Rachel Fannan | |
---|---|
![]() Rachel Fannan in 2017 | |
Born | Rachel Marie Williams March 20, 1986 |
Occupations |
|
Years active | 2008–present |
Spouse |
|
Parents |
|
Relatives | Michael Gaelen Williams (brother), Caitlin Elizabeth Williams (sister) |
Musical career | |
Genres | |
Instrument(s) |
|
Years active | 2008–present |
Rachel Fannan (born March 20, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and poet from Los Angeles, California. She made her musical debut in 2008, with the release of a solo album entitled Deeper Lurking, under the moniker Birds Fled from Me. She is best known as the lead vocalist of the band Only You, [1] and formerly as co-lead vocalist of San Francisco psych-rockers Sleepy Sun, as well as for collaborations with UNKLE and progressive rock band Anywhere. She has also recorded and toured with the Canadian rock band, Black Mountain, and spent 2019 drumming for the Russian group Pussy Riot.
As a solo artist, Fannan has shared the stage with other prominent musicians such as Hunter Burgan (AFI), [2] Carla Azar (Autolux), Rich Good (Psychedelic Furs), and Dash Hutton (Haim and Mini Mansions).
Fannan was born in Thousand Oaks, California. She is the eldest daughter of composer and pianist Michael Glenn Williams and Marlene Marie Longamore. She has a younger brother, Michael Gaelen Williams, and a younger sister, Caitlin Elizabeth Williams.
Fannan spent much of her childhood encouraged to sing and perform; she later recalled acquiring a key to her school's choir room, where she would often eat her lunch and play the piano. She attended Ascension Lutheran, a private preparatory school in Thousand Oaks, and she graduated from Newbury Park High school class of 2004. She abstained from musical performances throughout high school, devoting most of her time to extra curricular clubs and activities. She then briefly attended Santa Monica City College, before dropping out to move to Santa Cruz, California.
Between 2005 and 2008, Fannan wrote and recorded solo material under the moniker Birds Fled from Me. With producer/engineer Maxwell Lewis Golding, she released a lo-fi album entitled Deeper Lurking in 2008. [3] [4]
In 2007, while performing in Santa Cruz, California, Fannan was invited to sit in with psych rockers Sleepy Sun, and was quickly recruited to be their co-lead vocalist. Her vocals are featured on the band's first two albums Embrace (ATP Recordings, 2009) and Fever (ATP Recordings, 2010); both albums, recorded with producer Colin Stewart at the Hive in Vancouver, B.C., do not physically credit Fannan. [5] Fannan left the band due to mental health reasons in late October 2010. [6]
During and soon after leaving Sleepy Sun, Fannan recorded with British trip-hop duo UNKLE. Her first collaboration "Follow Me Down" is credited as a Sleepy Sun feature, but primarily features Fannan, her lyrics, and melody. "Sunday Song", also featuring Fannan, was released as part of their Only the Lonely EP, and Where Did the Night Fall – Another Night Out album.
Following a short stint supporting Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis, [7] Fannan was approached by Christian Eric Beaulieu (Triclops!) to collaborate on the musical project Anywhere, which also included Mike Watt (Minutemen, The Stooges) and Cedric Bixler-Zavala (The Mars Volta, At the Drive-In). [8] Fannan sang lead vocals on their debut single "Dead Golden West" (Valley King Records, November 2011) and on the song "Rosa Rugosa" on their self-titled debut Anywhere (ATP Recordings, 2012). [9]
In late 2012, she toured as keyboard player and backing vocalist for The Fresh & Onlys. [10]
In 2018 Rachel Fannan was approached by guitarist and Entrance Band frontman Guy Blakeslee to join him on drums.
In 2019 she was invited to record and tour on Canadian rock band Black Mountain’s 5th full length album Destroyer and is heavily featured. Later that same year she was then also invited to drum for international art movement group Pussy Riot.
Created in late 2010, Only You is Fannan's L.A. based rock band, whose lineup included a rotating cast of backing musicians.
In early 2012, the band began performing as an all-woman group, with Fannan being joined by bassist Micayla Grace (Bleached, Leopold and His Fiction), guitarist Cecilia Peruti (Gothic Tropic), and drummer Lia Braswell (Le Butcherettes). [11] Only You released their first single "Applying Myself" through White Iris Records in October 2012. [12] The b-side "Love Is Making Me Tired" was featured as a Daily Download on Rolling Stone's website. [13] In 2015 Fannan later released another single through a different label Hit City U.S.A as Only You, "Let Me Burn", the B-side to this was "The Pressure".
Other musicians that have previously played with the group include Amy Aileen Wood (Fiona Apple), Jon Sortland [14] (Cigar, Broken Bells), Rich Good (Kings & Queens, Psychedelic Furs), Evan Weiss (Slang Chickens, Wires on Fire), Dash Hutton (Slang Chickens, Wires on Fire, Papa), lead guitarist Brandon Intelligator (Slang Chickens), [15] Jeff Lynne (Wires on Fire), Patrick Taylor (Ceremonies), Lucas Ventura, and Wade Ryff.
In 2012, a version of Stephen Foster's classic parlor song "Beautiful Dreamer", featuring Fannan on vocals, was used in a commercial by Canon, [16] which went on to win the award for Outstanding Commercial at the 2012–2013 Creative Arts Primetime Emmys. [17]
In 2016, she released an EP, Everybody's Famous, as The Bomb. [18]
In 2017, she published her first book of original poetry, No One Wants to Give Up. [19]
In 2018, she was a featured vocalist on Devil May Cry 5's "Crimson Cloud", with composer Jeff Rona. [20]
Norah Jones is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. She has won several awards for her music and, as of 2023, had sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Billboard named her the top jazz artist of the 2000's decade. She has won nine Grammy Awards and was ranked 60th on Billboard magazine's artists of the 2000s decade chart.
Patricia Smyth is an American singer and songwriter. She first came into national attention with the rock band Scandal and went on to record and perform as a solo artist. Her distinctive voice and new wave image gained broad exposure through video recordings aired on cable music video channels such as MTV. Her debut solo album Never Enough was well received, and generated a pair of Top 100 hits. In the early 1990s she reached the top 10 with the hit single "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough," a duet with Don Henley of the Eagles. She performed and co-wrote with James Ingram the song "Look What Love Has Done" for the 1994 motion picture Junior. The work earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. Smyth married retired tennis player John McEnroe in 1997.
That Dog is a Los Angeles-based rock band that formed in 1992 and dissolved in 1997, reuniting in 2011. The band originally consisted of Anna Waronker on lead vocals and guitar, Rachel Haden on bass guitar and vocals, her sister Petra Haden on violin and vocals, and Tony Maxwell on drums.
The Lurkers are a British punk rock band from Uxbridge, West London. They are notable for being the first group ever on Beggars Banquet Records for whom they released two albums, the first of which charted in the UK Albums Chart, while five singles also charted in the UK Singles Chart.
Nicole Monique Wray, also known as Lady Wray, is an American singer and songwriter. Her 1998 debut single "Make It Hot" was certified gold. In the 2010s, she began pursuing a more traditional soul sound, first as part of the duo Lady with Terri Walker and subsequently as Lady Wray. As Lady Wray, she has released two albums: Queen Alone (2016) and Piece of Me (2022).
Caron Melina Wheeler is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and musician. Born and raised in London, she performed in various singing competitions as a teenager and began her recording career as one of the founding members of Brown Sugar. She was also one of the founding members of the female backing vocalist group Afrodiziak. She officially rose to fame in the late 1980s as lead singer of R&B group Soul II Soul. Managed by her bandmate, Jazzie B, the group became one of the London's best-selling groups in the 1990s. Their debut album, Club Classics Vol. One (1989), which established them as a global success worldwide, earned two Grammy Awards and featured the UK and Billboard number-one singles "Keep on Movin'" and "Back to Life ".
Xandria is a German symphonic metal band founded by Marco Heubaum in 1994. Originally a project, Heubaum later restarted the project as a band in 1999, and has gone through various lineup changes. The German vocalist Lisa Middelhauve joined for the debut album, co-writing both music and lyrics for the band until her departure in 2008. Middelhauve reunited briefly with the band in 2010 following the departure of the band's second vocalist Kerstin Bischof, but left again shortly after. Manuela Kraller joined the band as the new vocalist in 2010.
David Andrew Sitek is an American musician and record producer, known for his work with his band TV on the Radio. He has also worked with bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, Foals, Celebration, Little Dragon, Beady Eye, and Weezer, and produced free jazz-influenced remixes of songs by artists such as Beck and Nine Inch Nails, and has contributed a solo track to the Red Hot Organization Dark Was the Night charity compilation. He is also a photographer and painter.
Bilinda Jayne Butcher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known as a vocalist and guitarist of the shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine.
Alice Temple is an English musician, singer and songwriter, born in London. She is best known for her collaboration with Eg White under the name Eg and Alice. She is also notable for having been the first female UK and European BMX champion.
Luke James Steele is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter. Steele is the vocalist and primary songwriter of the alternative rock band the Sleepy Jackson and is a member of the electronic music duo Empire of the Sun.
Great Northern is a rock group originally from Los Angeles composed of lead vocalist/multi instrumentalist Rachel Stolte, and guitarist/vocalist/multi instrumentalist Solon Bixler. In 2007, they were signed with the independent label Eenie Meenie Records, where they released their debut album, Trading Twilight For Daylight (2007), and their second album, Remind Me Where the Light Is (2009).
Lights Poxleitner-Bokan, known mononymously as Lights, is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter.
Teenager was an art rock, punk dance band formed in 2004 by Nick Littlemore as a side project from his electronic dance group Pnau, and Phillipa "Pip" Brown on guitar.
Sleepy Sun was an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Santa Cruz, California and now based in San Francisco. The band was composed of vocalist Bret Constantino, guitarists Matt Holliman and Evan Reiss, and drummer Brian Tice.
Devin Star Tailes, known professionally as Dev, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, model and radio host. She was discovered by the Cataracs and record label Indie-Pop via Myspace after Dev's friend posted a video of her singing. Dev's song "Booty Bounce" was sampled in Far East Movement's hit single "Like a G6", which reached number one in the US and sold over four million downloads in the country.
Janet Patricia Gardner (born March 17, 1962 an American rock singer. She is best known as the former lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the all-female glam metal band Vixen joining in 1983. She was the band's longest serving vocalist having performed on three of the band's four studio albums. When Vixen broke up in 1992 she took a hiatus from singing to pursue personal endeavors. She briefly unofficially reformed Vixen in 1997 with drummer Roxy Petrucci. She returned to Vixen in 2001, later studying to become a dental hygienist. In 2004 she took part in a Vixen reunion for a one-night-only gig as part of VH1's Bands Reunited TV show. She returned to Vixen full-time in 2012.
Get Scared was an American post-hardcore band from Layton, Utah, United States, formed in 2008. After their formation they released their first EP Cheap Tricks and Theatrics in 2009. A self-titled EP followed several months later in 2010. The band's debut studio album, Best Kind of Mess, was released on July 12, 2011. Following Nicholas Matthews' first departure to join Blacklisted Me, the band released Cheap Tricks and Theatrics B-Sides on December 19, 2011, without any previous announcements. Matthews was replaced by Joel Faviere near the end of 2011. The band's third EP and first with Faviere, Built for Blame, Laced With Shame, was released in 2012; Faviere was kicked out a few months after the EP's release when Matthews rejoined the band. Following Matthews' comeback, the band signed with Fearless Records and released their second full-length album, Everyone's Out To Get Me, on November 11, 2013. The band's third studio album, Demons, was released on October 30, 2015, and marked a departure from the band's post-hardcore sound featured on Built for Blame and Everyone's Out to Get Me in favor of a more metalcore-like sound. Their fourth and final album, The Dead Days, was released on April 19, 2019, amidst a hiatus; it was later stated by vocalist Nicholas Matthews that the band had broken up due to multiple issues between the band members. Though the band announced a reunion in 2022, plans ultimately fell through.
Anywhere is a psychedelic rock/folk music project from Los Angeles, California, founded by Christian Eric Beaulieu. Anywhere has featured a revolving door of musicians, including Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Mike Watt, Krist Novoselic, Dale Crover and Jonathan Hischke.
Destroyer is the fifth studio album by the Canadian psychedelic rock band, Black Mountain. It was released on May 24, 2019, by Dine Alone Records and was the band's first new material in three years after their fourth album, IV.