Kinnie Starr

Infobox musical artist
Name = Kinnie Starr


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Background = solo_singer
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Origin = Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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Genre = Canadian hip hop, alternative rock
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Years_active = 1995–present
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Kinnie Starr is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Calgary, Alberta. Her music, which blends hip hop and alternative rock, has been described as "hip hop aggro groove". Her songs have been included on the soundtracks for the TV series "The L Word" and the movie "Thirteen". She was nominated for the Juno Award for New Artist of the Year in 2004.

Biography

Starr is vocal about her Aboriginal heritage (her father, Michael Starr, is mixed-blood Mohawk) both in her music and her life. In 2006 she mentored aspiring Aboriginal musicians at the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Association's Aboriginal Music Program (AMP) Camp. Starr has also been open about her bisexuality, making her popular in the queer community.

Career

Starr attended Western Canada High School. After finishing school, she moved to Vancouver to pursue her music career. In 1992 she formed her first band there, but it was a trip to New York City that revealed the true extent of her talent, when a friend pushed her onstage at an East Village club's open-mic night. Her impromptu spoken-word poetry received three encores from the enthusiastic crowd.

Following a self-released demo called "Learning 2 Cook" in 1995, she released her debut album "Tidy" in 1996, mixing rock, punk, pop, and hip-hop, along with her trademark spoken-word poetry. On that album, she rapped in three languages: English, Spanish, and French.

Starr signed to major label group Island/Def Jam in 1997. The following year, Seagram bought Polygram, the parent company of Island Def Jam, and merged it into Universal Music Group. In the resulting upheaval, Starr felt she was lost in the shuffle and she asked to be released from her contract. The material she recorded for her first album with Island Def Jam, 1998's "Mending" was never released, though some record labels have talked of releasing the lost album.

Cirque du Soleil had pursued Starr to sing in their productions, and in 2003 she contracted with them to perform in Zumanity for two years. After releasing her 2003 album "Sun Again", she moved to Las Vegas. However, she was back home in Canada by the following year. The reasons for her leaving Cirque are unknown, as she is legally prohibited from speaking about her time there in interviews.

In 1997, Starr appeared on the Lilith Fair tour. In the late '90s and in 2004, she toured Canada with Veda Hille and Oh Susanna as part of the Scrappy Bitch Tour. In 2004, however, all three musicians were in happy romantic relationships, and thus Starr joked the tour should be renamed the "Sappy" Bitches.

In 2001, she played Reggie in "Down and Out with the Dolls", a Kurt Voss movie about a fictional all-girl rock band.

Starr creates the visual artwork that appears on her album covers and liner notes.

Starr has enlisted other Canadian musicians to appear on her albums over the years, including Swollen Members' Moka Only, Coco Love Alcorn, former Dream Warrior Spek and Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara. British Columbia-raised Nelly Furtado credits Starr as an influence.

Her latest album, "Anything", was released in Canada in May, 2006 on MapleMusic Recordings, and was released in the US in October, 2006.

Starr appeared as a guest on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on August 11, 2006. On August 31, her single "Anything" was the first-ever #1 single on CBC Radio 3's new countdown show "The R3-30".

Discography

* "Learn 2 Cook" demo (1995)
* "Tidy" (1996)
* "Tune-Up" (2000)
* "Sun Again" (2003)
* "Anything" (2006)

Awards & Nominations

2004

*Juno Awards
**New Artist of the Year ("Sun Again") - Nominated

Music Videos

*"Ophelia" Director: Marsha Herle
*"Month of Trickery" Director: Marsha Herle
*"Nearer" Director: Marsha Herle

External links

* [http://www.kinniestarr.com/ Kinnie Starr]
*
* " [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/S/Starr_Kinnie/2000/10/26/749928.html Kinnie Starr lost in race] " (October 26, 2000) - Article by Ian Nathanson in CANadian Online Explorer (CANOE) about Kinnie Starr.
* " [http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/S/Starr_Kinnie/2000/06/10/pf-749929.html New Starr of hip-hop] " (June 10, 2000) - Article by Lisa Wilton in CANadian Online Explorer (CANOE) about Kinnie Starr.
* [http://www.icebergradio.com/kinniestarr Kinnie Starr Interview]
*" [http://archive.cbcradio3.com/issues/2003_05_02/main.cfm?page=04 No Clowning Around: Kinnie Starr Runs Away With the Circus] " CBC Radio 3 artist feature; story by Michael Barclay, photography by Mackenzie Stroh
*" [http://www.cbcradio3.com/issues/2005_01_28/index.cfm?page=46 Follow the Sun: The Continuing Adventures of Kinnie Starr] " CBC Radio 3 Live Concert Session; story by Rachel Sanders, photography by Joanne K.