Nellie McKay

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For the African-American literature scholar, see Nellie Y. McKay.

Nellie McKay
Background information
Born	April 13, 1982 (age 24), London, England
Genre(s)	Rock, Pop, Jazz
Years active	2004-present
Label(s)	Sony/Columbia (2004–2005)

Nellie McKay (born Nell Marie McKay on 13 April 1982) is a British-born American singer-songwriter, actress and former stand-up comedian, noted for her critically-acclaimed debut album Get Away from Me.

1 Biography
2 Music
- 2.1 Get Away From Me
- 2.2 Pretty Little Head
  - 2.2.1 Initial release date and delay
  - 2.2.2 Resolution and new release date
3 Theatrical role
4 Debate over McKay's age
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

McKay (pronounced "Mc-EYE") was born in London, England to a Scottish writer/director, Malcolm McKay, and an American actress, Robin Pappas. At the age of two, after her parents split, she moved with her mother to New York City, where they stayed until 1994. After one year in Olympia, Washington, the two returned back East and lived in the Poconos, where McKay spent her high-school years.

In 2000, McKay started attending the Manhattan School of Music, but, bored and unsatisfied, dropped out after two years. She started performing as a stand-up comic in Manhattan clubs, and eventually Greenwich Village's gay bars. Nellie was briefly associated with New York's anti-folk scene and played alongside Jason Trachtenburg and others at the Sidewalk Cafe in 2002-2003.

In February of 2003 Nellie opened for the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players at Tonic, on New York's Lower East Side. Jay Ruttenberg, from Time Out New York magazine, attended the show and wrote a prominent feature on McKay. Shortly afterwards, several record labels contacted her and started a bidding war. She eventually signed with Columbia/Sony and started producing her first record in the late summer of 2003.

Her music has showcased different genres from jazz to rap and disco to funk. Her eclectic style and sharp lyrics distinguish her as an original voice. Her songs sometimes have a political tinge; she "is a proud member of PETA" (album notes), wrote a song ("Columbia Is Bleeding") dealing with the issue of Columbia University's cruelty to animals, and ("John John") about her feelings in favor of political candidate Ralph Nader as well as performing concerts as benefits for WBAI.

[edit] Music

[edit] Get Away From Me

Her critically acclaimed first CD, Get Away from Me, was produced by Beatles sound engineer Geoff Emerick and released by Columbia/Sony Records in February 2004. The title is a play on Norah Jones' Come Away with Me and expresses her dissatisfaction with modern jazz. McKay is said to be the first woman to release a double album as her first release. Originally, her contract with Columbia called for 13 songs, but McKay aggressively lobbied her label for a double album, including bottles of wine, a PowerPoint slideshow, and a mock photo of her threatening Emerick with a gun. The studio agreed, but McKay had to underwrite production costs of the five additional tracks with $25,000 of her own money. Although all the music would fit on a single disc, McKay insisted on a double disc debut to "reclaim the feeling of flipping over a record" (All Music Guide). Nellie McKay was one of the major breakout artists from the 2004 SXSW Festival and was a finalist in the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize, and Get Away From Me was on several "Best of 2004" lists.

[edit] Pretty Little Head

[edit] Initial release date and delay

Pretty Little Head, which features duets with k.d. lang and McKay's co-star in 'Threepenny Opera', Cyndi Lauper, was originally slated for an October 18, 2005 release. The release date was delayed; initially, the rescheduled date was December 27, 2005; it was then subsequently announced that the release date would be January 3, 2006.

However, McKay announced on December 19, 2005, that she had left Columbia/Sony Records after a dispute over the length of the upcoming album.[1] Just over two weeks following this announcement, a New York Times article surfaced stating McKay said she had been dropped by Columbia Records.[2]

McKay wanted the full 65 minute, 23 track version of Pretty Little Head to be released, but Columbia was only willing to support a 16-track version that ran 48 minutes. (Columbia/Sony was so adamant about the abbreviated version that it sent copies of this version out as promotional copies to critics.) Executives at Columbia insist McKay understood the label wanted an album consisting of 15 or 16 songs. They would further claim the version that Columbia sent out was a mastered sequence that she herself submitted to the label. Some doubt the "media conglomerate as victim of all-powerful artist" scenario, however.

McKay expressed her concern at a concert in West Hollywood, November 29, 2005, at the Troubadour, going so far as to distribute the personal e-mail address of Columbia/Sony CEO Will Botwin at the performance. However, Botwin left Sony, and the subsequent management team dropped McKay from their artist roster. She claims it was probably 'best for everyone'.

Initial reports stated that McKay would release Pretty Little Head on the Internet sometime in January, with a conventional release as early as February; however, this did not come to pass. Her record label troubles were documented in the March 2006 issue of Wired magazine. The article also mentioned the (illegal) availability of the full-length album in MP3 format on the internet.

Similarly, the music chain HMV Canada promoted Pretty Little Head as having a Canadian issue date of February 7, but no release occurred.

[edit] Resolution and new release date

After nearly nine months of ironing out the legalities between labels, Pretty Little Head was released in the United States on October 31st on McKay's own label, Hungry Mouse, and was marketed by SpinART Records. [3] Like its predecessor, the album was divided in two discs and included a 44-page color booklet. The album included the intended 23 tracks as originally planned. [4] Release of the album in other countries, including Canada, was delayed until Nov. 21, 2006.

[edit] Theatrical role

In 2006 McKay made her Broadway debut as Polly Peachum in the Roundabout Theatre Company's limited run production of The Threepenny Opera, co-starring with Alan Cumming and Cyndi Lauper. The role earned her a Theatre World Award for Oustanding Debut Performance.

[edit] Debate over McKay's age

McKay's real age has been a matter of some debate.

At the time of Get Away from Me's release, most publicity and Internet sources indicated that she was 19 years of age. As late as 2004 McKay's website reported her age as 19 ^[1], but all references to her age were later removed. Her father has, however, stated that she was actually born on April 13, 1982^{[citation needed]}, which would have made her 21 at the time of the album's early 2004 release. McKay graduated from high school and began college in 2000, which would be appropriate for someone born in 1982 before the November 30 New York state birthday cutoff.

Additionally, The New Republic reported that McKay's British birth certificate reportedly gives the April 13, 1982 date ^[2] An article from the Pocono Record, dated 14 September, 1998, gives McKay's age as 16, which is consistent with a 1982 birthdate.^[3]. Also, the England and Wales 1837-1983 birth index shows that the birth of Nell Marie McKay, born to a mother with the surname Pappas, was registered in the spring of 1982. ^[4]