Owen Fegan

Owen Fegan (born 1 November 1972) is an Irish musician,[1] singer-songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, photographer[2] and creative director.[3] He is best known as the keyboard player and songwriter with the alternative rock band Rubyhorse.[4] As a solo artist — VEMO — his debut EP Maps of Mars was released on November 17th, 2017.

Owen Fegan
Also known asVEMO
Born (1972-11-01) 1 November 1972
Cork, Ireland
GenresIndie rock, Alternative rock
Occupation(s)
  • musician
  • singer-songwriter
  • producer
  • artist
  • photographer
  • creative director
  • DJ
Instruments
Years active1988–present
LabelsThe Binery
Associated acts

Owen was born in Cork, Ireland, and formed Rubyhorse in 1988 with schoolmates Dave Farrell, Decky Lucey, Joe Philpott, and Gordon Ashe.[5] After the band’s relocation to Boston in 1997, three studio albums (A Lifetime In One Day, How Far Have You Come, and Rise[6]), two major-label recording contracts (Interscope Records and Island Records), a single Sparkle which peaked at #21 on the Billboard charts in the summer of 2002,[7] a collaboration with George Harrison on the track Punchdrunk, TV appearances including Late Show with David Letterman[8][9] and Late Night with Conan O'Brien,[10] and international tours with artists including R.E.M., INXS, Culture Club, and Def Leppard, Owen played his last show with Rubyhorse at the World Peace Music Awards in Bali, Indonesia in June 2003[11] and moved to New York City[12] to work on his own music, and pursue his lifelong passions of art and photography.

His photography has appeared in major commercial campaigns, as well as magazines such as SPIN, Rolling Stone,[13] and Blender, as well as Tom Petty’s Runnin' Down A Dream[13] alongside Mark Seliger, Annie Leibovitz, and Danny Clinch (who coincidentally shot the Rise cover for Rubyhorse).

Soon after his move to New York City, Owen joined Spin as creative director, and has held the title at Rolling Stone, New York,[14] and streaming music service Grooveshark. Owen currently serves as Creative Director at New-York based tech company Yext [3] which filed its "IPO",[15] on 13 April 2017.

In the years since his departure from Rubyhorse, Owen continued to write music, working his way through an array of musical directions while developing his skills as an audio engineer and mixer. In 2013, he built his own studio — The Binery — in New York City and began writing and recording new material under the name VEMO.

Combining the pop sensibilities of Rubyhorse with more seasoned songwriting and production style, the EP Maps of Mars featured four tracks from these sessions which were almost entirely self-performed, recorded, and mixed.

Heaven features drums by Gordon Ashe (Rubyhorse) and lead guitar and additional vocals by Chris Buckle (The Majorleans,[16] The Picture). Buckle also plays additional guitar on My Sad 71. The EP was mastered by Fred Kevorkian (The White Stripes, The National, Ryan Adams) at Avatar Studios in New York City.

In 2019 Fegan relocated to Amsterdam with his family where he has begun working on a new project under the name SVPERGROVP.

Discography
Date Title Artist Label Type Country
6 June 1995 A Lifetime In One Day Rubyhorse Horse Trade LP Ireland
7 July 1998 Mini Hummer E.P. Rubyhorse Horse Trade EP US
14 November 2000 How Far Have You Come? Rubyhorse Horse Trade LP US
21 May 2002 Rise Rubyhorse Island Def Jam LP US
6 August 2002 Sparkle Rubyhorse Island Def Jam Single US
3 September 2002 Any Day Now Rubyhorse Island Def Jam Single US
22 June 2004 Goodbye To All That Rubyhorse Brash Music LP US
27 June 2006 Oxygen Sam Bisbee Terrible Records LP US
17 November 2017 Maps of Mars VEMO The Binery EP US
16 October 2020 Punchdrunk (feat. George Harrison) Rubyhorse Rive Gauche Records Single World

References
  1. "Rubyhorse - Biography - Billboard". billboard.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  2. "High Note: Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro with Rock Stars for a Cause - Backpacker". backpacker.com. 24 June 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  3. "Yext Continues Expansion with Key Leadership Hires and Office Openings - Yext". yext.com. 22 September 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  4. "Rubyhorse on Apple Music". apple.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  5. "CLUAS - Music Features - Rubyhorse". cluas.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  6. "Rubyhorse: Rise". popmatters.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  7. "Rubyhorse - Chart history - Billboard". billboard.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  8. Ruby Horse (5 June 2013). "Rubyhorse perform "Sparkle" On "Late Night David Letterman"". Retrieved 26 January 2017 – via YouTube.
  9. "Rock band playing up a storm in America - Independent.ie". independent.ie. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  10. "2002.05.23 SparkleConan". vimeo.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  11. Ruby Horse (6 June 2013). "Rubyhorse perform "Punchdrunk" at the World Peace Music Awards in Bali, Indonesia on June 14th, 2003". Retrieved 26 January 2017 – via YouTube.
  12. "Boston.com / A&E / Music / Boston Music Awards miss a chance to shine". boston.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  13. "Runnin Down a Dream: 230-231". rollingstone.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  14. "Owen Fegan becomes creative director at New York magazine - Media Life Magazine". medialifemagazine.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  15. "Yext Joins $1B Club With Successful IPO, Continuing Software's Hot Market Run". Forbes.com.
  16. "Home". squarespace.com. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
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