| Kim Deal | |
|---|---|
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kimberly Ann Deal |
| Also known as | Mrs. John Murphy Tammy Ampersand |
| Born | June 10 1961 Dayton, Ohio |
| Genre(s) | Alternative rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals Bass guitar Guitar Drums |
| Years active | 1985 — present |
| Label(s) | 4AD |
| Associated acts |
Pixies The Amps The Breeders |
Kimberly Ann Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Deal first joined the Pixies in January 1985 as the band's bassist, adopting the stage name Mrs. John Murphy for the band's releases Come on Pilgrim and Surfer Rosa. After Doolittle and the Pixies' resulting hiatus, she formed The Breeders with Tanya Donelly and Josephine Wiggs. After the Pixies reconvened in 1991, Deal felt increasingly sidelined by the band's frontman, Black Francis; this led to the Pixies' breakup in early 1993. Deal then returned her focus to The Breeders, who released the platinum-selling album Last Splash (1993). In 1994, the band went into hiatus after her identical twin sister, Kelley Deal, entered drug rehabilitation. During The Breeders' eight year break, Deal adopted the stage name Tammy Ampersand and formed The Amps, who recorded a single album, Pacer (1995). She resumed her role as The Breeders' guitarist for their third album Title TK (2002), and reunited with the Pixies in 2004. As of 2008, Deal is touring with the Pixies and recording with The Breeders.
Contents |
Biography
Youth and college
Kimberly Deal was born in Dayton, Ohio on 10 June1961.[1] Her father was a physicist who worked at the nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.[2] Kim and her identical twin sister Kelley were introduced to music at a young age; the two sang to a "two-track, quarter-inch, tape" when they were "four or five" years old,[3] and grew up listening to hard rock bands such as AC/DC and Led Zeppelin.[2] When Deal was 11, she learned Roger Miller's "King of the Road" on the acoustic guitar. In high school, at Wayne High School in Huber Heights, she was a cheerleader and often got into conflicts with authority.[3] "We were popular girls", Kelley explained, "We got good grades and played sports".[2] As a teenager, Kim formed a folk rock band named The Breeders with Kelley. She then became a prolific songwriter, as she found it easier to write songs than cover them. Deal later commented on her songwriting output: "I got like a hundred songs when I was like 16, 17. [...] The music is pretty good, but the lyrics are just like, OH MY GOD. We were just trying to figure out how blues rhymes with you. When I was writing 'em, they didn't have anything to do with who I was."[4] The Deals bought microphones, an eight-track tape player, mixing boards, speakers and amps for a bedroom studio; according to Kelley, they "had the whole thing set up by the time we were 17". They later bought a drum machine "so it would feel like we were more in a band".[5] Following high school, Deal went to seven different colleges, including Ohio State University, but did not graduate from any of them.[2] She eventually received an associate degree in biology and took several jobs in cellular biology, including working in a hospital labratory and a biochemical lab.[6] Deal met John Murphy, an Air Force defense contractor who had recently moved to Dayton, through her brother, Kevin; Murphy and Deal then started to date. Although Murphy was not a musician himself, he wrote the song "Hoverin'" with Deal. The couple married on Memorial Day, 1984, and moved to Murphy's hometown of Boston, Massachusetts in January 1985.[7]
Pixies
Deal became a bassist and backing vocalist for the Pixies in January 1985, after answering an advertisement in the Boston Phoenix for a bassist who was into hardcore punk band Hüsker Dü and folk music icons Peter, Paul and Mary. Deal was the only person to respond and arrived at the audition without a bass guitar; she had never played the instrument before.[8][9] She claimed her twin sister Kelley Deal had a bass back in Dayton and that she had no money to get it. Thompson lent her $50 for the airfare and Deal returned with the bass guitar.[10] She joined lead guitarist Joey Santiago and frontman and guitarist Charles Thompson, who had formed the band a week earlier.[11] To complete the lineup, Murphy suggested they hire David Lovering, a friend of his, as drummer; Deal had already met Lovering at her wedding reception.[12][13] For the release of the band's first recording Come on Pilgrim (1987), Deal, whose day job was as a receptionist at a doctor's office, adopted the stage name "Mrs. John Murphy," following Thompson's choice of the name Black Francis. She chose the name as an ironic feminist joke, after conversing with a lady who wished to be called by her husband's name. For Surfer Rosa (1988), Deal sang lead vocals on the album's only single "Gigantic" (sample ). Co-written with Francis, "Gigantic" was one of her few contributions to the band's output. Doolittle followed a year later, with Deal contributing the song "Silver" and appearing on slide guitar. By this time, however, tensions began to develop between her and Francis, with bickering and standoffs between the two marring the album's recording sessions. This led to increased stress between the band members.[14] Husband Murphy commented that during the sessions, it "went from just all fun to work" for the Pixies.[15] Exhaustion from releasing three records in two years and touring contributed to the friction. This culminated at the end of the US "Fuck or Fight" tour, where they were too tired to attend the end-of-tour party. The band soon announced a hiatus.[16]
The Breeders and Pod
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"Iris" Image:IrisTheBreeders.ogg is the eighth track of Pod. This album version sample contains the chorus. - Problems playing the files? See media help.
During a 1988 post-Surfer Rosa tour of Europe with Throwing Muses as part of the Pixies, Deal began to write new material. As both bands did not have plans for the short term, Deal discussed possible side-projects with Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly. After rejecting the idea of creating a dance album together, the pair decided to form a new band.[17] Deal named the band The Breeders, after the folk band she formed with Kelley as a teenager, and they recruited Carrie Bradley, violinist and vocalist in Ed's Redeeming Qualities, to record a short demo tape.[18] The Breeders' demo was sent to 4AD head Ivo Watts-Russell, who immediately signed them to the label. The Breeders allowed Deal to become more active in songwriting, and their debut album, Pod (1990), containing mostly Deal-written songs, was recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland by Steve Albini.
Bossanova and Trompe le Monde
Deal recorded and performed with the Pixies until 1992, when the group split, largely because of increasing tension between her and frontman Black Francis.
Last Splash and The Breeders
A year after the Pixies breakup, Kim's identical twin sister Kelley Deal joined The Breeders on lead guitar and the band released its second album, Last Splash, to critical acclaim and considerable commercial success. The record went platinum within a year of its release. At the height of The Breeders' popularity in the mid-1990s, they scored a number of MTV hits, including "Cannonball," "Divine Hammer," and "Saints." The band also released the vinyl-only "Head to Toe" 10" EP during the summer of 1994, when they appeared on the main stage of Lollapalooza. Although the band went into stasis in 1994 when Kelley Deal entered rehab for heroin addiction, they never officially split up, and in 2002 released Title TK.
The Amps and other projects
During this 8-year hiatus, Kim Deal kept busy by forming, recording, and touring with The Amps. After a few gigs where Deal went by the moniker Tammy Ampersand, The Amps released their single LP, Pacer. The record had a generally enthusiastic reception from reviewers, but no commercial success whatsoever. She also produced music for other groups, most notably fellow Dayton band Guided by Voices (one of the songs in Pacer was co-written with GbV's Robert Pollard). Kim contributed her voice to the Sonic Youth single, "Little Trouble Girl" from their 1995 album Washing Machine.
Title TK, Pixies reunion and beyond
In 2004, Kim Deal returned to a newly-reunited Pixies and toured North America with them. One notable performance included a live taping for public television's "Austin City Limits" in October of 2004. Pixies also played the Coachella Festival in Indio, CA in 2004 and headlined Lollapalooza in 2005 at Chicago's Grant Park. Pixies also toured the UK to massive acclaim including a headline appearance at the Reading/Leeds Festival. The Breeders have announced a full-length studio album, Mountain Battles, will appear in April 2008.
Legacy
Musical tributes
Dandy Warhols' released a tribute song, "Cool As Kim Deal", on their 1997 album ...The Dandy Warhols Come Down. Japanese rock group the pillows released a tribute song, "Kim Deal", on 1999's HAPPY BIVOUAC. The line "Here Comes Your Man" appears at the end of their song "Backseat Dog," and immediately precedes "Kim Deal" in the track listing. Boston band Francine released a tribute song, "Pop Warner", on their 2000 album Forty on a Fall Day. It references some of her work with the Amps. French Indie-Rocker Julie Peel covered Kim Deal's "Divine Hammer" for a limited edition blue vinyl split single released by indie label American Laundromat Records in December 2006. American Laundromat Records announced plans to release a Kim Deal Tribute CD in late 2007 or early 2008. Bands from all over the world will cover Kim's work from the Pixies, The Breeders, and The Amps. Jim DeRogatis' book Staring At Sound states that The Flaming Lips song "Kim's Watermelon Gun" is a "song that paints an impressionistic portrait of [...] Kim Deal", whom band member Steven Drozd befriended when they met at Lollapalooza.
Television appearances and videos
She also contributed to Ultra Vivid Scene's "Special One" single (1990). In the video for that song she cheerfully knocks Ultra Vivid Scene's singer Kurt Ralske off a bar stool (& near the end of the video she even slaps his face too). She also appeared in the BBC's "Seven Ages of Rock" documentary series and talked about the style of the Pixies' music, and its influence on other musicians, most notably Kurt Cobain.
References
- Frank, Josh; Ganz, Caryn. (2005). Fool the World: The Oral History of a Band Called Pixies. Virgin Books. ISBN 0-312-34007-9.
- Sisario, Ben. (2006). Doolittle. Continuum, 33⅓ series. ISBN 0-8264-1774-4.
Notes
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 4
- ^ a b c d Glickman, Simon. The Breeders biography. MusicianGuide.com. Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
- ^ a b Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 5
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 6
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 8
- ^ The two Kims - Kim Gordon; Kim Deal interview. FindArticles.com (November 1995). Retrieved on 2007-12-02.
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. pp. 11-2
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 15
- ^ Sisario, 2006. p. 14
- ^ Biel, Jean-Michel; Gourraud, Christophe. A Pixies History. Alec Eiffel. Retrieved on 2006-08-29.
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 13
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 18
- ^ Sisario, 2006. pp. 8-9
- ^ Sisario, 2006. p. 53
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 115
- ^ Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Pixies > Biography. All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2006-09-10.
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 105
- ^ Frank, Ganz, 2005. p. 106
External links
- Kim Deal at the All Music Guide
- Kim Deal at Last.fm
- Kim Deal at the Internet Movie Database
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| Kim Deal · Kelley Deal · Mando Lopez · Jose Medeles Carrie Bradley · Tanya Donelly · Nate Farley · Jim Macpherson · Richard Presely · Britt Walford · Josephine Wiggs |
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| Albums and EPs | Pod · Safari · Last Splash · Head to Toe · Live in Stockholm 1994 · Title TK · Mountain Battles |
| Singles | "Cannonball" · "Divine Hammer" · "Saints" · "Off You" · "Huffer" · "Son of Three" |
| Related articles | Discography · The Amps · Belly · The Kelley Deal 6000 · Throwing Muses |
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| Black Francis · Kim Deal · Joey Santiago · David Lovering | |
| Studio albums | Come on Pilgrim (EP) · Surfer Rosa · Doolittle · Bossanova · Trompe le Monde |
| Compilations and live albums | Complete 'B' Sides · Death to the Pixies · Pixies at the BBC · Pixies (The Purple Tape) · Wave of Mutilation: Best of Pixies |
| Singles | "Gigantic" · "Monkey Gone to Heaven" · "Here Comes Your Man" · "Velouria" · "Dig for Fire" · "Planet of Sound" · "Alec Eiffel" · "Head On" · "Debaser" · "Bam Thwok" |
| Related articles | Full discography · Songs · The Breeders · Frank Black and the Catholics · The Amps · The Martinis · Tributes to the Pixies |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Deal, Kimberly Ann |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Deal, Kim; Murphy, Mrs. John |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Alternative rock musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1961 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Dayton, Ohio, United States of America |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
