Kay Hanley

Kay Hanley
Hanley in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Kathleen Marie Hanley
Born	(1968-09-11) September 11, 1968 Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Genres	Rock, folk, pop, acoustic, alternative
Instrument(s)	Vocals, guitar
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Zoë Records De Guerre

Kathleen Marie Hanley (born September 11, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist for the alternative rock band Letters to Cleo.

Life and career

Hanley was born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. She grew up diagonally across the street from Donnie and Mark Wahlberg. She was a member of Letters To Cleo from 1990 to 2000 (the length of the band's existence, with the exception of the 2008-2009 reunion tour). The band name was conceived by Hanley in reference to a pen pal named Cleo that she had when she was younger. In 1997, she began working on other projects, beginning with a role in the Boston Rock Opera's performance of Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene.

In 1999, Hanley appeared as herself in the film 10 Things I Hate About You, singing a cover version of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" at the movie characters' high school prom, in addition to performing "Come On" with Letters to Cleo during an earlier scene at a club. Towards the end of her Letters to Cleo career, she began performing with her then-husband and fellow Letters To Cleo member Michael Eisenstein outside of the band. Around the same time, she gave birth to their daughter, Zoe.

Upon the split of Letters to Cleo, Hanley embarked upon a solo career. She performed music for the Kids' WB cartoon series, Generation O! along with the rest of Letters to Cleo and provided the singing voice for Rachael Leigh Cook's character Josie in the movie Josie and the Pussycats. In 2002, she released her first solo album, Cherry Marmalade. That same year, she appeared on the Dropkick Murphys/Face to Face split CD, providing guest vocals on the original version of the Dropkick Murphys song "The Dirty Glass".

In 2003, Hanley was approached by Jun Senoue from Sega to co-write and perform on an original song for their upcoming entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, entitled Sonic Heroes. The result was the song "Follow Me."

In 2004, Hanley released a follow up to Cherry Marmalade, The Babydoll EP. That same year, she and her then-husband Michael Eisenstein had their second child, Henry Aaron, the name given in honor of baseball player Hank Aaron and their love for baseball.

In August 2005, Hanley recorded a cover of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" for the soundtrack of the Reese Witherspoon film Just Like Heaven. In September 2005, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of a pre-taped man-on-the-street segment, singing a song about falling in love at Starbucks.

Hanley is popular with fans of the New England Patriots thanks to the team at one point going 8–0 after she sang the pre-game National Anthem at Gillette Stadium. The streak came to an end when the Patriots lost on January 10, 2010 to the Baltimore Ravens. Hanley is also very involved with the Boston-based charity "Hot Stove, Cool Music," both as performer and spokesperson for the semi-annual event.

She sang the theme song for My Friends Tigger & Pooh, a half-hour Disney Channel TV show that premiered on Playhouse Disney on May 12, 2007 and "We Are Care Bears" from Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! and Care Bears to the Rescue.

Hanley and longtime writing partner Michelle Lewis currently compose all-original songs for animated television shows such as the hit Disney series, Doc McStuffins., Cartoon Network/WB's DC Super Hero Girls, and Harvey Girls Forever on Netflix.

She is co-executive director of Songwriters of North America, an LA based non-profit which advocates for fair pay and other rights for songwriters.

On Thanksgiving Day 2007, Hanley sang a song called "Caring Changes The World" in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Care Bears float.

In 2007-08, Hanley toured as a back-up singer with Miley Cyrus for Hannah Montana concerts and events.

Hanley's latest album, Weaponize, was released May 27, 2008.

Hanley provided vocals on Bowling For Soup's track "I've Never Done Anything Like This" from their album Fishin' for Woos.

Hanley co-wrote "Don't Wanna Be Famous" on the band The Dollyrots' eponymous album.

Discography

Letters to Cleo

Main article: Letters to Cleo § Discography

Pet Projects

The title of this section indicates projects that both Hanley and Eisenstein have taken an active interest in developing, in terms of playing multiple roles, including production as well as composition and/or instrumentation.

Year	Artist	Title	Label	Role
2003	The Gentlemen	Blondes Prefer the Gentlemen	Sodapop Records	Vocals
2007	Murder Capitol of the World	St. Jude's Revenge	Dot Rat	Vocals
2008	Cruiserweight	Big Bold Letters	Doghouse/Siren Songs	Composer, Background Vocals

Solo

Year	Title	Label
2002	Cherry Marmalade	Zoë Records
2003	The Paradise - Boston, MA 5/30/03 (live)	Instant Live
2004	The Babydoll EP
	The Paradise - Boston, MA 8/26/04 (live)
2006	Kay Hanley / Scamper split single CD	De Guerre/Scamper
2008	Weaponize	De Guerre

Soundtracks

Year	Title	Label
1996	The Craft	Sony
1999	10 Things I Hate About You	Hollywood Records
2001	Music from the Motion Picture Josie and the Pussycats	Sony
2003	Sonic Heroes	Pioneer/Geneon
2005	Just Like Heaven	Sony

Special appearances

Year	Artist	Title	Label	Role
1995	Mary Karlzen	Yelling at Mary	Atlantic Records	Background Vocals
2002	James Taylor	October Road	Sony	Choir, Chorus
2006	Agnes Chan	Forget Yourself	Bungalo Records	Background Vocals
	Peter Gammons	Never Slow Down, Never Grow Old	Rounder	Vocals
2008	Lisa Loeb	Camp Lisa	Furious Rose Productions	Vocal Harmony
2009	Will Dailey	Torrent, Vols. 1 & 2	BS	Background Vocals
2010	Lindsey Ray	Goodbye from California	LRay	Composer
	The Posies	Blood/Candy	Rykodisc	Vocals
2011	Bowling For Soup	Fishin' for Woos	MRI	Vocals, Sounds
	Will Dailey	Will Dailey & the Rivals	Universal Republic Records	Composer

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Type
1999	10 Things I Hate About You	Herself	Cameo
2000	Generation O!	Molly O	Voice
2001	Josie and the Pussycats	Josie McCoy	Voice
2007-early 2008	My Friends Tigger and Pooh	opening song performer (Season 1)	Performer
2014	Parks and Recreation	Herself	Cameo

Further reading

• MacNeil, Jason. "Kay Hanley". Allmusic. Retrieved January 21, 2012.

External links

• Kay Hanley on Twitter
• Letters to Cleo website
• Kay Hanley's MySpace
• Kay Hanley at IMDb
• Kay and USA Mike's Lynx