Karen O
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| Karen O | |
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 Karen O playing at Glasslands Gallery
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Karen Lee Orzolek |
| Born | November 22, 1978 |
| Origin | New Jersey, United States |
| Genre(s) | Indie rock[2], Art rock |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Label(s) | Interscope |
| Associated acts | Yeah Yeah Yeahs |
Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978), better known by her stage name Karen O, is the vocalist for the New York art punk band Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
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[edit] Early life
Karen's mother is Korean and father is Polish.[1][2] Karen grew up in Englewood, New Jersey,[3] and attended Oberlin College, but transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
[edit] Reputation
Karen O has been noted for her sense of fashion, wearing over-the-top outfits made by her friend, fashion designer Christian Joy. In the early days of the band she became well known for her outrageous antics during live shows,[1] which included spitting water, beer, or sometimes grapes into the crowd, and often simulating sexual acts with the stage monitors or her microphone.
She was asked by Playboy to pose on their cover. She said on the subject, "If I see footage from our shows, I'm shocked by what I'm doing. But Playboy asked me about being on the cover. That's pretty insane. I may do it in the future." [4]. Since then, however, Karen stated in an interview with NME magazine that she has changed her mind on the issue due to the audience that Playboy magazine attracts.[5]
During a tour for the 2003 Livid Festival in Australia, at a sideshow at The Metro in Sydney, she accidentally danced off the stage and was reluctantly taken to a hospital. A few days later at the Sydney leg of the Livid Festival, she appeared in a wheelchair pushed by Angus Andrew.[6]
She had her breasts plaster-casted by Cynthia Plaster Caster in 2003. [7] She won Spin Magazine's Sex Goddess Award in both 2004 and 2005. In 2006 she was named one of rock's hottest women by Blender.[8]. In 2007 Karen placed #3 on Spinner.com's Women Who Rock Right Now.[9]
[edit] Soundtrack work
In 2005, Karen collaborated with MC Kool Keith on the track Teaser, which was said to be on the porn film Deep Throat vs. Lialeh soundtrack.[10] However the soundtrack was never released but recently started circulating on the web.[11] For the movie Jackass 2, Karen O collaborated with electronic artist Peaches and Johnny Knoxville to record a track entitled "Backass". In 2007 Karen contributed vocals to a version of Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited for the I'm Not There movie soundtrack.[12] She also appears on the soundtrack of the forthcoming Where The Wild Things Are movie, directed by former boyfriend Spike Jonze.[13]
[edit] The K.O. At Home Demo Leak
On December 10, 2006, a home-recorded album titled KO at Home was leaked via an invite-only BitTorrent tracking site. The album, originally a personal gift to Dave Sitek of the NYC band TV on the Radio, was discovered inside a suitcase Sitek left behind in a New York City apartment. The disc's 14 tracks and scan of the cover — a photograph of Karen O with a poem written by Oscar Wilde on the back — quickly spread. The music news site stereogum.com broke the story of the leak[14] the following morning and continued their coverage[15] when Sitek lashed out at the fan who leaked the demos.[16]. Eventually Sitek followed up his comments with an apology letter[17]. Karen O's response to the leak was "shit happens" and although she was somewhat "grossed out," she offered advice on which of the mp3s she liked the best[18], namely the tracks "Pumpkin" and "Snakes and Worms".
[edit] Video work
Karen directed (and appears in) the video for the Tiny Masters of Today song "Hologram World", released on February 8, 2008.[19]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Sheffield, Rob (2006-04-07). Yeah Yeah Yeahs: Goth, Nerd, Slut. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2007-11-24.
- ^ Chi, Minnie (2003-07-18). Half Korean, 100% Rock Star. Asia Pacific Arts. Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
- ^ La Gorce, tammy. "Success Stories In New Jersey Rock: The Un-Springsteen", The New York Times, November 16, 2003. Accessed January 2, 2008. "All of which is fine by Ms. O, 24, an Englewood native who still lives in Bergen County but declined to say where. Any rock star who struts around in outfits made specifically for her by the designer Christian Joy can expect some of that, she said."
- ^ http://www.christianjoy.us/k43.html
- ^ [1] Yeah Yeah Yeahs Deal with Fame and Change -Music Interviews-
- ^ Boys with the hoods clean up - www.smh.com.au
- ^ home
- ^ Errico, Mike. "Hottest Women of. . .Rock", Blender Magazine Online, December 2006. Retrieved on 2007-02-09.
- ^ Women Who Rock Right Now: No. 3 - Spinner.com
- ^ Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O Tackles Folk Music, Porn - News Story | Music, Celebrity, Artist News | MTV News
- ^ Leak Of The Day, Part Two: Karen O, Kool Keith Lick It Up
- ^ stereogum: New Karen O - "Highway 61 Revisited" (Stereogum Premiere)
- ^ Kasia Galazka (2007-11-20). Karen O is Where the Wild Things Are. Paste Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
- ^ stereogum: Karen (Dem)O
- ^ stereogum: The Story Behind The Karen O Demo
- ^ completely surrounded by no trees: 12/01/2006 - 01/01/2007
- ^ Blogger: completely surrounded by no trees - Envoyer un message à un ami
- ^ Karen O on Demo Leak: "Shit Happens"
- ^ YouTube - Tiny Masters Of Today - Hologram World
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs official website
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs on MySpace
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs Project - YYY Resource - images, articles, news to videos and music
- Christian Joy - Karen O's fashion designer's website
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