12
CHAPTER TWO:
BACKGROUND AND INFLUENCES
In interviews, Eno has discussed his musical influences and ideas on a sizeable array of intel-
lectual topics repeatedly and in considerable detail, while he has been guarded, if not posi-
tively secretive, about his personal life relationships, day-to-day movements, personal hab-
its. In the published forms of interviews, the journalists do not even ask personal questions, so
it is likely that among Eno's ground rules for interviews is a prohibition on delving into purely
biographical matters. While such guardedness is certainly refreshing enough when seen
against the backdrop of scandal and confessional that typifies the press's treatment of popular
musicians, it leaves us at a bit of a loss in terms of portraying Eno as a human being.
Nevertheless, the basic outlines of Eno's life, or at least of his public life, are well known.
Born on May 15, 1948, at Woodbridge in Suffolk, he was christened Brian Peter George St.
John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno. His early education (1953-64) was under the nuns and broth-
ers of the de la Salle order, Ipswich. Although brought up Catholic, he does not practice the
religion, and in fact his main references to this aspect of his background have to do with the
guilt feelings the church succeeded in instilling in him at a young age feelings that even as
an adult he has not fully exorcised. From 1964 to 1966 he pursued foundation studies at Ips-
wich Art School, and in 1969 received his Diploma in Fine Art from Winchester Art School.
That is the extent of his formal education, we shall return to his art school experiences below,
as they decisively shaped his musical outlook. Throughout most of the early and middle
1970s, Eno lived in London, working in recording studios, though he travelled and was on
tour frequently. In 1978 he moved to a loft in New York City's Greenwich Village and made
himself very much a part of the vital new downtown music scene. Subsequent travels took
him to San Francisco, among other places, where he lived for six months around 1980. During
this period he spoke of the psychological wear and tear of frequent travel and moving, and
eventually he moved back to England, where he lives to this day, although since 1979 he has
continued to pursue a rigorous regimen of almost bi-monthly trips to countries all over the
world, setting up his audio-visual installations.
Eno's personality is complex. While he is capable of expounding at length and in a seemingly
authoritative fashion about musical and philosophical subjects, many interviewers have noted
a certain self-effacing quality that comes across when one talks to the man: he needs to be
sure that his interlocutors are following him, that his ideas are not sounding too pompous or
outrageous, he blushes easily. Although his ambient music is quiet and contemplative, he has
been described as an extrovert, a sociable person who is able to make friends easily and take
on new situations confidently. Eno speaks in long yet clearly structured sentences, and his
easy sense of humor comes through by means of varied inflections of his voice.
1
As an artist,
and perhaps as a person as well, one of his primary assets is a profound capacity for wonder:
1
Charles Amirkhanian, interviewer, "Eno at KPFA: 2 Feb. 1980, 13 March 1980, and 2 April
1980," seven 10-inch reels of 1/4" tape (private collection of Charles Amirkhanian, Berkeley,
Ca.). A typescript was made of the first of these interviews: "Brian Eno interviewed 2/2/80 for
KPFA Marathon by C. Amirkhanian, transcribed 10/29/83 [by] S. Stone." In future references
I shall cite the typescript as Amirkhanian, "Eno at KPFA."