- Mary Lou Lord
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Mary Lou Lord 
Mary Lou Lord performing in 2006Background information Birth name Mary Lou Lord Born 1 March 1965
Salem, MassachusettsGenres Folk, folk rock, pop Occupations Singer-songwriter, busker Instruments Vocals, guitar Years active 1990–present Labels Kill Rock Stars, Work Records, Rubric Records Associated acts Elliott Smith Website Official website Mary Lou Lord (born March 1, 1965) is an indie folk musician, busker and recording artist.
Contents
Biography
Mary Lou Lord first gained notice playing acoustic guitar and singing in and around Boston's subway stations (particularly on the Red Line, as noted by the name she chose for her music and lyric publishing company, On the Red Line Music, administered by BMI.)
Lord became friends with Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain in the fall of 1991, before the group's rise to mainstream fame. The nature of Lord and Cobain's relationship was later rumored to be of a romantic nature.[1] This claim was refuted by Cobain and Lord, and both perpetuated and refuted by Courtney Love.[2][3][4]
Lord toured three separate times with Elliott Smith during the 1990s. Smith also wrote and helped Lord record a song called "I Figured You Out" in 1997.
Her recordings have been a mixture of covers (including songs by Elliott Smith and Richard Thompson) and original material, with a number of songs written by, or in collaboration with, Nick Saloman of the British band The Bevis Frond.
Her recording of Daniel Johnston's "Speeding Motorcycle" (which originally featured on her self-titled 8-song Kill Rock Stars release) was featured in commercials for Target stores, after which her label reissued the song as the lead-off track of a CD single which also included two demo recordings from the sessions for Got No Shadow.
In 2001, Lord released Live City Sounds. This was a self-released disc of Mary Lou playing live in the Boston subway. The disc was later re-released after Mary Lou signed to Rubric Records.
She announced in 2005 that she suffered from a rare vocal cord affliction known as spasmodic dysphonia. She thereafter became more involved in A&R work and started a new management company with Kevin Patey, Jittery Jack Management.
Discography
Albums
- Real - Deep Music (1992)
- TSWL (To Sir With Love) - EW Productions/Demo tape (1993)
- Mary Lou Lord - Kill Rock Stars (1995)
- Got No Shadow - The WORK Group (1998)
- Live City Sounds - Self-released, (2001) / reissue: Rubric Records (2002)
- Baby Blue - Rubric Records (2004)
EPs and singles
- Some Jingle Jangle Morning (When I'm Straight) 7" vinyl single - Kill Rock Stars (1993)
- Martian Saints! EP - Kill Rock Stars (1997)
- Mind the Gap EP - The WORK Group (1997)
- The Pace of Change EP - The WORK Group (1998)
- Lights Are Changing EP - The WORK Group (1998)
- She Had You single - The WORK Group (1998)
- (Untitled) EP - Kill Rock Stars (1999)
- Mary Lou Lord/Sean Na Na Split EP - Kill Rock Stars (2000)
- Speeding Motorcycle EP - Rubric Records (2001)
Compilation and soundtrack contributions
- Stars Kill Rock: "Camden Town Rain" - Kill Rock Stars (1993)
- A Slice of Lemon: "Eternal Circle" - Kill Rock Stars/Lookout Records (1996)
- Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon: "Power to the People" (with The Minus 5) - Hollywood Records (1995)
- Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits: "Sugar, Sugar" (with Semisonic), - MCA Records (1995)
- Safe and Sound[disambiguation needed
]: "Polaroids" - Big Rig Records / Mercury Records (1996) - Jabberjaw: Pure Sweet Hell: "Birthday Boy" - Mammoth Records (1996)
- Yo Yo A Go Go: "Helsinki (live)" - Yo Yo Recordings (1996)
- Everybody Wants Some[disambiguation needed ]: "Jump" - CherryDisc (1997)
- 107.1 KGSR / Radio Austin - Broadcasts Volume 6: "His N.D. World" (live) - KGSR (1998)
- Zero Effect Motion Picture Soundtrack: "Some Jingle Jangle Morning" - Sony Music (1998)
- Wicked Good Sampler Vol. IV : "On the Avenue" - Sony Music (1998)
- SXSW Volume 5: "I'm Talking To You" (live) - SXSW (1999)
- Transmission 1: Tea at the Palaz of Hoon: "The Outdoor Miner" - Cosmodemonic Telegraph Inc. (2000)
- Rubric 01: "From Galway to Graceland" - Rubric Records (2000)
- Gordon Gano: Hitting The Ground: "Oh Wonder" - Cooking Vinyl (2002)
- For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records: "Cold Company" - Bloodshot Records (2005)
King Vinyl (2002)
- Joe Harvard: Country Eastern – AERIA Records (2008)
Notes
- ^ About a girl, When Mary Lou Lord met Kurt Cobain. An exclusive excerpt from Everett True’s new Nirvana: The Biography http://thephoenix.com/boston/music/36444-about-a-girl/
- ^ About Me & Kurt http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/44121370.html http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=340720731549
- ^ " JUST THE FAX: Kurt Cobain to the Phoenix: 'F--- off!'" http://www.thephoenix.com/article_ektid36467.aspx
- ^ Halperin, Ian & Wallace, Max. Love and Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain, p.272. Citadel Press. ISBN 0-7434-8484-3
External links
Categories:- 1965 births
- Living people
- American buskers
- American female guitarists
- American female singers
- American rock singer-songwriters
- American rock singers
- Songwriters from Massachusetts
- Female rock singers
- Musicians from Massachusetts
- People from Salem, Massachusetts
- The Minus 5 members
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