Jonathan "Jonny" Richard Guy Greenwood (born November 5, 1971) is a member of Radiohead. He is also the brother of fellow band member Colin Greenwood. His short name, "Jonny", is spelled without h, because it comes from the name Jonathan, not John. Radiohead fans have joked about this, suggesting that bandmate Thom Yorke adopted the h that Jonny dropped.Jonny is often credited as the second major artist in Radiohead. He is gifted multinstrumentalist, capable of playing lead ('abusive') guitar, organ, synthesizer, piano, xylo, harmonica and other instruments which he has never recorded. Jonny's original contributions to Radiohead include the slow rock song "the Tourist" and the Beatlesque avalanche "A Wolf at the Door" – two closers respectively of OK Computer and Hail to the Thief. Thom Yorke has noted that the track "Just" from The Bends was, "a competition by me and jonny to get as many chords as possible into a song".
Jonny's extremely aggressive guitar playing has led him in the past to repetitive strain injury in his right arm. Advised by a doctor to wear an arm brace for a period of time, his brace has become a trademark of sorts. "I enjoy putting it on before I play ... It's like taping up your fingers before a boxing match." He is also an outspoken champion of the Ondes Martenot, an early synthesizer, which he lists as one of his favorite instruments. He has composed a piece entitled Smear for a pair of Ondes Martenot. The Ondes can be heard on many Radiohead tracks, notably The National Anthem from Kid A. He also utilizes modular synthesizers and devices such as the Korg Kaoss Pad on newer tracks.In recent years, Jonny has continued his progression as an artist in Radiohead and in 2003 he released his first solo album, Bodysong (2003), the soundtrack for the movie with the same title by filmmaker Simon Pummell. His brother Colin also featured on the album. Jonny was hired by the BBC as its composer in residence in (May 2004). He will be appearing in the film Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire along with bandmember Phil Selway and Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker as members of the band the Wyrd Sisters. Thom and Jonny also will collaborate on a new project, performed by the London Synfonietta at the Ether Festival in March this year. According to the site Barbican, Jonny will make a premiere in 23 April 2005, of his new work commissioned by BBC Radio 3, with music performed live by the BBC Concert Orchestra in London.
Collaborations
Thom and Jonny got together with Bernard Butler, Andy Mackay, and Paul Kimble to form the band, The Venus in Furs. They recorded five songs for the Michael Stipe produced movie, Velvet Goldmine. The tracks are:
"2HB"
"LADYTRON"
"BABY'S ON FIRE"
"BITTER-SWEET"
"TUMBLING DOWN"
Jonny Greenwood played harmonica on Pavement's LP, Terror Twilight. He played on the songs "Platform Blues" and "Billie". Also notice that the album was produced and mixed by Nigel Godrich ( which explains why Jonny had a little part on it)
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