Duncan Sheik just released his second album of orchestral pop-rock on Atlantic

Records. Humming deals with relationships and comments on society with the

same sensitivity as Sheik's idols -- the late, East Village '60s-folkie Jeff Buckley and the

late, English folk-rocker Nick Drake.

Duncan Scott Sheik was born in Montclair, New Jersey, 29 years ago. He was raised in

South Carolina, where, as a child, he loved music and began playing in a band at age

12. He attended Brown University, playing guitar in Lisa Loeb's band Liz and Lisa; he

graduated with a degree in semiotics.

"Through college I was sure I'd do something with music, but I didn't know exactly what,"

Sheik said.

Sheik was signed directly out of college by a record label that ignored his career for

years. But Atlantic Records heard some demos he made and picked up his contract.

Duncan Sheik (1996) was filled with what Sheik loves most: lush songs, such as

"She Runs Away" and "The End of Outside," which use an orchestra to accentuate his

tales of troubled relationships. But the single, the slightly more upbeat "Barely

Breathing," caught on with AOR, modern-rock, top-40 and AC radio programmers,

propelling the LP to gold status and creating a major buzz around the handsome,

soft-spoken Sheik.

Sheik, who is a Buddhist, became the focus of magazine spreads emphasizing his

model-like looks and was often grouped with other artists, such as Ron Sexsmith and

Elliott Smith, in newspaper articles heralding a new breed of singer/songwriter.

After a tour supporting his debut, Sheik returned to the studio and recorded

Humming, his second album produced by Rupert Hine (the Fixx, Howard Jones,

Stevie Nicks).

Though the LP is not radically different from its predecessor, it tackles subjects other than

romantic love. "Varying Degrees of Con-Artistry" deals with business and industry

seducing the impressionable;

music/Sheik,_Duncan/A_Body_Goes_Down.ram">"A Body Goes Down"

(RealAudio excerpt) is an ode to Buckley, whom Sheik considered the most talented

artist of his generation. Matt Johnson, who played on Buckley's Grace, is the

drummer on Humming.

The single, "Bite Your Tongue," currently is getting radio airplay, and Sheik just

contributed a take on "Embraceable You" to Red Hot & Rhapsody, the

just-released George Gershwin tribute on PGD/Verve.

Sheik also had a track, "Wishful Thinking," on the soundtrack to this year's remake of

"Great Expectations." He covered Christine McVie's "Songbird" on Lava/Atlantic's

Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours.

Other birthdays: Herman Rarebell (Scorpions), 49; Graham Parker, 48; John McFee

(Doobie Brothers), 45; Kim Wilde, 38; and Kirk Hammett (Metallica), 36.