Lady Miss Kier | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Kierin Michele Kirby |
Also known as | Lady Kier, Kier Kirby |
Born | Youngstown, Ohio, U.S. | August 15, 1963
Origin | New York City, New York, U.S. |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, DJ, producer |
Instrument | Vocals |
Years active | 1986–present |
Labels | Elektra Pluto Moon |
Website | ladykier |
Kierin Magenta Kirby (born August 15, 1963), known professionally as Lady Miss Kier, is an American singer, songwriter and DJ. Lady Miss Kier was the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite. She is a social, environmental, and human rights activist.
Kirby was born in Youngstown, Ohio. As a child, she lived in Pittsburgh, Virginia Beach, and Washington, D.C. [1] At the age of 17, she moved to New York City to study fashion design at the Fashion Institute of Technology but she was disillusioned by the teachers and dropped out immediately. When she dropped out, she started to design and make her own eccentric disco-inspired clothes that she then sold to people she met at nightclubs. [1] [2]
In 1982, Kirby met Ukrainian-born Dmitry Brill ("Supa DJ Dmitry") and designed, made, and sold him silver platform boots and a glitter blue spacesuit, for his band, Shazork. In 1986, she began experimenting with singing and writing music with Brill to form the band Deee-Lite. [ citation needed ]
Shortly after their first show in 1986, Brill was introduced to Towa Tei, a Japanese DJ of Korean descent. Several years later, Kirby and Brill invited him to join their band. Combining Kirby's vocal and writing talents with Brill's sampling skills and Tei's techno mixing, the three formed the band Deee-Lite. She continued to make a living as a waitress and go-go dancer [3] until the band signed a seven-album deal with Elektra Records.[ citation needed ]
Deee-Lite's sound was a mix of house music, techno and electronic dance music. Deee-Lite shot to stardom in 1990 with the release of their first album World Clique and the hit "Groove Is in the Heart". At the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards, Deee-Lite was nominated for several awards, including Video of the Year and Best New Artist. [ citation needed ] Within the group, Kirby took on the larger-than-life alter-ego "Lady Miss Kier". Kirby's initial look relied on revamped and exaggerated retro style 1960s fashion. Her signature look was a zip-up catsuit, platform shoes and flipped hair-do.
In 1992, the band released their second album, Infinity Within , a politically charged work. Their third album Dewdrops in the Garden was released in 1994. [4] Neither of the two follow-up albums matched the commercial success of the debut album.
Deee-lite disbanded in 1995 after Brill and Kirby's relationship fractured. [5] In 1996, a remix album was released. A greatest hits album was released in 2001. [5]
In 1995, after quitting the band, Lady Miss Kier moved to London where she began touring as a disc jockey and learning the technical end of production, recording, and engineering. In the late 1990s, she collaborated on the albums of Bootsy Collins, I Kamanchi and A Guy Called Gerald. In 2002, she contributed an exclusive solo track called "I'm Not Staying at Home" to the compilation Straight Up & Dirty. [1] Since going solo, she has featured and co-written with artists such as Full Cycle, George Clinton, Walter "Junie" Morrison, A Guy Called Gerald, Apollo Heights, and several P-Funk luminaries. Outside of the studio, she showcased her live performances with new material for various music, film, and art festivals, as well as headlining several gay pride events worldwide. In 2012, she began performing a Deee-Lite tribute for various occasions, including the 2013 Paris Fashion Week for Kenzo [6] as well as a tribute to New York City disc jockey Mark Kamins at Santos Party House. [7]
She performed as a disc jockey at clubs and music festivals including Coachella Festival (2007), [8] Berlin's Berghain (2010) [9] and Sydney Mardi Gras (2012), [10] as well as radio programs such as East Village Radio [11] and Sirius XM. [12]
In 2005, motivated by the invasion of Iraq, she began internationally performing live new unreleased music, including the DFA release covering George Clinton's anti–war song "Bullet Proof". [13] She has headlined numerous festivals and gay pride events as well as opened for James Brown's last tour at the Good Vibrations festival in Australia. [14]
Kirby has received the following recognition in the fashion industry:
In 2018, the Netflix series Big Mouth used her song "Groove Is In The Heart" for an abortion sequence. [30] In 1995, Lady Kier was featured in Wigstock: The Movie , which included live footage of her performing and a song on the soundtrack. [31] In 2001 she was included in Summer Love: The Rave-umentary. [32] In 2005, Lady Miss Kier was the featured artist on the podcast Ron-Kat-Delic Show. Her words also were shared through a number of published books, including Verbal Abuse – No 3 by Chi Chi Valenti, [33] Creative Time: The Book: 33 Years of Public Art in New York by Anne Pasternak, [34] Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling by Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola [35] and All Music Guide to Electronica: The Definitive Guide to Electronic Music by Vladimir Bogdanov. [36]
Lady Miss Kier has spoken at Princeton University's "Youth Music and Youth Culture", [37] Cooper Union's multimedia presentation "Hiccup" in 1993, Apple's 1995 "Future Arts Panel" with Peter Gabriel and Electronic Frontier Foundation founder, John Perry Barlow, George Washington University's Law School Summit Future of Music Coalition in 2007 [38] and New York University's "NYU Panel Nelson Sullivan: Vlogging in the 80s" in 2013. [39] In 2013 she was featured in an exhibit entitled "NYC 1993", which was presented through New York City's New Museum. [40] Beyond the installation, her voice recording was played via pay phones throughout the New York area. In 2013, Lady Miss Kier was the featured voiceover artist in The Jazz Foundation of America's animated promo for the event "A Great Night in Harlem". [41] [42]
In April 2003, Kirby sued video game company Sega, claiming that the character of "Ulala" in its Dreamcast game Space Channel 5 was an unauthorized use of her likeness. [43] In July 2000, a Sega affiliate contacted Kirby to determine if she was interested in promoting the game in England utilizing the Deee-lite song "Groove Is in the Heart"; Kirby rejected the offer. Kirby alleged that the video game maker used her resemblance in the game (including the name Ulala – referencing Kirby's signature phrase "Ooh la la" in her performances). During the lawsuit, Sega showed that the game and the character had been created and released in Japan between 1997 and 1999. The developers claimed they had never heard of either Kirby, Deee-lite, or their music. The case lasted until 2006, when the judge ruled in favor of Sega and Kirby lost her appeal. The judge ruled that regardless of when the "Ulala" character was created, the character did not have a close enough resemblance to Kirby to deem misappropriation of likeness. Kirby was obliged to pay Sega's legal fees of $608,000 (reduced from $763,000 on request). [44] [45] "Groove Is in the Heart" was later licensed for use in Sega's 2008 Nintendo Wii port of Samba de Amigo , used in a section of the game where the Ulala character appears. [46]
Lady Kier is a social, environmental, and human rights activist. She is also a vocal advocate for LGBTQ rights and is a straight ally. [47] As such, she has been invited to be a host, performer, master of ceremonies, and disc jockey at pride parades. [48]
She is in favor of abortion rights and is a women's rights advocate, was featured in TV informercial promoting pro-abortion rights political action "The Most Exciting Women in Music" alongside Corina, Juliet Cuming, Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), MC Lyte, Kate Pierson (The B-52's), Crystal Waters, Tina Weymouth (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club) in 1991. [49] [50] [51]
In 1991, Lady Miss Kier was an award presenter at the Reebok Human Rights Awards. [52]
She is a supporter of the environmentalist movement. [28] The 1992 Deee-Lite album Infinity Within was the first CD released using eco-pak packaging, cutting the amount of plastic used by half. [53] [54] On that album, she called attention to the issue of ozone depletion with her song "I Had a Dream I Was Falling Through a Hole in the Ozone Layer". [55] Vogue Magazine has highlighted her "interest in supporting environmental causes".
She supports the anti-war movement and in 2010, she released a version of the P-Funk track "Bullet Proof" with Ray Mang; she had performed it before in 2005, during her world tour. [56]
She supports the get out the vote movement. Her music video for the song "Vote Baby Vote", which she wrote "to get people interested in voting so they could vote George Bush out", [57] was featured for MTV's "Rock The Vote" campaign in 1992 and was highlighted by Rolling Stone as one of the top "ten major moments in rock the vote history". [58]
During the 2016 United States presidential election, she supported Bernie Sanders. She hosted an art exhibit at Hole Gallery in New York City and a fundraiser called "Bernin' Up NYC" to rally Sanders supporters. [59]
Space Channel 5 is a music video game developed and published by Sega. Originally released for the Dreamcast, it was later ported to the PlayStation 2. A version for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) was published in 2003 as a Western exclusive. Following space-faring reporter Ulala as she investigates an alien invasion, players engage in rhythm-based combat where Ulala mimics the actions of rivals in time to musical tracks.
Donatella Francesca Versace, sometimes simply referred to mononymously as Donatella, is an Italian fashion designer, businesswoman, socialite, and model. She is the sister of Gianni Versace, founder of the luxury fashion company Versace, with whom she worked closely on the development of the brand and in particular its combining of Italian luxury with pop culture and celebrity.
Deee-Lite was an American house and dance music group formed in New York City. The group's single "Groove Is in the Heart," which was released in 1990 from their debut studio album, World Clique (1990), was a top-ten hit in multiple countries. In December 2016, Billboard ranked them as the 55th most successful dance artists of all time.
Towa Tei is a Japanese artist, record producer, and DJ. Born in Yokohama, Japan, Towa was a member of Deee-Lite, from the US label Elektra Records in 1990 and shot to fame via their international hit single, "Groove Is In the Heart". He made his solo debut with the album Future Listening! in 1994. He has since relocated from New York to rural Nagano Prefecture in Japan.
Infinity Within is the second studio album by American house and club/dance group Deee-Lite. Released in 1992 on Elektra, the second album, through its lyrical content, instrumentation, and overall tone, showcases the band's political activism as a more literal part of the music than on their debut album, World Clique (1990).
Paula Anne DeMonico, known professionally as Apollo Smile, is an American pop music singer-songwriter, voice actress, and media personality. In the 1990s, Smile billed herself as the "Live Action Anime Girl" and was invited to several science fiction conventions as a guest. She is best known for her portrayal as reporter Ulala from the Space Channel 5 series.
World Clique is the debut album by American dance music band Deee-Lite, which was released in 1990. The album's first single, "Groove Is in the Heart", was a top-five success on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart as well as a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. Three subsequent singles also hit the top ten on the U.S. dance chart, including "Power of Love/Build That Bridge", which also hit No. 1, and "Good Beat".
Barbara Tucker, is an American house and soul singer, songwriter and choreographer born in Brooklyn, New York, US. Tucker had six No. 1 hits on the US Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the 1990s and into the 2000s, and several hits in the UK.
"Groove Is in the Heart" is a song by American dance band Deee-Lite, released in August 1990 by Elektra as their debut and lead single from their first album, World Clique (1990). Written and produced by the band, it was a hit in many countries, reaching number-one in Australia and on both the Canadian RPM and US Billboard dance charts. Today it is widely recognized as a classic of its genre. It was accompanied with a psychedelic 60s-themed music video directed by Hiroyuki Nakano.
Dewdrops in the Garden is the third and final studio album by American dance music band Deee-Lite, released in August 1994 via Elektra Records. The album saw the group move away from the overtly political lyrical content of the previous album, shifting into themes of dance and intimacy with a heavier lean into psychedelic music.
John Fluevog is a Canadian shoe designer and businessperson. In 1970, he and a co-worker Peter Fox began their own shoe store in Vancouver. The shoes are described as "progressive, art deco" inspired. The company claims that the shoes are designed in Vancouver, and manufactured in Portugal, Brazil, Peru, China and Vietnam according to the company's website. The shoes often include messages engraved into the soles, the most famous being from The 7th Heaven Family, whose Angel Soles read: Resists alkali, water, acid, fatigue and Satan.
The House of Venus Show is a Canadian LGBT sketch comedy television show created by Canadian filmmaker Mark Kenneth Woods and co-produced by Michael Venus. The first season aired on the Canadian LGBT channel OutTV in July 2005. The second season began airing in September, 2006 and, after a hiatus, a third season debuted in July, 2009.
Daphne Diana Joan Susanna Guinness is an English fashion designer, socialite, actress, film producer, and musician.
Play with Bootsy is an album by Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins. The album was originally released in 2002 by East-West Records, which is distributed by the Warner Music Group in Germany and by Warner Music-Japan. It was later released in the U.S. by Thump Records. The album represents Bootsy's 12th studio album. The album features a number of prominent rappers/musicians including Snoop Dogg, Fat Joe, Daz, Bobby Womack, Chuck D, Kelli Ali and Lady Miss Kier from Deee Lite.
Jourdan Sherise Dunn is a British model. She was discovered in Hammersmith Primark in 2006 and signed to The Squad Management in London. She began appearing on international runways in early 2007. In February 2008, she was the first black model to walk a Prada runway in over a decade.
Ulala is a fictional character, mascot, and the main protagonist of Sega's Space Channel 5 series. Her character was created by Takashi Yuda, Tetsuya Mizuguchi and Jake Kazdel in the late 1990s and debuted in December 1999 with the release of Space Channel 5.
"Power of Love" is a song recorded, written and produced by New York City–based house and dance music group Deee-Lite. It was released in 1990 as the second single from their debut album, World Clique (1990). Overseas, it peaked at number 19 in New Zealand, number 21 in Ireland and number 25 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the single went to number 54 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the Dance Club Songs chart, "Power of Love" was the group's second number-one hit, where it remained at the top for two weeks. The vocals from the single would be used in another single that also reached number-one on the Dance Club Songs chart in 1991, "Deep in My Heart" by Club House.
"Runaway" is a song recorded, written and produced by New York City-based group Deee-Lite, released on May 28, 1992 by Elektra Records as the lead single from their second studio album, Infinity Within (1992). It is the group's fourth single to top the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. In Europe, the song was a top-10 hit in Greece and a top-20 hit in Finland, as well as peaking at number nine on the UK Dance Singles Chart and number 12 on the European Dance Radio Chart. The music video for "Runaway" was directed by American filmmaker and artist Gus Van Sant.
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