Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs’s biography, net worth, fact, career, awards and life story

Orlando Tobias Edward Higginbottom (born 7 March 1986), better known by his stage name Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, is a British electronic music producer, DJ and singer based in the United States.

Early life

Orlando is the son of Professor Edward Higginbottom, formerly conductor of the choir of New College, Oxford. He was educated at the Cherwell School, Oxford. A classically trained musician, he attended the Junior Royal Academy of Music in London. Orlando began listening to electronic music in his early teens, through borrowing audio tapes from his older siblings.

After buying records and DJing since the age of 13, and experimenting with music production for several years, Orlando launched Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs in 2009. The name was intended to oppose the often pretentious world of dance music and underground cool, and together with his stage persona, inject some fun and colour into the club environment.

Orlando commented to Spin that he was looking for a name that “couldn’t be cool, couldn’t be put into some kind of scene that gets hip for six months and then falls out of fashion.”

Musical career

2009–11: Early releases and Greco-Roman

TEED made his debut on Joe Goddard’s Greco-Roman label in 2009 with the All in One Sixty Dancehalls EP, featuring a remix by British producers 2 Bad Mice. This was followed All in Two Sixty Dancehalls EP (featuring the single “Garden”) and by Household Goods EP in November 2010.

In July 2011 Orlando was enlisted by Blur frontman Damon Albarn to take part in an album project connected with his work for well-known charity Oxfam. Kinshasa One Two was recorded over a period of six days in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the Oxjam music series and released on Warp Records in that year.

2012–2014: Debut album and further releases

On 11 June 2012 TEED’s debut album Trouble was released by Polydor Records. The album was well received, with favourable reviews from several well-respected music publications including the NME (“One of the UK’s most exciting young producers”), Pitchfork and the BBC. iTunes UK named Trouble as their ‘Debut Electronic album of the year’, was DJ Magazine’s ‘album of the year’ and it was number 5 in the BBC’s end of year album poll.

Trouble was also voted ‘Best Album’ in DJ Magazine’s Best of British 2012, with TEED also picking up the award for ‘Best Live Act’.

TEED appears in the music video for the single, “Trouble”. The video was shot in Los Angeles, CA during May 2011 and directed by The General Assembly.

That same year he was enlisted by Pete Tong to record an Essential Mix, which was broadcast on his seminal Friday night show on 18 August 2012.

On 8 July 2013, Crosstown Rebels released Get Lost VI, a compilation of music curated and mixed by Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. Get Lost VI featured tracks from Underground Resistance, Tiga, Breach, Trus’me, Axel Boman, Dave Aju, Mathew Jonson and more. It was voted ‘Best Compilation’ in DJ Magazine’s Best of British 2013. It also featured a collaboration by TEED and Eats Everything entitled “Lion, The Lion”, which was later released as a single with remixes by Dutch producer Gerd.

On 14 August 2014, TEED launched Nice Age, a cross-platform label. The first release, “Feels Like”, is a collaboration between TEED and Anna Lunoe.

2018–present: Non-album singles

In 2018, TEED returned with a series of four non-album singles, “Leave a Light On”, “Don’t You Forget About Me”, “Body Move”, and “Energy Fantasy”.

Live show

In tandem with the name he conceived a stage show which involved dressing up as a dinosaur while flanked by similarly dressed dancers.

TEED has also produced music for other artists including BBC Sound Of 2014 nominee, Banks. He has composed two songs with the American artist, “Warm Water” and “Bedroom Wall”. He has also provided feature vocals for Dillon Francis on “Without You”.

He has remixed a number of artists, notably Disclosure’s “F for You” and Foals “My Number”.

TEED has also presented shows on 6 Music and Rinse FM as well as performing live at Maida Vale Studios for Rob da Bank’s Radio 1 show and has made several appearances on the Boiler Room, including a back-to-back session with Friendly Fires.

His Trouble era live show combined visual and audio elements. He was notorious for his flamboyant headdresses and bright coloured handmade stage outfits and was usually accompanied by dancers. He has toured the globe extensively, with headline appearances at many of the world’s best-known festivals, including Glastonbury, Lollapalooza, Parklife, Secret Garden Party, Sónar, Amsterdam dance event and more.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

• All in One Sixty Dancehalls (2009), Greco-Roman
• All in Two Sixty Dancehalls (2010), Greco-Roman
• Household Goods (2010), Greco-Roman
• Prehistory (2011), Greco-Roman
• Prehistory II (2011), Greco-Roman
• I Can Hear the Birds (2020), I OH YOU

Singles

Other albums

• Kinshasa One Two as part of DRC Music led by Damon Albarn (2012), Warp

Remixes