Birdcage is proud to have on it's roster the very uniquely talented Stan Ridgway. Not only does Ridgway bring to the label a recording history worthy of a who's who list in alternative music, but several side projects with Stan being either ringmaster (Drywall), supporting player (Hecate's Angels) or, dare we say it, A&R talent scout (Thousand Other Names).

In a career that's seen him sell over a half million records around the world, Ridgway has scored solo hits with "CAMOUFLAGE" (an international top five hit), "THE BIG HEAT," "DRIVE SHE SAID," "I WANNA BE A BOSS," "CALLING OUT TO CAROL" and, of course, the ubiquitous "MEXICAN RADIO" and other recordings from the groundbreaking band he formed and fronted, WALL OF VOODOO. Rolling Stone once described Ridgway's unique persona and vocal style as seeming "as if he were passing street secrets out of the corner of his mouth."

Stan Ridgway has been recording songs for 16 years now. His first songs with the band he founded, Wall Of Voodoo, (formed initially as a soundtrack company specializing in cheap sci-fi and B-movie underground epics), appeared in 1979 on Wall Of Voodoo The EP. This record contained the group's now classic re-working of Johnny Cash's "Ring Of Fire" as well as their first originally penned "hit" single "Can't Make Love." Two more Wall Of Voodoo albums, Dark Continent and Call of the West (containing the surreal top 40 hit "Mexican Radio") followed, along with numerous international tours and television appearances. Ridgway left the band in May 1983 for a solo career, citing the usual "creative differences." He last performed with them at the infamous US Festival in San Bernardino, California, which featured such bands as The Clash, The Pretenders, and the English Beat. Ridgway would later emerge in 1986 with his solo debut, The Big Heat (which would include the top 5 European hit "Camouflage").

In addition to releasing two more solo recordings, Mosquitos (1989) and Partyball (1991), Ridgway wrote and performed music for such films as Francis Ford Coppola's Rumblefish (in collaboration with Police drummer Stewart Copeland) and Wayne Wang's Slamdance (in collaboration with producer Mitchell Froom). Other films included Pump Up the Volume, starring Christian Slater and Terminus, a French sci-fi film, starring Johnny Holiday, the "European Elvis." Ridgway also appeared on Hal Wilner's Lost in the Stars tribute album to Kurt Weil, where he and the Fowler Brothers performed the composer's "Cannon Song." (He reprised this performance in a recent PBS/ Canadian TV production, which also featured such artists as Lou Reed, P.J. Harvey and Elvis Costello.)