Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello is an English singer-songwriter and producer whose five-decade music career has produced multiple defining late-1970s and 1980s English new-wave-and-rock music — particularly his 1977 first commercial album My Aim Is True. He was born Declan Patrick MacManus on August 25, 1954, in Paddington, London, England, into a working-class English Catholic family. His father Ross MacManus was an English big-band trumpet-player-and-singer-bandleader for the Joe Loss Orchestra, and his mother Lilian "Lily" Ablett was a record-shop manager.

His teenage and early-adulthood career across 1969–1976 — across multiple London-area folk-club engagements (particularly his 1973 work as a London-area Elizabeth Arden makeup-store data-entry operator while performing folk music in the evenings) — preceded his 1976 audition for the indie record label Stiff Records.

His 1977 first commercial single "Less Than Zero" — released March 1977 by Stiff Records, under the new stage name Elvis Costello — launched his late-1970s English new-wave-and-rock-music public profile. The July 1977 first commercial album My Aim Is True — released by Stiff Records — produced his English new-wave-and-rock-music public profile.

His late-1970s and early-1980s commercial career produced multiple English new-wave-and-rock albums — particularly his 1978 second commercial album This Year's Model (his first commercial album with his backing band the Attractions), his 1979 third commercial album Armed Forces, and his 1980 fourth commercial album Get Happy!!. The 1979 third commercial album produced his single "Oliver's Army" (which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart).

His subsequent commercial career has produced multiple commercial albums across the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020s — particularly his 1986 ninth commercial album King of America and his 1989 eleventh commercial album Spike (which produced his duet "Veronica" with Paul McCartney). His 2003 collaboration with American jazz pianist Diana Krall (whom he subsequently married in 2003) produced their 2003 commercial album North. He has continued to perform across multiple international concert tours into the 2020s. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

His name Elvis derives from the Welsh-Cornish form of the Old Norse name Alvis ("all wise") — popularized by 20th-century American rock-and-roll musician Elvis Presley. Elvis has been continuously among the most-popular American boys' names since 1955.