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Lois Maffeo (professionally known for much of her career as Lois) is an American musician [1] and writer who lives in Olympia, Washington. She has been closely involved with and influenced many independent musicians, especially in the 1990s-era Olympia, Seattle and Washington, D.C. music scenes. [2] [3] [4] [5]
Maffeo was raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and graduated in 1981 from Xavier College Preparatory, an all-female private Catholic high school. [6] She moved to Olympia, Washington to attend The Evergreen State College. [6] In 1989, Maffeo and drummer Pat Maley founded the band Courtney Love, the name of which is coincidentally identical to the musician of the same name. [7] [4] The duo released their first single in 1990 and broke up the next year. [3] Maffeo began performing as "Lois" in 1992; she was usually joined by drummer Heather Dunn and various backing musicians. [4] Lois released two albums by 1994. [3] The third album, Bet the Sky , came out in 1995. [8] In 1996, Lois released Infinity Plus, promoting it by going on "a grueling world tour" that included the US, Europe, and Japan. [5] [4] Lois ended in 1996, with Maffeo taking a break from music and deciding to pursue journalism. [5] [4] Maffeo wrote for The Stranger , an alternative newspaper in Seattle, in addition to Out , Salon , Time Out New York , and CMJ New Music Monthly . [9] [4] She also provided vocals on records by Bis, Red Stars Theory, and the Evil Tambourines. [4] In 2000, Maffeo released the album The Union Themes, a collaboration with Brendan Canty of Fugazi that was two years in the making. [5] [4]
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