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Artist Biography
by Jason Ankeny
A founding member of three of the most successful bands of the post-punk era, singer/songwriter
Tanya Donelly was born July 14, 1966, in Newport, Rhode Island. At the age of 16, she and stepsister
Kristin Hersh formed
Throwing Muses, which in 1985 became the first American band ever signed to the influential British label 4AD; not only did
the Muses'
dreamy, swirling guitar sound prove highly influential on many of the
alternative acts to emerge in their wake, but they also made any number
of unprecedented advances into the male-dominated world of underground
rock. The group was primarily
Hersh's project, however, and in 1989
Donelly sidelined with
Pixies bassist
Kim Deal in
the Breeders, appearing on their debut LP,
Pod.
While originally designed as a forum for both
Donelly and
Deal, the latter soon assumed control of the group, and by 1991
Donelly had exited both
the Breeders and
Throwing Muses to form her own band,
Belly. After issuing a pair of well-received EPs,
Belly released their 1993 full-length debut,
Star -- a superb collection of luminous, fairy tale-like guitar pop songs -- and for the first time in her career,
Donelly
earned commercial success commensurate to her usual critical accolades;
not only did the record go gold on the strength of the hit single "Feed
the Tree," but the band even garnered a Grammy nomination for Best New
Artist. However, when 1995's
King failed to live up to high expectations,
Donelly disbanded
Belly to pursue a career as a solo artist;
Lovesongs for Underdogs, her debut LP, appeared in 1997.
After a tour in support of the album, she and husband
Dean Fisher took a break and traveled to Central America. Two years later, she and
Fisher welcomed a daughter whom they named Gracie. Motherhood was now
Donelly's
focus, but she still found time for music. In between raising a child
and weekend trips to the studio, she issued the Storm EP in 2002. A
month later, her long-awaited sophomore effort,
Beautysleep, was released.
Whiskey Tango Ghosts followed in 2004. For her fourth album,
Donelly and a host of musicians gathered at an old hotel in Bellows Falls, Vermont to record
This Hungry Life before a small club audience. The ten-song set arrived on Eleven Thirty Records in October 2006.
In August 2013,
Donelly released the first in a series of EPs she called
The Swan Song Series,
in which she collaborated with a diverse range of musicians, writers,
and artists. Participants in the project included singer/songwriters
Bill Janovitz and
Robyn Hitchcock, as well as novelists and occasional songwriters
Rick Moody and
Wesley Stace (aka
John Wesley Harding). The
Swan Song Series
EPs were later collected into a three-CD (or three-LP) set from
American Laundromat Records, released in May 2016.
Tracklist
