Colin Charles Greenwood (born 26 June 1969), is an English musician and composer, best known as the bassist of the alternative rockband Radiohead. Apart from bass, Colin plays keyboards, synthesizers and works on sampling and on the electronic side of Radiohead. He is the older brother of fellow band member, Jonny Greenwood.
Greenwood first teamed up with classmate Thom Yorke in 1986 to start a band, then known as On A Friday.
Ed O'Brien was then recruited, and finally, older student Phil Selway was approached to join the band. Later, Greenwood's younger brother Jonny, also joined the band. Of being in a band with his brother, Colin has said, "beyond the normal brotherly thing, I respect him as a person and a musician, and has quipped, "It’s wonderful, it’s good, it makes my promise to keep an eye on him for my mother a lot easier, having him right next to me all the time. But he’s very easy to look after anyway, cause he’s very well behaved".
Greenwood plays a number of instruments for Radiohead including electric- acoustic bass, double bass, keyboards, samplers, and synthesizers, and a variety of percussive instruments. He favours Fender basses. Said Greenwood, "My involvement is to play bass guitar, but our ideas and suggestions in certain areas, as to where the music should go or develop, are listened to. We are very much a band".
In December 1998, Greenwood married Molly McGrann, an American literary critic and novelist. They have two sons, Jesse, born in December 2003 and Asa, born in December 2005. They live in a small village in Oxfordshire.
pictures of Colin Greenwood.
