vivant. Baptized into the Catholic church, he was at heart an atheist; a lucid commentator on world affairs, he remained politically uncommitted. " Beaumont, Anthony: 'Busoni, Ferruccio (Dante Michelangelo Benvenuto)', Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (accessed 28 April 2008), [3].
  11. ^ "Chesnutt's contrary nature was forged in isolation, in the backwoods of Pine County, Georgia. Though he loved the closeness of nature, and was loved by friends and parents, he found himself "at odds with the Protestant power structure". "I had a revelation that I was an atheist at a very early age," he remembers, "and I bumped up with these fuckers my whole time there. Sometimes it felt great to be at war with them. But I knew I needed to go somewhere else. " " Nick Hasted interviewing Chesnutt, 'The Dark side of the Tune', The Independent (London), 4 April 2003, Features, Pg. 21.
  12. ^ "I am the minority of the minority, an African-American atheist. . . " Official Greydon Square Website 11 June 2007 (Accessed 15 April 2008)
  13. ^ "Coyne is a comically rationalist atheist ("I wish I did believe in God. It would be a great relief to think, 'God'll take care of it. God'll put gas in the car tomorrow'") who makes music that, for all its quirkiness and frivolity, is in its essence spiritually transcendental. [. . . ] For an atheist, he has a touching faith in the power of song to ease our shared burden. "There's some comfort in saying, I'm joining this long line of humanity," he says. "We're all going to get in line and our parents will die and our friends will die but I'm in the line with you and you're in it with me and, for some reason, if we're in it together, it's better than doing it alone. That's why music is always going to save us. " Neil McCormick interviewing Wayne Coyne, Daily Telegraph, 23 March 2006, Features section: Music On Thursday, Pg. 23.
  14. ^ "Currie isn't praying for salvation, either. Echoing recent bestsellers by Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, he finds organized religion "fascinating, intellectually, but completely redundant. So I'm an extreme atheist who also believes in human rights. " " Justin Currie on a roll, The Examiner, 15 April 2008 (accessed 21 April 2008).
  15. ^ "In the Mass of Life (1904–05) Delius testified to his atheism. With Cassirer's assistance, he selected the words from Nietzsche's prose-poem Also sprach Zarathustra [. . . ] In music that touches extreme poles of physical energy and rapt contemplation, Delius celebrates the human 'Will' and the 'Individual', and the 'Eternal Recurrence of Nature'. " Diana McVeagh, 'Delius, Frederick Theodor Albert (1862–1934)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (accessed 2 May 2008).
  16. ^ "I have developed a spirituality which I suppose you could call metaphysics or science of mind - nothing to do with Scientology, I hasten to add. It's something that was developed by a guy called Ernest Holmes, and it's about the law of the universe, the law of attraction. It's all that stuff that's been popular on The Secret but there's far more to it than that. I'm an atheist but I've got a spirituality I can fall back on. I don't like religion because I see it as a bureaucracy of faith and I've never really been big on bureaucracy. " Ian Dickson interviewed by Bridget McManus, 'Back to where he once belonged', The Age (Australia), 2 August 2007 (accessed 22 May 2008).
  17. ^ "I'm an atheist, for Chrissake!" Question: Do DiFranco and Brown have all the answers?, 2000 interview with DiFranco by Jim Walsh, Pioneer Planet (Archived 25 August 2001)
  18. ^ " "Southern life really was God-fearing. Granny Ditto was a strict Pentecostal, with hair down to her knees. I said in an interview not long ago that I didn't believe in God, and people called my mother saying, 'How do you feel about Beth being an atheist?'" She realised she was gay when she was only five years old. "I loved the sound of women's voices, not those of guys. I would pray because I didn't want to go to hell. " She's not joking; her eyes fill with tears. "In my teens, my motor skills quit, I was shaking all the time. " Did her pubic hair really turn white? "Yes. In fact, it's still half white!" A revelation about her atheism, at 19, saved Ditto from her fate. "I realised that every 2,000 years, there's a religion that happens to rule, and Christianity is just today's religion," she says. " Jane Bussman interviewing Ditto, 'Queen Beth', The Sunday Times (London), 4 February 2007, Features; Style; Pg. 10.
  19. ^ "The ecumenical echoes are no accident. Eno describes himself as an "evangelical atheist, and has spoken of his intent to create a space in which one could have "secular spiritual experiences". " James Flint, 'This 'art for airports' is merely screen deep', Daily Telegraph, 2 February 2007, Features: Film on Friday, Pg. 32.
  20. ^ "For meg har aldri opprøret vært greia. Det har heller handlet om en slags ateistisk vind-i-håret-frihet og kritikk av organisert religion. "[4] retrieved January 15, 2008
  21. ^ Atheist Musicians F to M
  22. ^ The hard-living Oasis star Noel Gallagher has revealed to the New Musical Express that he has read Richard Dawkins’ book The God Delusion and loved it "Anything that disproves God, bring it on". [5]
  23. ^ "Mr Geldof said that as an atheist he was not going along with this "if you like fundamental Christian agenda". " [6]
  24. ^ From Newsday, published March 30, 2006: "I'm an atheist, and I don't have any belief in an afterlife. . . "
  25. ^ "The theme of the new album - those Pink Floyd habits die hard - is mortality. One song, 'This Heaven', reflects Gilmour's atheism. 'There is an element of contended resignation in that song. It extols the virtues of living in the moment and accepting your mortality. Perhaps the closest I will get to immortality will be through Dark Side of the Moon. I think that record will go on being played for a while yet. ' " Nigel Farndale interviewing Gilmour, 'Still on the dark side', The Sunday Telegraph (London), 28 May 2006, Section Seven, Pg. 8.
  26. ^ "There was more to Godin than a love of music, however. A militant atheist, a conscientious objector who argued his way out of national service, a vegetarian from the age of 14, a campaigner against cruelty to animals and cinema censorship, he abhorred violence and believed in fairness in all areas of human conduct. " Richard Williams, 'Obituary: Dave Godin', The Guardian, 20 October 2004, Pg. 27.
  27. ^ 'Graffin is a smart, proud atheist. . . '—Kinsella, Warren (January 2007), The punk and the professor and what they say about God, Anglican Journal. Retrieved August 9, 2007.
  28. ^ '[Graffin] describes himself as a naturalist, which to him means someone who holds that the natural world is all there is. "If you can believe in God, then you can believe in anything," he says. "It's a gang mentality. "'—Olson, Steve (November 2006), Faces of the New Atheism: The Punk Rocker, Wired News, Condé Nast Publishing. Wired News is an online technology news Website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the Condé Nast Publications Inc is a worldwide Magazine Publishing company Retrieved November 15, 2007.
  29. ^ "I don't believe in God, but I believe God invented four-tracks". Kathleen Hanna, interviewed at SFBG Arts and Entertainment: September 9, 1998: Woman vs. rock
  30. ^ "Standouts in the first half included "Frozen Moment" and a recent, vehemently anti-war and anti-religion, epic, "The Death of God". This he prefaced with an atheist polemic that drew cheers from some but resolute silence from others. He also did the notorious ditty "Watford Gap", a much more focused attack, this time on 1970s motorway food. " Simon Hardeman reviewing a Harper preformance at London's 100 Club, The Independent (London), 24 January 2006, Features, Pg. 43.
  31. ^ "Paul Heaton, frontman of the hugely successful Beautiful South and founder member of the iconic 80s band the Housemartins, discusses the inspiration behind his lyrics, speaks candidly about his atheist views and reviews a TV exclusive demo from his first ever band Tools Down. " TRILT: 'Faith and Music, ITV1 (various regions), Monday 30 Oct 06, 00:15 (50 mins)' (accessed 22 May 2008).
  32. ^ "People are amazed that a German Jewish atheist would be supposedly the world's expert on gospel music. " Anthony Heilbut interviewed by Barney Hoskyns, 'The gospel according to Anthony', The Independent (London), 24 June 1996, Arts; Pg. 26.
  33. ^ "In recognition of his achievements he was invited by George Grove to join the staff of the newly founded Royal College of Music as a professor of violin in 1883. However, within a few years of his appointment at the college, Grove became uncomfortably aware of his 'radical unbelieving views' and of his inclination to lecture his students on atheism and socialism. " Jeremy Dibble, 'Holmes, Henry (1839–1905)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (accessed 2 May 2008).
  34. ^ Reviewing a recording of the Glagolitic Mass, John Allison wrote: "Sacred music may have lost some of its importance over the last century or so, but more cynical times have not discouraged composers completely. Even atheist composers, among whom Janácek is a good example, have taken to the genre, though his celebrated Glagolitic Mass is more of a national than religious statement. " Sunday Telegraph, 2 April 2006, Section 7, Classical, Pg. 29.
  35. ^ Jenkins has expressed that he does not believe in God and that he thinks "religion is a bunch of hooey. " December 16, 2000 AP report on the 'Jingle Ball' at New York City's Madison Square Garden by Jennifer Vineyard, as cited by celebatheists.com. Events 755 - An Lushan revolts against Chancellor Yang Guozhong at Fanyang, initiating the An Shi Rebellion 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar.
  36. ^ "'Atheist or believer?' 'Atheist. '" [7], The Mind's Construction Quarterly, (accessed 4 May 2008)
  37. ^ "as an atheist, 'I [Johnson] couldn't reconcile myself to the idea that Haile Selassie was God. '" 'I did my own thing', Guardian Books, 8 March 2008 (accessed 31 March 2008)
  38. ^ "I'm an atheist and an anarchist"—Eddy, Chuck (1997). Damage Case: Lemmy and Motörhead. Motörhead Forever.
  39. ^ Stated that he is an Atheist. [8]
  40. ^ "The closest word I’ve found to describe [my] belief system is Pantheism, but I could also call myself an agnostic (because I don’t claim to know if my own conception of divinity is ultimately true) or an atheist (because I believe that religions based around personified deities are definitely not true). "—The Universe According to Lynx (June 30, 2007), Soundtrack for Insurrection, circlealpha. com. Retrieved October 21, 2007.
  41. ^ Interviewing Maxwell Davies, Ivan Hewett wrote: "An avant-gardist who uses ancient Christian chants, an atheist who's written pieces entitled Antichrist and Revelation and Fall - clearly there are tensions beneath that carefully controlled surface. " 'A Life on the Edge', Daily Telegraph, 7 April 2005, Features Pg. 015.
  42. ^ Interviewed by Nigel Farndale, Melly said: "I don't understand people panicking about death. It's inevitable. I'm an atheist; you'd think it would make it worse, but it doesn't. I've done quite a lot in the world, not necessarily of great significance, but I have done it. " Daily Telegraph, 24 October 2005, Features section, Pg. 023.
  43. ^ Mark "Barney" Greenway writes regarding the album Smear Campaign: "People are also very supportive about the new album theme of atheism/free thought in a world being driven by aggressive religious mythology. Mark "Barney" Greenway (born July 13, 1969 in Kettering) is a British Grindcore Vocalist, who has been a Smear Campaign is the twelfth album by the band Napalm Death released in 2006 " [9] [10]
  44. ^ "Bob was arguing the point but Dick was having none of it. 'Look, I'm telling you. There'll be no fucking religion - not Christian, not Jewish, not Muslim. Nothing. For God's sake, man - you were born Jewish, which makes your religion money, doesn't it? So stick with it, for Christ's sake. I'm giving you 20 million bucks - it's like baptising you, like sending you to heaven. So what are you fucking moaning about? You want 20 million bucks from us? Well, you gotta do what we tell you. And what we're telling you is. . . No Torah! No Bible! No Koran! No Jesus! No God! No Allah! No fucking religion. It's going in the contract. ' As a devout atheist, I could hardly object, though it seemed tough that a contract should include such specific restrictions. " Simon Napier-Bell, 'The life and crimes of the music biz', The Observer (England), 20 January 2008, Observer Music Magazine, Pg. 41.
  45. ^ "Personally, I don't believe in God at all…" Sonic Boom Magazine
  46. ^ "Singer and atheist Alice Nutter, a Jewish student and an Anglican businessman each join a Muslim family in Bradford to experience Ramadan first hand, and through some hard conversations get a unique view of what it's like to be a Muslim in contemporary Britain. " TRILT: 'Fast Friends, BBC1, Sunday 14 Nov 04, 23:45 (35 mins)' (accessed 22 May 2008).
  47. ^ ". . . I don't believe in God. . . " From the essay The Ballad of the Pumpkinheads: A Stratosphearic History of the Dukes of Swindon, by Riccardo Bertonce, as reported at celebatheists.com. (Accessed 26 August 2007)
  48. ^ "Basically I don't believe in God. " From an interview with Partridge in The Limelight Annual, 1987, as reported at celebatheists.com. (Accessed 26 August 2007)
  49. ^ "The Bible made me an atheist. " Marc Riley in response to the question "A book that changed me. . . ", 'My Secret Life', The Independent (London), 22 May 2004, Features, Pg. 7.
  50. ^ The Guardian describes as "a devout atheist - Stravinsky later described him rather disapprovingly as having a mind 'closed to any religious or metaphysical idea'" [11]
  51. ^ Rodgers' biographer William G Hyland states: "That Richard Rodgers would recall, at the very beginning of his memoirs, his great-grandmother's death and its religious significance for his family suggests his need to justify his own religious alienation. The Guardian (until 1959 The Manchester Guardian) is a British Newspaper owned by the Guardian Media Group. Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский) ( &ndash 6 April 1971 was a Russian born Composer, considered by many to Richard became an atheist, and as a parent he resisted religious instruction for his children. According to his wife, Dorothy, he felt that religion was based on "fear" and contributed to "feelings of guilt. " " Richard Rodgers, Yale University Press 1998, ISBN 0300071159. Chapter 1 at New York Times Books (accessed 30 April 2008).
  52. ^ quoted as saying "I'm an atheist" in interview for American Music Box[12]
  53. ^ "To these he brought the disciplines that had stood him in such good stead in music, most particularly the rejection of traditional beliefs unsupported by hard evidence. This also lay behind his own atheism. " Andrew Lamb, 'Sams, Eric Sydney Charles (1926–2004)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, Oxford University Press, January 2008 (accessed 6 May 2008).
  54. ^ quoted saying that he is an atheist in an interview with concertlivewire. com[13]
  55. ^ "Both composers celebrate the potential of music to contain the irrational in human experience, although in stance they are antithetical. Strauss, the atheist, examines the vagaries of desire and the human psyche. Mahler, the visionary, goes on a solitary quest to find his God. " Tim Ashley, Review: Classical: LPO/Elder: Royal Festival Hall, London 5/5', The Guardian, 6 December 2002, Pg. 22.
  56. ^ "I've always been an atheist. We grew up in a village and I was like 'I'm not joining the Christian Youth Club'. Believing something that's unprovable is not how my mind works. " Tracey Thorn, 'G2: Pieces of me: Tracey Thorn, Singer', The Guardian, 23 July 2007, Features pages, Pg. 14.
  57. ^ "He then went as a boarder to Stamford grammar school, Lincolnshire, where he was much happier, though still a notorious character largely on account of his now fully developed atheism. [. . . ] He was cremated on 15 January at Hanworth crematorium, at an explicitly non-religious service. " Geraint Lewis, 'Tippett, Sir Michael Kemp (1905–1998)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 (accessed 6 May 2008).
  58. ^ "Please, God - I'm an atheist so maybe I shouldn't be asking God - but let Barack Obama finally win the Democratic nomination and elect a person who seems to be not just enormously intelligent but also deeply humane and seems to have an imagination. " Roger Waters interviewed by Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain Music, 25 April 2008 (accessed 10 June 2008).
  59. ^ "The music business held a curious appeal to a man who had hitherto dreamed only of becoming the Jewish John O'Hara - and whose fiction had been published in Story magazine. It was dominated by Jews, and therefore exluded from Wasp high culture. "I was determined to use all my wit and courage to confound the Christian tormenters," Wexler says, referring to the "immanent anti-Semitism that existed then and exists now. It's like Dr John says, 'I don't want no one hangin' no jacket on me'. " He is, in fact, a confirmed atheist of many years' standing. " Barney Hoskyns interviewing Wexler, 'Crossing the divide', The Independent (London), 30 May 1993, Sunday Review Pages, Pg. 10.
  60. ^ "He is against pianists who express concentration by leaning their heads back with their eyes closed: "When you give a recital, God doesn't help you. " (Wild claims to be an atheist largely for musical reasons, having at age ten asked his mother how there could be a God when the organist at their local church in Pittsburgh was so lousy. )" Leo Carey interviewing Wild, 'Wilding', The New Yorker, 11 August 2003 (accessed 10 June 2008).
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