Establishing himself in the mid-'90s as a singer/songwriter with a knack fo… Read Full Bio ↴Establishing himself in the mid-'90s as a singer/songwriter with a knack for literate adult pop songs with hazy surfaces and a touch of alt-rock grit, Duncan Sheik had a Top 20 hit with the song "Barely Breathing" from his 1996 eponymous debut. He had three more albums land on the Billboard 200 by the end of the next decade, including his fourth full-length, 2002's Daylight. Featuring intricate production and multiple overdubs, it was co-produced with frequent Madonna collaborator Patrick Leonard. After scoring his first feature-length film, 2004's A Home at the End of the World, Sheik's career turned toward Broadway with the success of 2006's Spring Awakening, a hit rock musical. It won him the Tony for Best Original Score as well as a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album, both with lyricist Steven Sater. Sheik continued to juggle adult-alternative albums, film scores, and musical theater in the years to follow, issuing his eighth solo album, the ranging, over-hour-long Legerdemain, in 2015 and moving his musical American Psycho to Broadway in 2016. For that show, Sheik served as composer, lyricist, and orchestrator. Following off-Broadway excursions including 2019's The Secret Life of Bees, he issued the studio album Claptrap in 2022. It sought out a more positive state of mind.

Born in Montclair, New Jersey, in 1969, Duncan Sheik grew up in South Carolina but spent many of his early years staying with his grandparents in New Jersey. Inspired to play the piano while there, he later switched to electric guitar and performed in bands throughout high school. A fan of musical theater from a young age, he also acted in school plays and attended the occasional Broadway show with his mother. While studying at Brown University, he played in a band with Lisa Loeb but began shopping his own demo tape soon after graduation. After moving to Los Angeles, he appeared with His Boy Elroy on a 1993 album for Epic, and spent several years writing songs before he signed a solo deal with Atlantic.

Atlantic released his debut album, the Rupert Hine-produced Duncan Sheik, in mid-1996, with the single "Barely Breathing" following later in the year. The song reached number 16 on the Hot 100, and after another single, "Reasons for Living," appeared on the soundtrack to the hit TV show ER in late 1996, the debut peaked at number 83 on the Billboard 200. Also produced with Hine, the follow-up, Humming, arrived on Atlantic in 1998 and reached number 163.

Nonesuch issued 2001's self-produced Phantom Moon, a more orchestral collaboration between Sheik and poet/playwright/lyricist Steven Sater, who provided its lyrics. It featured appearances by the London Session Orchestra and guitarist Bill Frisell. Though it failed to reach the Billboard 200, Sheik returned to the chart with his fourth album, 2002's Daylight, which reached number 110. It would be his final release with Atlantic. In 2002, Sheik also composed music for a New York Shakespeare Festival's production of Twelfth Night.

Continuing to split his focus between songwriting and composition, Sheik wrote the film score for the 2004 romantic drama A Home at the End of the World as well as music for the 2005 documentary Through the Fire. He offered up his fifth studio LP, While Limousine, on the Zoë label in 2006. Its insightful lyrics didn't shy away from sociopolitical territory. In the meantime, he had collaborated with Sater on a rock musical based on the 19th century German play Spring Awakening, a story concerned with teenaged sexuality. With a book and lyrics by Sater and music by Sheik, Spring Awakening opened off-Broadway in May 2006 before moving to Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre in December of that year. The show ran for over two years and took home eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score. The Decca-issued cast album won a Grammy for Sheik and Sater.

Sheik composed the scores for projects including the Mary Stuart Masterson-directed film The Cake Eaters (2007) and the animated TV movie Little Spirit: Christmas in New York (2008) before presenting his next pop album, 2009's Whisper House. Featuring several duets with Holly Brook (Skylar Grey), the RCA Victor release spent a week at the number 181 spot on the Billboard 200. He scored the movie dramas Dare (2009) and Harvest (2010), then returned in 2011 with the covers album Covers 80s, which included backing vocals by Rachael Yamagata and Brook. Covers 80s Remixed appeared in 2012.

Next up for Sheik was a musical adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho featuring a book by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and music, lyrics, and orchestrations all by Sheik. It opened in London in 2013. He released another solo album, a song cycle titled Legerdemain (2015), and premiered the musical thriller Noir (2015) at Vassar College before American Psycho had its Broadway premiere in March 2016. The original London cast recording arrived on Concord Records the same month. Based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, another Sheik-Sater musical collaboration, Alice by Heart, opened off-Broadway in early 2019. The original cast recording was released by Ghostlight later in the year. 2019 also saw the off-Broadway opening of the musical The Secret Life of Bees, featuring music by Sheik and lyrics by Tony nominee Susan Birkenhead (Working, Jelly's Last Jam).

His first concert album, Live at the Cafe Carlyle, followed on Sneaky Studios/Missing Piece in late 2020. Compiled from a week of shows in October 2017, its set list spanned "Barely Breathing," songs from Spring Awakening, and previously unreleased covers of Radiohead and Tom Petty. An HBO documentary about the 15th anniversary concert of the hit musical, Spring Awakening: Those You've Known, premiered in May 2022 and was followed in June by Claptrap, Sheik's first solo studio album in seven years. It arrived on the New York-based Antifragile Music label.

Biography by Marcy Donelson

Start Again
Duncan Sheik Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Peace has lost its meaning
Now we've hit the ceiling
All is said and all is done
Here goes start again

You're better than you think so
Something I hold onto
I'm better too holding on to you

Start again

[Chorus]
So meet me and we'll drive this car away
We can leave right now what do you say
We'll head out for the wide and open spaces
If we can clear the way

Save yourself don't save me
Save the one you may be
Let it be the best that it can be
Start again

[Chorus: x2]

Overall Meaning

The lines "Peace has lost its meaning, now we've hit the ceiling, all is said and all is done, here goes start again" reflect the feeling of being stuck in a situation where there seems to be no solution or way forward. The idea that "peace has lost its meaning" implies that once there was a sense of tranquility or calmness, but now that feeling has vanished. The line "now we've hit the ceiling" suggests that the situation has reached a limit or dead end. However, the phrase "here goes start again" brings a glimmer of hope that there is still a chance to find a new way forward.

The following lines "You're better than you think so, something I hold onto, I'm better too holding on to you, start again" seem to be a message of encouragement and support to someone who is feeling doubt or insecurity. The singer assures the person that they are better than they think they are, and that they will hold onto them as a source of strength. The repetition of "Start again" in both verses emphasizes the idea that no matter what has happened, there is always a chance to begin anew and find a new path. The chorus reinforces this sentiment, urging the listener to leave the past behind and head out to new possibilities.

Line by Line Meaning

Peace has lost its meaning
The state of tranquility has become meaningless

Now we've hit the ceiling
We have reached the maximum limit of our potential

All is said and all is done
Everything has been said and done, and there's nothing left to do

Here goes start again
It's time to start fresh and begin anew

You're better than you think so
You underestimate your true potential and worth

Something I hold onto
I hold onto the belief that you are better than you think

I'm better too holding on to you
By holding onto you, I become a better version of myself as well

Start again
Let's start fresh and begin anew

Save yourself don't save me
Focus on saving yourself instead of trying to save me

Save the one you may be
Save the person you have the potential to become

Let it be the best that it can be
Let it be the best version of itself that it can be