盖·贝瑞曼

Guy Rupert Berryman (born 12 April 1978) is a Scottish musician, songwriter, producer, businessman and designer. He is best known as the bassist of the rock band Coldplay and electronic supergroup Apparatjik. Raised in Kirkcaldy, he started to play bass at an early age, drawing inspiration from James Brown, the Funk Brothers and Kool & the Gang. His projects beyond music include The Road Rat magazine and Amsterdam-based fashion brand Applied Art Forms.

Berryman joined Coldplay with Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion at University College London, where he enrolled in a mechanical engineering degree but later dropped out. The band signed with Parlophone in 1999, finding global fame after the release of Parachutes (2000) and subsequent records. He has won seven Grammy Awards and nine Brit Awards as part of Coldplay. Having sold over 170 million records worldwide, they are the most successful group of the 21st century.

Early life

Guy Rupert Berryman was born on 12 April 1978 in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland. He is the youngest son of engineer Rupert Berryman and his wife Elizabeth, whose family were merchants and factory owners in the region. Raised close to the Beveridge Park area, he said his childhood was one with "a huge sense of freedom", as he went out with friends and "just did whatever we wanted from a very young age", which included exploring the Raith Estate and the woods near it. Still during his childhood, he developed a passion for watches, exploring the ones his father had even though "the drawers were meant to be off-limits".

Berryman said that listening to Stevie Wonder's "My Cherie Amour" (1969) was a pivotal moment in his life, as well as the reason why he decided to become a bass player: "I can remember being maybe six years old, having this experience. I had obviously heard music in the background, in the house and stuff, but that was the first moment that I ever connected with music on a personal level and since then I've always been a huge fan of soul and Motown".

With his father involved in building the Channel Tunnel as a project manager, Berryman's family moved to Kent when he was around 12 years old, the same period in which he began to play bass. During his time at Edinburgh Academy, he played drums and trumpet for the school band. The lessons made him notice he was "a leftie who plays right-handed" and the bassist later founded a group named Time Out. His education was continued at Kent College, in Canterbury. He then enrolled in mechanical engineering at University College London, where he met Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland and Will Champion, ultimately forming Coldplay.