Poe (singer)

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Poe

Annie Danielewski at EdgeFest in Dayton, Ohio, 1996 (Photo by Kent Hagan)
Background information
Birth name Anne Decatur Danielewski
Born March 23, 1967 (1967-03-23) (age 44)
Origin New York City, U.S.
Genres Alternative rock
Pop rock
Hard rock
Electronica
R'n'B
Occupations Musician, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, Guitar
Years active 1995–present
Labels Atlantic Records

Anne "Annie" Decatur Danielewski (born March 23, 1967),[1] professionally known as Poe, is an American singer and songwriter.[2][3] She first hit the modern rock charts in the mid-1990s. Poe is the daughter of Polish film director Tad Danielewski and his second wife, Priscilla Machold. She is the sister of author Mark Z. Danielewski. Poe's musical style is a blend of folk, rock and electronica elements backing intimate lyrical compositions. Poe was signed to Atlantic Records from 1995–2001. She is currently on her own label, RePoezessed Records.

Contents

[edit] History

Poe grew up in Provo, Utah, where her father was a professor at Brigham Young University. She eventually began pursuing her undergraduate studies at Princeton University where she organized her first band. Her first album, Hello, was released in 1995. Her debut single, "Angry Johnny", got much radio and MTV airplay.

Occupied by extensive small club tours, she was unable to produce a second album until 2000's Haunted. Poe included her late father on Haunted after discovering cassette tapes containing his voice. Listening to them the first time proved so difficult that she was hesitant to use them in her music. "I took these tapes home and I couldn't listen to them," Poe explains. "It was too hard, so I kept finding ways to avoid it. They were sitting on my coffee table next to a boombox."[4] The album also dovetails with themes and concepts from her brother Mark's postmodern novel House of Leaves; the CD and the book were released simultaneously. Poe and Mark toured together across America at Borders Books and Music locations in support of the album and the novel.

A remix of the song, "Hey Pretty", featured Mark reading a passage from the novel. It was released on one of the Haunted singles and became a radio hit. "Hey Pretty" was also the theme to a short-lived MTV soap opera Spyder Games. The show usually ended with bits of the risque video or a picture of the single's cover. In 10 Things I Hate About You the character of Kat has the Poe ball on her schoolbook.[citation needed]

Poe started a campaign which she referred to as the "Re-POE-Session", an attempt to gain control of her master recordings from her former record label, Atlantic Records, because they refused to re-release her albums although she was still under contract. In 2004, both albums were re-released on CD by FEI/Sheridan Square Records, and in downloadable form on various online music stores.

According to statements on her official forum, Poe started work on a third album, but details are sketchy and several years have passed since the first announcement. Her most recent work includes collaborations with Rhys Fulber's solo project, Conjure One. She has had a part in the writing and singing of five songs on Conjure One's albums: "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" on the self-titled first album and "Endless Dream", "One Word" and "Extraordinary Way" on Extraordinary Ways. She is credited as Jane on this later album.

Poe appeared in the movie Gossip performing the song "My Lips are Sealed" (a cover of The Go-Go's' "Our Lips Are Sealed"), and as a CGI character, Mary Magdalene/Plague, in the PlayStation game Apocalypse. Apocalypse also featured an alternate version of her song "Control", later released on Haunted.

Poe provides the voice of "Single Mother" in the movie musical Repo! The Genetic Opera, along with other voices. In November 2007 Poe began collecting MP3 recordings of dream accounts on her website, Repoezessed.

On January 28, 2010, Poe performed several songs live as part of a charity benefit concert in LA.[5] Around the same time, her official website was moved to Ning. She also announced that she was returning to the music scene after facing a decade of legal battles over her original major label contract, and she said that she would be setting a release date for "something new" in the near future.[6]

The Song "Haunted" appears in the Xbox 360 game Alan Wake released in May 2010. It is also used over the closing credits of the 2000 movie Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 but is not included on the soundtrack release.

Poe lends vocals to two songs on the Real Steel Original Motion Picture Score ("Why We're Here" and "Parkway Hotel") composed by Danny Elfman, released November 1st, 2011.[7]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales threshold)
US US Heat
1995 Hello 71 4
2000 Haunted
  • Release date: October 31, 2000
  • Label: Atlantic Records
115
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

[edit] Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
US Alt Rock US Dance US Adult Top 40
1995 "Trigger Happy Jack (Drive By a Go-Go)" 27 Hello
"Angry Johnny" 7
1996 "Hello" 13 1
1998 "Today" Great Expectations soundtrack
"Rise and Shine" Promo only
"Control" Haunted
2000 "Walk the Walk
2001 "Hey Pretty" 13 30
"Wild"

[edit] Unreleased/compilation

  • "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (1996) originally on KROQ-FM's Kevin & Bean's Christmastime In The LBC and then re-released in 1997 on The Best of Kevin and Bean: A Family Christmas in Your Ass.
  • "A Rose is a Rose" on the various artist album, Lounge-a-palooza (1997)
  • "I Cain't Say No" (an Oklahoma! showtune cover) on the Welcome to Woop Woop Soundtrack (1998)
  • "Padre Fear" (1995) Non-LP Track. Found on the CD single of Trigger Happy Jack (Drive By A Go-Go)
  • "Which Way to the Top?" (additional vocals) on Fastball's All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998)
  • "Strange Wind" on the Anywhere But Here Soundtrack (1999)
  • "My Lips are Sealed" (cover) on the Gossip soundtrack (1999)
  • "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" with Conjure One (2002)
  • "Endless Dream," "One Word", and "Extraordinary Way" with Conjure One (credited as "Jane") (2005)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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