Tyler Glenn

Tyler Aaron Glenn (born November 28, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is known as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of the American rock band Neon Trees and as a solo artist.

Biography

As a teenager, Glenn attended Chaparral High School in Temecula, California.^[1] He is a former member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.^[2][3][4] After high school, he served a Mormon mission in Nebraska.^[5]

Neon Trees' origins lay in Southern California in 2004 after Glenn's father suggested he play music with guitarist Chris Allen, the son of one of Glenn's father's friends.^[2] In 2005, they moved to Provo, Utah and formally founded Neon Trees, adding bassist Branden Campbell and drummer/backing vocalist Elaine Doty (who is now Elaine Bradley) in 2007.^[6] The band became well known in the music scene around Provo and Salt Lake City.

Tyler Glenn singing at Edgefest in Frisco, Texas, 2011.

In 2007, Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. (drummer for The Killers), who knew Campbell from a previous band, saw Neon Trees playing at a small venue in Las Vegas and was impressed. As such, in 2008, The Killers invited the band to open for them during their North American tour.

Neon Trees released their first full-length album, Habits, in 2010. One song from that album, "Animal", which Glenn co-wrote, hit number one on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. A second song co-written by Glenn, "Everybody Talks" from their 2011 album Picture Show, was also a top 10 hit in 2012.

In 2014, Glenn was featured as lead vocalist on "Born to Run," a song on Afrojack's debut studio album, Forget the World.

In 2015, Glenn joined the holiday music supergroup Band of Merrymakers for their album Welcome to Our Christmas Party.

On April 28, 2016, Glenn released his debut single as a solo artist, the electro pop single "Trash." The video for the song was premiered on Rolling Stone the next day. In the video, Glenn is seen drinking from a bottle of alcohol, spitting on an altered image of Joseph Smith, making the LDS church's temple tokens with his hands, and painting a red 'X' on his face. The video immediately generated controversy among Mormons, many of whom found it offensive.^[7]

Glenn released a solo album entitled "Excommunication" on October 21, 2016.

Personal life

In the April 10, 2014 issue of Rolling Stone, Glenn came out as gay, and discussed keeping his sexuality a secret throughout his life.^[8] Glenn says he's known he was gay since he was a young child, but kept his sexuality a secret – until now. "I had my crushes on guys throughout high school, but it was never an overwhelming thing until my twenties," he admits. "Then I'd be dating girls and in love with my straight friend and it was the worst feeling in the world," he said to Rolling Stone.

With respect to his Mormon faith, Glenn stated in a 2012 interview: "The way I was raised and being a questioner, and getting a lot of my curiosities out early with drugs and alcohol, I think it’s helped me maintain a more even keel where I’m not out of control."^[9] It has been widely reported that Glenn and the other members of Neon Trees do not drink alcohol or use other drugs.^[10] The LDS Church has had a longstanding policy that makes same-sex marriage grounds for apostasy. With same-sex parent families in mind the church recently announced they will prohibit children of same-sex married couples from being baptized until those children are 18 years of age. This announcement led Glenn to research the history of the church and he concluded that he no longer believed it was true and no longer self-identifies as Mormon, though he has not resigned.^[11]

Songwriting credits

Discography

Excommunication (2016)

Neon Trees

Studio albums

• Habits (2010)
• Picture Show (2012)
• Pop Psychology (2014)

Featured artist

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tyler Glenn.