Happy Rhodes

Infobox musical artist
Name = Happy Rhodes


Img_capt = Happy Rhodes in 2003
Img_size = 210
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Kimberley Tyler Rhodes
Alias =
Born = flagicon|US August 9, 1965 Poughkeepsie New York, US
Died =
Origin = Albany New York, US
Instrument = Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards
Genre = Alternative rock Art rock Acoustic Pop rock
Occupation = Musician, Vocalist, Songwriter
Years_active = 1984–present
Label =
Associated_acts = Project Lo, Bartlett/Rhodes
URL = http://www.auntiesocialmusic.com/
Notable_instruments =

Happy Rhodes (born August 9, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and electronic musician with a four octave vocal range.cite web | title = Happy Rhodes' 'Find Me' a stunning new offering | publisher = The Daily Freeman | url = http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19113845&BRD=1769&PAG=461&dept_id=81976&rfi=6 | accessdate = 2008-09-02 ] She has released 11 albums since 1986.

Family

Born Kimberley Tyler Rhodes but called "Happy" since infancy, she legally changed her name to Happy Tyler Rhodes at age 16. Through her father, Vernon H. Rhodes Jr., Rhodes is a distant relative of Cecil Rhodes and her first name "Kimberley" is after the Kimberley diamond mines. Her middle name "Tyler" is after the American actress Mary Tyler Moore, who was a friend of Rhodes' mother, Susan D. Stamper, while both took dance classes at the New York City Ballet. Rhodes' maternal grandfather [http://nfo.net/cal/ts8.html Dave Stamper] wrote songs for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1913 through 1931, as well as composed the music for several other Broadway shows. A family legend claims that Stamper wrote the well-known song "Shine On, Harvest Moon" in 1903 for Nora Bayes when he was working as her Vaudeville piano accompanist, but sold the rights and credit to Bayes and her husband Jack Norworth. Rhodes' parents divorced when she was young. Rhodes has two brothers, Chris Rhodes and Mark Rhodes, who are twins.cite web | title = The Happy Rhodes Interview | publisher = Homeground, The Kate Bush fanzine | url = http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3450/homeground.html | accessdate = 2008-09-02 ]

Musical background

Rhodes received her first musical instrument, an acoustic guitar, as a gift from her mother, at age 11. At 14 she was performing original songs in school shows. She left school early at age 16, choosing to obtain a GED. From age 16 to 18, Rhodes began performing in "Open Mic Nights" at [http://www.caffelena.org/ Caffè Lena] in Saratoga, New York. During this period, Rhodes met Pat Tessitore, the owner of a recording studio, Cathedral Sound Studios in Rensselaer, and became a studio intern to learn recording techniques. Tessitore was impressed with Rhodes' voice and songwriting, and volunteered to record all of the songs she had written to that point.

Tessitore introduced Rhodes to Kevin Bartlett, a musician who had his own record label, [http://www.auralgratification.com/ Aural Gratification] , and he urged her to gather up all the songs that she had recorded, to be released on cassette. She had enough songs to release three cassettes at the same time in 1986, "Rhodes Vol. I", "Rhodes Vol. II", and "Rearmament". In 1987, she released the cassette of "Ecto". Her first CD release was "Warpaint", in 1991. The first four albums were only available on hand-dubbed cassettes until they were re-released on CD in 1992. For the CD releases, "Rhodes Vol. I" was re-named "Rhodes I", and "Rhodes Vol. II" was re-named "Rhodes II". Each of the CD re-releases contained bonus tracks not on the original cassettes. Aural Gratification released nine Happy Rhodes albums between 1986 and 1995, including "Equipoise" and "RhodeSongs" in 1993, "Building The Colossus" in 1994 and "The Keep" in 1995. Rhodes left Aural Gratification in 1998.cite web | title = "She Wants More"-- After years of Indie Releases and Rare Live Performances, Happy Rhodes is Singing a Different Tune | publisher = Albany Metroland | url = http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3450/metroland1.html | accessdate = 2008-09-02 ]

Rhodes' 10th album, "Many Worlds Are Born Tonight", was released in August 1998 by Samson Music, a label founded by Norm Waitt Jr., brother of Ted Waitt, co-founder of the Gateway Computer company. Rhodes was dropped from Samson when the label decided to concentrate on other genres of music and Samson transferred rights to the material back to Rhodes, as well as unsold product.

In 2001 Rhodes recorded an 11th album, called "Find Me", which was released October 19, 2007.

Rhodes married musician Bob Muller in 2006 and they currently live on a farm in central upstate New York.

Influences

Rhodes has cited Wendy Carlos, Kate Bush, Queen, Yes, David Bowie, Bach and Peter Gabriel as primary influences. Her father owned a large record collection which included Bagpipe music and Switched-On Bach, by the then-Walter Carlos. By age nine, Rhodes could sing along with every note from that album. As a teenager she discovered the music of Queen and was impressed by their harmonies, which she later emulated on her first few albums. When Rhodes was introduced at age 16 to Kate Bush's music by an English pen pal, she was impressed by Bush's original writing style, vocal abilities and independence as a female artist.

Rhodes has cited Bach's Air on a G String as her favorite piece of music.

Many younger artists have cited Rhodes as an influence on their own music and/or outlook, including Noe Venable, Robert German, and Lisse Kathe.

Vocal Range

Rhodes is a natural alto, but self-trained her voice to reach the sopranocite web | title = Billboard Album Review | publisher = Billboard | url = http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3450/billboard1.html | accessdate = 2008-09-02 ] range singing along with Kate Bush's album "The Kick Inside" and Wendy Carlos' album "Switched-On Bach".

Her high voice can sound very similar to Kate Bush, and her highest recorded sung vocal phrase is D6, two octaves above middle C (C4) in a live performance of the Queen song "Lily of the Valley" [http://www.wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/HappyRhodesLive_TinAngel_05-10-96_2ndShow_LilyOfTheValley_Possessed.mp3] .

She has sung higher notes as background vocals, singing nonsense syllables like "ah" and "la". Her highest example of this type of singing is in her song "Runners" from her album Equipoise, where she hits G-Sharp6, two octaves above middle C (C4) [http://www.wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/highest.mp3] .

Her low voice can sound similar to Annie Lennox, and her lowest recorded note is A2, one octave below middle C, in her song "Charlie" [http://www.wretchawry.com/happy/snippets/HappyRhodes_CharlieSAMPLE.mp3] on her album "Find Me".

Her songs "When the Rain Came Down" [http://www.wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_Ecto15_WhenTheRainCameDown(CDbonustrack).mp3] on the album "Ecto", and "Winter" [http://www.wretchawry.com/happy/samples/HappyRhodes_ManyWorldsAreBornTonight10_Winter.mp3] on "Many Worlds Are Born Tonight" exhibit this range.

A2 to G-Sharp6 (aka A-Flat6) gives Rhodes a total range of 4 octaves.

Live Performances

Since 1992 Rhodes has only played live 50 times as a headliner. Rhodes has never undertaken a major tour of the United States, and has never played live anywhere outside of the United States. Most of her live shows have been in the northeast of America, primarily Philadelphia, the only city in the United States where she has a following, and New York City. Rhodes has sold out every show she's performed in Philadelphia when she was the headliner. She has performed several times at the [http://www.tinangel.com/index2.html Tin Angel] , where she always plays two shows in an evening. Rhodes has also played the [http://www.paintedbride.org/ Painted Bride Arts Center] in 1998, the [http://www.mideastclub.com/ Middle East Club] in 1995, the [http://www.manncenter.org/ Mann Theater] (opening for 10,000 Maniacs) and the [http://www.museum.upenn.edu/ University Museum Auditorium] , both in 1992. In New York City Rhodes has played the [http://www.bottomlinecabaret.com/ Bottom Line] several times, and performed at the El Flamingo Club in 1998. In 1994 Rhodes performed at YesFest, a convention for fans of the band Yes. She has also performed at the [http://www.knittingfactory.com/index.php Knitting Factory] in New York City as a guest of the band [http://www.lolorecords.com/project_lo.html Project Lo] .As a solo artist Rhodes has performed in Philadelphia, New York City, Cambridge, MA, Troy, NY, Albany, NY, Saratoga, NY, Woodstock, NY, Bearsville, NY, New Haven, CT, Danbury, CT, Maple Shade, NJ, Denville, NJ, Bryn Mawr, PA, Mechanicsburg, PA, Cleveland, OH, Toledo, OH, Kenosha, WI, Chicago, IL and Santa Cruz, CA.

Ectofest

In 1999 Meredith Tarr of New Haven and Chuck Stipak of Danbury, Connecticut organized a one-day music festival in Danbury to honor Rhodes and the mailing list Ecto, with all proceeds going to charity. The lineup for "Ectofest 1999," held on September 4, 1999, consisted of Rhodes, Rachael Sage, Sloan Wainwright, Susan McKeown and the [http://littlepro.com/news.html Mila Drumke Band] . Tarr and Stipak repeated the festival the next year and on September 2, 2000 "Ectofest 2000" featured Rhodes, [http://www.jessicaweiser.com/ Jessica Weiser] , Anne Heaton, [http://www.amyfairchild.com/index.html Amy Fairchild] , Sloan Wainwright, Merrie Amsterburg and Susan McKeown. In 2001, West Coast fans organized "Ectofest West" in Santa Cruz, California, held on June 9, 2001 at the [http://www.kuumbwajazz.org/ Kuumbwa Jazz Center] . Rhodes flew to California to perform but on the day of the concert she accidentally cut the ring finger on her fret hand while using a Leatherman tool, and severed the deep flexor tendon, as well as causing nerve damage. She was taken to the hospital where the hand was temporarily treated and bandaged. Rhodes performed 12 songs that evening sans guitar, relying on bandmates Eric Nicholas, Carl Adami and Bob Muller to fill in her parts. Rhodes had surgery on the finger when she returned from California and underwent physical therapy so she could play the guitar again. Ectofest West is the only time Rhodes has performed in front of an audience west of Chicago. Other performers at the festival were [http://www.cyoakhagrace.com/ Cyoakha Grace] , Jill Tracy and Veda Hille. [http://www.twoloons.com/ Two Loons for Tea] was scheduled to play but the band was stranded in Houston during a hurricane, and was not able to get to Santa Cruz in time. Rhodes was scheduled to play Ectofest 2001 on August 25, 2001 in Danbury, CT but had to bow out because of her injury. Performers at that show were [http://www.myspace.com/ediecareymusic Edie Carey] , Mila Drumke, Trina Hamlin, Jargon Society, Rachael Sage and Molly Zenobia. 2001's show was the last Ectofest until the [http://www.ectofest.com 2007 Ectofest] with Happy Rhodes, Noe Venable and Casey Desmond on September 8, 2007, at [http://www.lily-pad.net/ the Lily Pad] in Cambridge, MA. The show sold out 3 weeks in advance, with fans traveling from all over the United States and also Scotland and Germany.

Misc live info

* After 2001's Ectofest West, Rhodes didn't perform again until April 2003, when she performed at a house concert in New Haven with percussionist Bob Muller. Rhodes has also performed at house concerts in Maple Shade, NJ, Toledo, OH and Kenosha, WI.

* Rhodes' most recent solo performance prior to Ectofest '07 was at the [http://www.tinangel.com/index2.html Tin Angel] in Philadelphia on January 29, 2005, where she sold out two shows in the same evening.

* Rhodes has toured three times as guest keyboardist and vocalist for the Bon Lozaga band [http://www.lolorecords.com/project_lo.html Project Lo] , in 1997, 1999 and 2000.

* Through the years, Rhodes has performed live with backing musicians Bob Muller, Kevin Bartlett, Bon Lozaga, Carl Adami, Hansford Rowe, Kelly Bird, Martha Waterman, Eric Nicholas, Mark Foster, Ray Jung, Matthew Guarnere, Dave Sepowski, Peter Sheehan, Dean Sharp, Jamie Edwards and Paul Huesman.

* Rhodes has opened for or played on the same bill as 10,000 Maniacs, Shawn Colvin, [http://www.jeffreygaines.com/ Jeffrey Gaines] , Pete & Maura Kennedy, Kyle Davis, [http://www.barbarakessler.com/ Barbara Kessler] , [http://www.willyporter.com/ Willy Porter] , and Steve Forbert, among others.

* Musicians opening for Rhodes include [http://www.lolorecords.com/bon_lozaga.html Bon Lozaga] , [http://www.carynlin.com/ Caryn Lin] , [http://www.joyaskew.com/ Joy Askew] , Jen Hess, Ritual Motion, The Nudes, and Richard Johnson.

Fans

In 1991, Rhodes developed a following in Philadelphia through airplay on [http://www.xpn.org/ WXPN-FM] . Her song "Feed The Fire" (from her album "Warpaint") was said to be one of the station's most requested songs of 1991. Rhodes has received airplay and has been interviewed on radio shows such as the syndicated programs Echoes, and [http://www.theworldcafe.com/ The World Cafe] . She has received airplay on Morning Becomes Eclectic from KCRW in Santa Monica, CA, and WDST in Woodstock, NY, where Rhodes lived for a time.

Much of the attention Rhodes has received has been via less traditional routes:

* In 1987 Aural Gratification released a sampler tape of Rhodes' music from the album "Ecto". In late summer 1988 one of these cassettes was obtained by a programmer for an all-female-artists radio show called Suspended In Gaffa (named after a Kate Bush song) on [http://www.kkfi.org/ KKFI-FM] in Kansas City, MO. The programmer's discussion of Rhodes' music during 1989-1991 on the Kate Bush Usenet newsgroup rec.music.gaffa led to the formation in 1991 of the "Ecto" mailing list, named after Rhodes' 4th album and the song by the same name on the album.

* In 2000, an unknown person mislabeled one of Rhodes' non-album tracks, "When The Rain Came Down" (a bonus track on the CD re-release of "Ecto"), as being a duet between Kate Bush and Annie Lennox (who have never worked together), and shared it on the original Napster file-sharing network.

Ecto (the mailing list)

* [http://ecto.org Ecto] the Internet mailing list was created on June 13, 1991 by Jessica Koeppel Dembski out of Rutgers University. Originally called "Ectoplasm," the mailing list name was changed within a few days. It has operated continuously since its inception, and has from the beginning encouraged discussion of other musicians besides Happy Rhodes, especially female artists. The mailing list changed hands in the mid-'90's to Greg Bossert, then shortly thereafter to Rob Woiccak, who continues to administer the list. Jeff Wasilko hosts the mailing list at his [http://www.smoe.org/ smoe domain] , which hosts several other music mailing lists. Among fans, the term "Ecto," used as a genre name, has grown to encompass a number of musicians who do not fit comfortably in other musical genres, such as Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and Jane Siberry. Rhodes' fans have called themselves "Ectophiles" since almost the beginning of the mailing list, and the name was the inspiration for Tori Amos fans calling themselves "Toriphiles." Ecto remains a busy discussion list, with members discussing Happy Rhodes and much other "Ecto"-philic music .

* Rhodes thanks the "Ectophiles" in the liner notes of the CD re-releases of "Rhodes I", "Rhodes II", "Rearmament", "Ecto", "Many Worlds Are Born Tonight" and "Find Me".

*Rhodes and the mailing list Ecto were the inspiration for the creation of [http://ectoguide.org/ The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music] , a collection of music reviews by Ectophiles created in 1998 by poet and author [http://www.sff.net/people/neile/index.htp Neile Graham] .

*A fan magazine, Terra Incognita (aka Rhodeways), was published by Sharon Nichols from 1994 to 2000. Copies are still available [http://www.geocities.com/runly/backissues.html from her web site] .

Dark Lyrics

Listeners who delve into Rhodes' lyrics are often surprised to realize how dark they are, especially in her earlier albums. Rhodes often wrote songs about depression, suicide, death, ghosts, monsters and aliens because they are subjects that interested her. Rhodes has never spoken in-depth about her childhood, but several interviews have indicated that it was unhappy. School was especially difficult and she has talked about being tormented and abused by her peers. Painting and writing music were escapes for her and negative feelings were often translated into lyrics. Rhodes has said in interviews that she suffered from depression at various times in her life, and many fans feel that she is particularly talented in putting her feelings while depressed into words via her lyrics, often identifying closely with them.

The Monsters

The monster paintings on Rhodes' albums often cause viewers to do a double-take, and sometimes give the wrong impression of the music contained within. As Rhodes explains (the following used with kind permission of Happy Rhodes):

cquote|My father was a painter among other things. I was the only child in the family who displayed artistic talent, so my dad would always coach me. He'd say things like, "Don't henscratch. Just put your pencil to the paper and keep continuous lines as if you KNOW what you're drawing." He also said that nothing I create could be bad; that anything that comes from my imagination can only be good. I loved that because it gave me permission to draw from my imagination. I liked drawing monsters because it served two purposes. It repelled others, which was always a good thing for me, and it allowed me the freedom of not having to study anatomy. I enjoy anatomy very much, but it's so nice to be able to paint something without worrying about correct proportions. I realized at some point that I painted monsters to be my friends and protectors. They were always kind souls who would rip to shreds anyone who tried to hurt me. I sketched monsters throughout my adolescence, then when I was 14 I convinced my mother to let me paint a monster mural on my bedroom wall. It was about 7 feet tall, had horns, one leg ripped off, demonic eyes and taloned hands with twisted fingers. Oh - and long pointy teeth of course. The monster on my bedroom wall was named, "Alice." It was male not female. My brothers' friends would always ask to come in to see it. Later in my teens I started painting monsters on canvas. I was never a good painter but it was a great hobby for me at the time. I painted a monster on the saddlebag of a motorcycle. I took a picture of it and it became the album cover for "Rhodes I."

I continued painting monsters all over my room-some original and some from Dungeons and Dragons. When my mother sold the house a year later, I had to paint over every single one of them. I used two coats of primer and two coats of paint and Alice still kept bleeding through. Someday some poor little kid is going to wake up in the room and see the faint outline of a horrible creature staring at it.

Discography

Rhodes has released four studio albums and six compilation albums in her 20+ year career.

1983 - 1987

Her first four albums, "Rhodes Volume I" (1986), "Rhodes Volume II" (1986), " Rearmament" (1986) and "Ecto" (1987) were not conceived and recorded as album releases, but were a gathering together of songs recorded at Cathedral Sound Studios over a number of years. When fellow musician Kevin Bartlett offered to release Rhodes' songs on his cassette-only personal label Aural Gratification, Rhodes culled through the songs she had recorded and ordered them to her satisfaction. Rhodes I and Rhodes II are often considered to be a double album by fans because the songs are similar in theme and instrumentation. The third cassette, Rearmament, uses more electronic instrumentation and often displays the influence of Wendy Carlos.The fourth cassette, Ecto, contained a greater number of the more recent songs Rhodes had recorded and shows a greater maturity and complexity, foreshadowing the music Rhodes would make in the future.

1991 - 1995

Rhodes' first four albums were co-produced by Pat Tessitore and Rhodes, the 1991 album "Warpaint" was the first result of her collaboration with musician, producer and Aural Gratification record label owner Kevin Bartlett, and the first to feature musicians other than Rhodes. During this period, the two formed a duo named, appropriately enough, "Bartlett/Rhodes". They recorded a number of co-written songs and played a few dates, but the results were not generally considered successful, and they decided to continue on their individual endeavors. 1993 brought "Equipoise" an album of new material and RhodeSongs a compilation of music from Rhodes' first four album, alternative versions and a David Bowie cover. The cover of the 1994 album "Building the Colossus" commented on Rhodes' technically-oriented fan base with an album sub-head of "c:happy rhodes" and featured Peter Gabriel collaborators Jerry Marotta and David Torn. This exceptionally productive period was capped with the 1995compilation "The Keep", featuring acoustic versions of earlier songs, the traditional Christmas song "Oh Holy Night" and a medley of songs by the group Yes.

1996 - present

After having entertained a number of traditional record company offers, and rejecting them due to an unwillingness to give up rights to her music, Rhodes assumed production and engineering duties on the 1998 release "Many Worlds Are Born Tonight". Once the album was complete, she signed with a new label, Samson Music, and was able to tour the northeastern United States with a more elaborate stage show. While sales were far greater than her previous albums, Samson eventually decided to concentrate on their Gold Circle Films division and dropped Rhodes. The parting was amicable, and the label returned her musical rights, as well as all unsold product.

In 2001 Rhodes recorded a new album, "Find Me", but it was not released until 2007, although a limited-edition CD sampler consisting of 8 songs - "Fall", "Charlie", "The Chosen One", "Can't Let Go", "One And Many", "Find Me", "Here And Hereafter" and "She Won't Go" was sold at her 2005 concert. The album includes three additional songs - "Treehouse", "Little Brother" and "Queen". One additional song, "Shutdown", was recorded for the album but is not on the official release.

Musicians on "Find Me" include guitarist Bon Lozaga and bassist Hansford Rowe of Gongzilla, bassist Carl Adami, guitarists Ted Kumpel and Jon Cather and pianist Rob Schwimmer.

Collaborations

* Kevin Bartlett: the duo Bartlett/Rhodes (1987-1989)
** Bartlett/Rhodes demo recording (never publicly released)

* Samite
** Atmospheric backing vocals on "Stars To Share" from Samite's 1999 album "Stars To Share".

* William Ackerman
** Lead vocals on "Before We Left All This Behind" from Ackerman's 2001 album "Hearing Voices".

* Jeff Oster
** Atmospheric vocalizations on the instrumental songs "Haleakala," "Behind The Veil," "As I Live And Breathe, "Final Approach," "Matt's Mood" from Oster's 2005 album "Released".

References

External links

* [http://www.auntiesocialmusic.com/biography/index.htm Auntie Social Music - Official Happy Rhodes web site]
* [http://www.myspace.com/happyrhodes Happy Rhodes MySpace page - a fan page, but authorized by Happy Rhodes]
* [http://wretchawry.com/happy/samples/index.html Vickie's Place for Happy Rhodes Song Samples - authorized by Happy Rhodes]
* [http://wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/index.html Vickie's Place for Happy Rhodes Rarities - authorized by Happy Rhodes]
* [http://ecto.org Ecto Home Page - Happy Rhodes' lyrics - authorized by Happy Rhodes]
* [http://www.rhodeshows.com Rhodeshows - A fan site listing Happy's live shows]
* [http://wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/videolist.html List of live concert clips on YouTube]
* [http://wretchawry.com/happy/rarities/googlevideo.html List of Subtitled/Closed Captioned concert clips on Google Video]
* [http://ectoguide.org/artists/rhodes.happy Ectophiles' Guide to Happy Rhodes]
* [http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Studios/3450/terra Terra Incognita - a fan site]
* [http://ectoguide.org/ Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music]

Persondata
NAME=Rhodes, Happy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Singer/songwriter/musician
DATE OF BIRTH=August 9 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH=Poughkeepsie, New York
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=