Kelley Deal
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Kelley Deal (born June 10, 1961, in Dayton, Ohio) is the lead guitarist of The Breeders and the identical twin sister of musician Kim Deal.
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[edit] Early days
Kelley Deal was born eleven minutes before her sister (she has quipped that therefore "everything Kim knows, she learned from me"[citation needed]). The Deal twins grew up in Huber Heights, a suburb of Dayton, Ohio. Kelley began experimenting with drugs at the age of thirteen, while her twin was busy cheerleading. The sisters formed the first embryonic incarnation of The Breeders while in their late teens with Kim on acoustic guitar, Kelley on bass, and both girls singing. They both had an opportunity to join The Pixies in the mid-80's, with Kim on bass and Kelley on drums, and Kim followed through while Kelley opted to move to California instead. While Kim made her mark as an indie musician, Kelley lived a more subdued life of computer programming and catering, while getting deeper into drugs.
[edit] The Breeders
In 1989, Kim and Tanya Donelly (lead guitarist of Throwing Muses) formed the next incarnation of The Breeders. Kim played rhythm guitar and sang, Tanya played lead guitar, Josephine Wiggs played bass, and from Kentucky, Brit Walford (credited as Shannon Doughton) from the band Slint,took care of the drums. Kelley was asked to play on the band's debut, Pod, but she didn't manage to get time off from work.
In 1992, Kelley joined the band as third guitarist, even though she didn't really know how to play. The Safari EP was the first recording Kelley appeared on. Tanya left The Breeders to form Belly a little after the release of Safari, as did Brit. Kim suggested Kelley should be the band's new drummer. "I want to play lead guitar." she insisted. So Kim gave her a crash course in all the songs in the band's set. Kelley picked up quickly and learned all the lead parts on Pod and the new parts on the album they were about to record, Last Splash. A new drummer from Dayton, Jim MacPherson, joined them. Last Splash was released in 1993, the band toured opening for Nirvana and also got a slot on the Lollapalooza tour in 1994. During touring, Kelley's drug problems got worse. She began shooting up heroin extensively. The others were not aware of this.
[edit] Rehab And Rebirth
In 1995, she was involved in a drug bust. She accepted a package of heroin FedEx'd to her house. She was sent to rehab in lieu of jail. Following drug rehab, Kelley started the Kelley Deal 6000. The band was originally to be called Solid State; however, another band had rights to that name. In rehab, Kelley became inspired and wrote her own songs, which appear in her band's set. Kelley was living in Minneapolis, while Kim was back home in Dayton playing in her new band The Amps.
Kelley also joined the Last Hard Men with Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, and Jimmy Flemion of the Frogs. Kelley played bass for them and they recorded an album in 1997 but it was not released until 2001 because they could not find a label that would release it.
Despite that, The Kelley Deal 6000 did release two albums on Kelley's Nice Records, Go To The Sugar Altar in 1996 and Boom! Boom! Boom! in 1997.
Kelley teamed back up with Kim in the late 90's and began recording new demos for the Breeders. With a new line up, they released Title TK in 2002. Title TK features three songs recorded in 1999, where the Deal sisters played all the instruments.
[edit] Present Day
Since Kim is currently touring with the Pixies, the Breeders have been put on hold. Kelley has been also touring with the Pixies, but as a companion for Kim. Kelley can often be seen to the side of the stage at Pixies shows, knitting, as she loves to do. She also filmed bits of the tour, which appear in the Pixies' documentary, loudQUIETloud. She is credited as associate producer, and appears as herself in the film as well.
[edit] Trivia
In the documentary loudQUIETloud, Kelley is seen sporting a wedding band on her ring finger.
Kelley co-wrote and played guitar on Magnetophone's "Kel's Vintage Thought".
She has also done duets with Kris Kristofferson and Supersuckers.
Kelley appeared on the DIY Network knitting show, Knitty Gritty. (Episode DKNG-401, Rock Star Bag). On the show, Kelley showed step by step instructions on how to make a 'felted handbag with Swiss darning design'. These instructions can be found on DIY Network's website.
