Elvis Costello

Referencing prodigies of rock lyricism may not bring Elvis Costello to mind for some, but he does deserve consideration. Through the course of over four decades, the former computer programmer has maintained a career as a singer-songwriter, giving the likes of Bob Dylan himself a reckoning. He was born Declan MacManus in London, England, on August 25, 1954. He took the moniker Elvis Costello in 1977, adopting his first name from Elvis Presley and the last part from the maiden name of his mother. Also in '77, Costello's debut album My Aim Is True was released, drawing connections to the new wave and punk movement while showing musical variance. That year, Costello's band The Attractions was assembled. The group released a number of albums, including This Year's Model, Armed Forces, and Trust. 1986's Blood and Chocolate produced memorable, literate gems, such as "Tokyo Storm Warning" and "I Want You." After the Attractions' final show in 1996, caused by conflict between Costello and the band's bassist Bruce Thomas, two of the group's other members would become part of his new backing band, The Imposters. Costello has released over 30 albums.

Known For: Acting

Born: Paddington, London, England, UK, 1954-08-25

Died: null

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1978	If It Ain't Stiff, It Ain't Worth a Fuck	Self	70
2	1978	Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Live at The Capitol Theatre	Self	0
3	1978	Elvis Costello and The Attractions: Live on Rockpalast	Self	0
4	1979	Americathon	The Earl of Manchester	36
5	1980	Elvis Costello & The Attractions Live in Montreaux	Self - Performer	0
6	1981	Concerts for the People of Kampuchea	Self	0
7	1981	George Jones: With a Little Help from His Friends	Self	0
8	1984	The Bullshitters: Roll Out the Gunbarrel	Stone Deaf A & R Man	0
9	1985	Live Aid	Self	79
10	1985	No Surrender	Rosco De Ville	62
11	1986	Chet Baker Live at Ronnie Scott's	Self	0
12	1987	Straight to Hell	Hives The Butler	53
13	1987	Red Shoes In the Land of the Midnight Sun: Elvis Costello & The Confederates Live in Tokyo	Self - Performer	0
14	1988	Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night	Self - Guitar/Electric Organ/Harmonica	74
15	1989	Paul McCartney: Put It There	Self	80
16	1991	Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet - The Juliet Letters	Self	0
17	1993	Weird Nightmare	Self	0
18	1994	September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill	Self	0
19	1994	Philip K Dick: A Day in the Afterlife	Self - Interviewee	52
20	1994	Dusty	Self - Interviewee	80
21	1994	Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged	Self	0
22	1996	Tony Bennett's New York	Self	0
23	1997	Spice World	Elvis Costello	49
24	1998	Burt Bacharach: One Amazing Night	Self	0
25	1998	Brian Wilson’s Imagination	Self	0
26	1998	Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach: Sessions at West 54th	Self	0
27	1999	Classic Albums: U2 - The Joshua Tree	Self	62
28	1999	200 Cigarettes	Self	59
29	1999	Here, There and Everywhere: A Concert for Linda	Self	0
30	1999	Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me	Elvis Costello	63
31	1999	In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story	Self	58
32	2000	Unleaded	Elvis Costello	80
33	2001	Prison Song	Public Defender / Teacher	54
34	2001	A Tribute To Burt Bacharach & Hal David	Self	65
35	2002	There's Only One Paul McCartney	Self	0
36	2003	Freedom Beat	Self	0
37	2003	Willie Nelson & Friends: Live and Kickin'	Self	100
38	2003	Elvis Costello: North	Self	0
39	2003	I Love Your Work	Self	47
40	2003	Emmylou Harris: From a Deeper Well	Self	0
41	2004	Elvis Costello & The Imposters: Club Date - Live in Memphis	Self	60
42	2004	Johnny Cash: The Last Great American	Self	100
43	2004	De-Lovely	Musical Performer - "Let's Misbehave"	62
44	2004	Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile	Self	66
45	2004	Live Aid	Self	91
46	2005	Elvis Costello & The Imposters: Glastonbury Festival 2005	Self	0
47	2005	Live Aid: 20 Years Ago Today	Self	0
48	2005	Elvis Costello: The Right Spectacle - The Very Best of Elvis Costello	Self - Performer	0
49	2005	The Pretenders: No Turn Left Unstoned	Self	0
50	2006	From the Big Apple to the Big Easy: The Concert for New Orleans	Self	0
51	2006	The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: Punk & New Wave	Self	0
52	2006	Grand Ole Opry Live	Self	0
53	2006	Putting the River in Reverse	Self	0
54	2006	Elvis Costello & Friends		0
55	2006	Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby	Elvis Costello	64
56	2006	Before the Music Dies	Self - Musician	70
57	2006	The Harry Smith Project Live	Self	0
58	2006	Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: Hot as a Pistol, Keen as a Blade	Self	75
59	2007	The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music	Self	0
60	2007	Tony Bennett: Duets - The Making of an American Classic	Self	0
61	2007	Elvis Costello: Live: A Case for Song	Self - Vocals, Guitar	0
62	2007	Delirious	Elvis Costello	64
63	2007	If It Ain't Stiff: The Stiff Records Story	Self	70
64	2008	Memento Mori	Self	0
65	2008	A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!	Self	69
66	2010	A Prairie Home Companion Live in HD!	Self - Singer	100
67	2010	Hard Rock Calling 2010	Self	0
68	2010	Love Shines	Self	60
69	2011	I Was There: When the Beatles Played the Cavern	Self (archive footage)	50
70	2011	A MusiCares Tribute to Neil Young	Self	70
71	2012	Elvis Costello & The Imposters: The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook	Self - Performer	0
72	2013	Experience Montreux	Self	0
73	2013	Elvis Costello: Mystery Dance	Self	57
74	2014	Lost Songs: The Basement Tapes Continued	Self	73
75	2015	Elvis Costello - Detour Live at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall	Self	60
76	2016	The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years	Self	76
77	2017	Ex Libris: The New York Public Library	Self	63
78	2018	Tower of Song: A Memorial Tribute to Leonard Cohen	Self - Performer	100
79	2019	Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration	Self	92
80	2020	Ringo Starr’s Big Birthday Show	Self - Performer	0
81	2020	Johnny Cash: The Man in Black in Britain	Self	70
82	2021	Lindisfarne’s Geordie Genius: The Alan Hull Story	Self	70
83	2022	Roy Orbison Forever	Self	75
84	2023	Sounds of Liverpool at the BBC	Self (archive footage)	90
85	2024	The Specials – A Message to You	Self	70
86		Life Is a Carnival: A Musical Celebration of Robbie Robertson	Self	0
87	2025	Ladies & Gentlemen... 50 Years of SNL Music	Self	90

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1953	The Oscars	Self	70
2	1975	Austin City Limits	Self	62
3	1975	Saturday Night Live	Self - Musical Guest	70
4	1978	The Kenny Everett Video Show	Self	77
5	1982	Champs-Elysées	Self	62
6	1982	The Comic Strip Presents...	Stone Deaf A & R Man	73
7	1984	Scully	Henry Scully	45
8	1989	MTV Unplugged	Self	68
9	1989	The Simpsons	Elvis Costello (voice)	80
10	1992	The Tonight Show with Jay Leno	Self - Musical Guest	54
11	1992	The Larry Sanders Show	Elvis Costello	77
12	1993	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Self - Guest	71
13	1993	Late Night with Conan O'Brien	Self - Musical Guest	71
14	1993	Frasier	Ben	77
15	1995	Lo + plus	Self	0
16	1995	The Frank Skinner Show	Self	75
17	1995	Die Harald Schmidt Show	Self	70
18	1996	3rd Rock from the Sun	Elvis Costello	75
19	1996	The Daily Show	Self	63
20	1997	Classic Albums	Self	77
21	2002	CMT Crossroads	Self	83
22	2003	Jimmy Kimmel Live!	Self	55
23	2003	Real Time with Bill Maher	Self	60
24	2003	Two and a Half Men	Elvis Costello	75
25	2005	The Colbert Report	Self	68
26	2006	The One Show	Self	46
27	2006	30 Rock	Elvis Costello	74
28	2006	Legends	Self	50
29	2007	The Graham Norton Show	Self	72
30	2008	Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...	Self	80
31	2009	Live From the Artists Den	Self	60
32	2010	Treme	Self	77
33	2011	Hamburg Journal	self	0
34	2014	The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon	Self - Musical Guest	58
35	2015	The Late Show with Stephen Colbert	Self	65
36	2017	Pete the Cat	Pete's Dad (voice)	80
37	2021	This Is Pop	Self (archive footage)	58