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Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and director based in New York City. Dev Hynes was born and raised in Ilford, East London to a Guyanese mother and a Sierra Leone Creole father. In early 2007, Hynes, under the name Lightspeed Champion, recorded his debut album in Omaha, Nebraska with Saddle Creek producer Mike Mogis. The touring band for the Falling Off the Lavender Bridge album at various points consisted of friends of Hynes’ from other bands, including Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine and Emmy the Great. Mike Siddell, formerly of Hope of the States, played violin with the band. Backed by a full band, Hynes appeared at the NME 2008 Awards, broadcast on Channel 4 on 29 February 2008, dressed as characters from Star Wars, including Princess Leia on the drums. By the end of what became a two-year touring period, Hynes had suffered severe damage to his throat, and had to undergo extensive surgery.
He took a two and a half-year hiatus from touring, appearing occasionally to play shows in New York and a top billed slot at the Carling Festival in 2009. These include an album written and recorded entirely in a day and an EP consisting of covers of Green Day songs. B and electronica, called Blood Orange. Various live performances under this alias have taken place in New York and London within November and December 2009, consisting of Hynes, a guitar, and a laptop. Hynes’ debut single under the moniker Blood Orange, “Dinner”, was released in January 2011 on Terrible Records, with an accompanying video directed by Alan Del Rio that debuted on Pitchfork TV.
In November 2013, Hynes released the second Blood Orange album, Cupid Deluxe. On 8 January 2014, it was announced that Blood Orange was on the line-up for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California. On 18 April 2016, Hynes announced his third record under the Blood Orange moniker would be entitled Freetown Sound. It was released on 28 June 2016, three days ahead of the planned 1 July 2016 release. On 19 July 2018, he announced his fourth studio album under the Blood Orange moniker, Negro Swan, and released in the following week its first two singles: “Charcoal Baby” and “Jewelry”. The album was released on 24 August 2018. On 25 June 2019, Hynes announced his fifth release under the Blood Orange moniker in an interview with Cultured Magazine.
The mixtape, titled Angel’s Pulse, was released on 12 July 2019. Hynes has written and contributed songs to a number of other acts. Hynes has co-written and produced songs for Diana Vickers on Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree, another No. 1 debutante on the UK Albums Chart. Hynes has co-written the song “Everything Is Embarrassing” for Sky Ferreira. He worked with Britney Spears on her eighth album, Britney Jean, however, none of his songs made the final cut.
He co-wrote and co-produced Kylie Minogue’s song “Crystallize”, a charity single for One Note Against Cancer. TION, and also co-wrote “Body Language” for her EP Emotion: Side B. Heads Interlude” and “Decade of Decay”. Hynes also co-wrote “Difficult Phone Call”, a track on the extended version of the album. Hynes was also one of the producers on the album. AP Rocky, off of Rocky’s third studio album, Testing. He was also featured on Self Care by Mac Miller, off of Mac’s album Swimming.
Hynes and collaborator Ian Isiah co-created and performed an adaptation of “Grateful” by gospel singer Hezekiah Walker for a fashion show by New York-based designer Telfar Clemens. Hynes co-wrote with Deborah Harry Blondie’s single “Long Time”, included on the band’s eleventh album Pollinator. In 2021, he was also featured on Alien Love Call, a single by Turnstile. Hynes has collaborated several times with composer Philip Glass, performing his piano Etudes for radio, at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.