Class Actress | |
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Birth name | Elizabeth Vanessa Harper |
Born | 1982or1983(age 42–43) |
Origin | Brooklyn, New York, US |
Genres | Synthpop |
Occupations |
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Years active | 2009–present |
Labels | |
Website | classactress |
Elizabeth Vanessa Harper [1] (born 1982 or 1983), [2] known professionally as Class Actress, is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Class Actress was originally conceived as a trio, consisting of Harper, Mark Richardson, and Scott Rosenthal. [3] [4]
Harper majored in drama in college and moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actress, but she was unable to make it work and soon found herself disillusioned by it. After relocating to Brooklyn, she decided to pursue a career in music instead. [5] She formed Elizabeth Harper & the Matinee, [5] and in 2004, Harper's self-titled debut solo album was released by UK label Angular Recording Corporation. [6]
Harper later contacted Philadelphia-based producer Mark Richardson, who had remixed a song from her debut album. [6] [7] She preferred Richardson's version to the original, and the two began recording songs at her house, [7] [8] trading Harper's previous guitar-based sound for electronic music, which she had long been interested in exploring. [3] [5] [8] Along with multi-instrumentalist and engineer Scott Rosenthal, Harper and Richardson formed Class Actress—the name being a joke on Harper's original career choice. [5] [8]
Class Actress released their debut extended play, Journal of Ardency, on February 9, 2010, on Terrible Records, which is run by Grizzly Bear's Chris Taylor. [4] The New York Times described it as "an alluringly precise recapturing of the winning chill of early '80s electro-pop". [9] The EP also drew comparisons to New Order, The Human League, and Depeche Mode, while Harper's vocals were likened to those of Blondie's Debbie Harry and Saint Etienne's Sarah Cracknell. [10]
The trio's debut studio album, Rapprocher , was released on October 18, 2011, by Carpark Records. Harper stated that the title—which means "to come closer" in French [11] —was inspired by "a French lover who broke [her] heart". [12] The album received generally positive reviews from music critics, obtaining a rating of 69 out of 100 based on 16 critics on review aggregate site Metacritic. [13] AllMusic named it one of the best indie pop and rock albums of 2011. [14] Rapprocher reached number 21 on Billboard 's Dance/Electronic Albums chart and number 27 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. [15] [16] The song "Keep You" was used in an episode of the fifth season of the teen drama television series Gossip Girl . [17]
As a solo artist under the moniker Class Actress, Harper signed to Casablanca Records in 2013. [18] That same year, she moved into a bungalow at The Beverly Hills Hotel in order to write and record songs. [19] [20] Class Actress premiered the track "More Than You" on May 20, 2015, [21] and on June 2, it was announced that her EP Movies would be released on June 23 via Casablanca and Republic Records. [18] Taking inspiration from "the films of '80s excess, glamor and self-discovery", [18] Harper wanted Movies to tell "a dark story of a woman who explores the glamorous fantasy life of a Hollywood party girl." [22] The EP was executive-produced by Giorgio Moroder and Evan Bogart, and features production by Harper herself, Moroder, Neon Indian, and Mess Kid. [19]
On June 30, 2016, Class Actress premiered a song titled "Glass Ceiling", along with an accompanying music video, through Terrible Records. The track was produced by Mess Kid. [23]
Title | Album details | Notes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Rapprocher |
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Title | Album details | Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Journal of Ardency |
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Movies |
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Title | Year | Director(s) |
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"Journal of Ardency" | 2010 | Patrick Cleandenim [28] |
"Adolescent Heart" | Jessica Lauretti [29] | |
"Let Me Take You Out" | 2011 | Brett Haley [30] |
"Weekend" | Bek Andersen [31] | |
"Bienvenue" | 2012 | Clement Gino and Gregory Faure [32] |
"Need to Know" | Jessica Lauretti [33] | |
"More Than You" | 2015 | John Merizalde [34] |
"GFE" | Rachel Maude and Gabriel Reilich [35] |
Class Actress' Elizabeth Harper: Cocteau Twins (Age 13, 1996, Lollapalooza)