Panda Bear is the alias of Noah Lennox, one of the two core members of Animal Collective, along with Avey Tare (a.k.a Dave Portner). In Animal Collective, Noah's primary role is that of a drummer, though he also plays other instruments and sings. He adopted the name Panda Bear from an early tape of his material, on which he drew a panda bear, his favorite animal.He is married and lives in Lisbon, Portugal with his wife and child.
Lennox grew up in the Roland Park section of Baltimore, Maryland. As a child, he played sports, studied piano and cello. He later sang tenor in his high school chamber choir. After graduation, he attended Boston University but dropped out in 2000 and moved to New York to dedicate himself to his music.
His first solo release was the self titled Panda Bear in 1999, which was released under Soccer Star Records, a label founded by fellow Animal Collective member, Deakin
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After its creation, Lennox focused on Animal Collective, putting his solo project aside. He picked it back up in 2004 and released Young Prayer that year. In 2007 he followed up with the critically acclaimed Person Pitch, an album that is said to be the primary inspiration behind Animal Collective?s 2009 release Merriweather Post Pavillion.
In Animal Collective, Noah?was primarily responsible for percussion, although he has recently transitioned to working with samples in addition to contributing vocals and playing a variety of other instruments. He adopted the name Panda Bear from an early tape of his material, on which he drew a panda.
He currently lives in Lisbon, Bairro Alto, Portugal with his wife, daughter and a son.
From Wikipedia:Noah Lennox (born July 17, 1978), known as Panda Bear, is an experimental musician and a founding member of Animal Collective. He chose the name "Panda Bear" because he drew pictures of pandas as artwork on the recordings he made as a younger musician. Lennox grew up in the Roland Park section of Baltimore, Maryland, and had attended high school in Pennsylvania. As a child and teenager, he played sports, mainly soccer and basketball, and had studied piano until he was eight and then cello. He later sang tenor in his high school chamber choir. At the age of 17 he began to listen to electronic music styles like house & techno and artists such as Aphex Twin, all of which became a huge influence on his later work.