Freda Love Smith (born Freda Boner, later used the stage name Freda Love) is an American musician, journalist, and non-fiction author. Smith is known as a drummer and vocalist for several alternative rock bands, including Blake Babies, Antenna, Mysteries of Life, Some Girls and Sunshine Boys. [1] She is the author of Red Velvet Underground, a memoir and cookbook published in 2015 [2] and of I Quit Everything, "an account of one woman's quest to shed addictive substances and behaviors in her life - which dares to ask if we're really better off without them." [3]
Smith attended Indiana University, where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in general studies. She also earned a Master of Arts degree from Nottingham Trent University in creative writing. Smith was a lecturer and undergraduate advisor for the Northwestern University Department of Radio/Television/Film until 2022. [4]
Juliana Hatfield is an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area, formerly of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls, and The Lemonheads. She also fronted her band, The Juliana Hatfield Three, along with bassist Dean Fisher and drummer Todd Philips, active in the mid-1990s and the mid-2010s. It was with the Juliana Hatfield Three that she produced her best-charting work, including the critically acclaimed album Become What You Are (1993), which featured the singles "My Sister" (1993) and "Spin the Bottle".
Lewis Allan Reed was an American musician and songwriter. He was the guitarist, singer, and principal songwriter for the rock band The Velvet Underground and had a solo career that spanned five decades. Although not commercially successful during its existence, the Velvet Underground came to be regarded as one of the most influential bands in the history of underground and alternative rock music. Reed's distinctive deadpan voice, poetic and transgressive lyrics, and experimental guitar playing were trademarks throughout his long career.
Christa Päffgen, known by her stage name Nico, was a German singer, songwriter, actress, and model.
Erzulie is a family of loa, or spirits, in Vodou.
Freda Charcilia Payne is an American singer and actress. Payne is best known for her career in music during the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. Her most notable record is her 1970 hit single "Band of Gold". Payne was also an actress in musicals and film as well as the host of a TV talk show. Payne is the older sister of Scherrie Payne, a former singer with the American vocal group the Supremes. She also acted on Living Single.
Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public university in New Jersey. As of June 2024, there were 22,570 total enrolled students: 18,062 undergraduate students and 4,508 graduate students. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity". The campus covers approximately 252 acres (1.02 km2). The university offers more than 300 majors, minors, and concentrations.
Felix da Housecat is an American DJ and record producer, mostly known for house music and electro. Felix is regarded as a member of the second wave of Chicago house.
Invictus Records was an American record label based in Detroit, Michigan. It was created by former top Motown producers Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, Jr.. It was the sister label to the Buddah-distributed Hot Wax Records, which was also owned by Holland-Dozier-Holland.
Mary Gaitskill is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories, and The O. Henry Prize Stories. Her books include the short story collection Bad Behavior (1988) and Veronica (2005), which was nominated for both the National Book Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.
Kathleen Troccoli is an American contemporary Christian music singer, songwriter, author, and speaker.
Tubeway Army is the debut studio album by the English new wave band Tubeway Army, released in 1978. Its initial limited-edition run of 5,000 sold out but did not chart. When reissued in mid-1979, following the success of the follow-up Replicas (1979), the more commonly known cover art featuring a stylised portrait of Gary Numan was introduced. This release made No. 14 in the UK Albums Chart.
Kathryn Marie Hahn is an American actress. She began her career on television, starring as a grief counselor in the NBC crime drama series Crossing Jordan (2001–2007). Hahn gained prominence appearing as a supporting actress in a number of comedy films, including How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003), Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), Step Brothers (2008), Our Idiot Brother (2011), We're the Millers and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022).
Joy Harjo is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to have served three terms. Harjo is a citizen of the Muscogee Nation and belongs to Oce Vpofv. She is an important figure in the second wave of the literary Native American Renaissance of the late 20th century. She studied at the Institute of American Indian Arts, completed her undergraduate degree at University of New Mexico in 1976, and earned an MFA degree at the University of Iowa in its creative writing program.
Kim Walker-Smith is an American singer, songwriter, worship leader, and recording artist. She produced her first solo album, Here Is My Song, which was released in February 2008 through the Jesus Culture record label. Walker-Smith was best known as the worship leader for the Jesus Culture Band and Jesus Culture events, and as a worship pastor for Bethel Church in Redding.
The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. It originally comprised the singer and guitarist Lou Reed, the Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, the guitarist Sterling Morrison and the drummer Angus MacLise. In 1965, MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker, who played on most of the band's recordings. Though their integration of rock and the avant-garde earned them little commercial success, they are now widely regarded as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. Their provocative subject matter, experimentation, and nihilistic attitude were also instrumental in the development of punk rock, new wave and several other genres.
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with some of the genre's distinguishing characteristics being improvisational performances, avant-garde influences, odd instrumentation, opaque lyrics, unorthodox structures and rhythms, and an underlying rejection of commercial aspirations.
Freda Leslie Whitlam, was an Australian educator and feminist. Whitlam was a leader in the Uniting Church. She is best known for her work as the principal of the Presbyterian Ladies' College (PLC), at Croydon in inner-west Sydney, where she worked for 18 years.
Kathleen Barber is an American writer and non-practicing lawyer. Television rights to her 2017 debut novel Are You Sleeping were sold to Hello Sunshine, and a series called "Truth Be Told", based on the book, was produced for Apple TV+ and debuted in December 2019.
Parneshia Jones is an American publisher, poet, and editor. She is the author of a 2015 poetry collection, Vessel, which won the Midwest Book Award. In 2020, Jones was appointed director of Northwestern University Press.
Jillian Mele is a former American news anchor and reporter who is best known for serving as co-host on Fox & Friends First from March 2017 to October 2021.