Diamond Rings - Give It Up HQ
John O'Regan (born July 6, 1985) is a Canadian artist and musician best known by his stage name Diamond Rings. In addition to writing, recording, and producing his own music, he is also noted for transcending traditional representations of gender and identity in his live performances and videos.
Special Affections (2011)
His debut full length album, Special Affections, was released in North America on October 25, 2010, by Montreal's Secret City Records. Thus far it has attracted positive reviews from Pitchfork, Exclaim!, and AllMusic. Lead single "Something Else" was released a month prior and features a cover of the Milla Jovovich song "The Gentleman Who Fell," with string arrangements by Canadian musician and Polaris Prize winner Owen Pallett. Following the album release Diamond Rings opened for Swedish pop star Robyn for the duration of her North American Body Talk tour in the winter of 2011. He also toured with PS I Love You in support of "Leftovers," a single that was cowritten by both O'Regan and the band and released on Toronto-based Paper Bag Records.
In May 2011, Diamond Rings began a six-week remix series titled "Remix Rainbow," which was conceived as a thank-you to a select group of musicians whose recent work gave Diamond Rings a sense of new-found inspiration. Among those featured in the series were Theophilus London, Junior Boys, and Handsome Furs. The artwork for each remix represents a different color of the Diamond Rings rainbow.[10]
Diamond Rings has since signed with New York City-based Astralwerks Records a division of Virgin/EMI Records, which rereleased Special Affections on June 21, 2011.