| Lady Miss Kier | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Kierin Magenta Kirby |
| Born | August 15, 1963 |
| Origin | Youngstown, Ohio, United States |
| Genres | Club/Dance, Dance-pop, House, Soul |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, DJ, Record producer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Labels | Elektra Records Pluto Moon Records |
| Associated acts | Deee-Lite |
| Website | ladykier.com |
Kierin Magenta Kirby (born August 15, 1963 in Youngstown, Ohio), better known by her professional name Lady Miss Kier, is an American singer and DJ.
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Kirby was born in Youngstown, Ohio and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She spent time in Virginia Beach, Virginia where she attended Kempsville High School, and Washington, D.C., before finally settling in New York City in 1982, at the age of nineteen to pursue a career in fashion design. In New York she attended FIT to study textile design, but dropped out after a short time. She supported herself as a waitress, a bartender, a coat checker, a bathroom attendant, a go-go dancer, and an art gallery receptionist; continuing to study and work at designing on her own. In this early period as a club kid she prepared a performance art window piece for the nightclub "Area" and received First Prize.[1]
Soon after meeting DJ Dmitri Brill, Kirby made him silver platform boots and a glitter blue spacesuit for his band, Shazork, as well as a line of platform shoes in 1986. That same year, she began experimenting with singing and writing music with Brill, and the two wrote several songs together. Their first song was called "Love and Bubbles", the second was "I Won't Give Up." The first show they gave was in 1986, and Brill was introduced to local D.J. Towa Tei, a Japanese man of Korean descent, shortly thereafter. Combining Kirby's vocal and lyric talents with Brill's sampling skills and Tei's techno mixing, the three together formed the band Deee-Lite. They had performances every month, with Kier designing new costumes for each one. She continued go-go dancing for Bentleys and The Copa until the band signed the seven-album deal with Elektra.[1]
The band's sound was a unique mix of house, techno and dance elements. Deee-Lite shot to stardom in 1990 with the release of the first album World Clique, and in particular with the smash hit "Groove is in the Heart". Kirby was very involved in the band's output: writing, producing, and performing the bulk of the band's songs. Kirby's sultry, feminine, and soulful voice backed up by the funky, catchy beats was truly unique for its time, and came to personify the club culture of New York City.
Known as much for their outrageous personae and costumes as for their music, the three took on larger-than-life alter-egos: Super DJ Dmitri, Jungle DJ Towa Tei, and Lady Miss Kier. Kirby is credited with designing and creating the look of the band, as well as much of the artwork accompanying the band's albums and marketing material. Her initial look relied on revamped and exaggerated retro '60s fashions, which was revolutionary at the time. Her signature look was a zip-up catsuit, platform shoes and flipped hair-do. At the height of the band's success, her style had a major influence on fashion trends, showing up in a variety of retail venues.
Deee-Lite followed their successful first album with a politically-charged second album, Infinity Within, in 1992. Their third album, Dewdrops in the Garden, was released in 1994 and saw a return to house roots with a new, more naturalistic tone. Neither of the two follow-up albums matched the commercial success of their debut. The second and third albums were hampered by difficulties with the label, which refused to promote, support touring, or fund contractual videos. The band functionally broke up during the writing of their third album in 1993, but Kirby and Brill decided to finish the project and tour together to promote the album before going their separate ways, and officially disbanding in 1994. In 1996, a remix album was released, and a greatest hits album was released in 2001.[2]
After the disbanding of the group, Kirby moved to London, D.J.ing and performing in clubs. In 1995, a solo song named "Touch Me With Your Sunshine" appeared on the Wigstock: The Movie soundtrack. In 1996, she debuted new songs at the Enit Festival. Her new direction was more DnB than dance, but none of the songs were ever released. In the late nineties, she collaborated on the albums of such diverse artists as Bootsy Collins, I Kamanchi and A Guy Called Gerald. In 2002, she contributed an exclusive solo track called "I'm not staying at home" to the compilation "Straight Up & Dirty". In 2005, she began performing new material, then appearing in club performances internationally in Australia, New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Brussels, Zurich, San Francisco and Amsterdam. She also made television appearances on the OUTtv/Pink TV television series the House of Venus Show and has been featured in the New York City festival Wigstock. In 2005 Kier was the featured artist on the podcast Ron-Kat-Delic Show, where she premiered her solo work for the first time, namely a song entitled "Hot Wax." In 2006, she toured Australia with the Good Vibrations Festival.
She has since moved back to New York City, and is rumored to be putting together a solo album for release. Unreleased songs include "Me and My Records", "Bulletproof", "Dance Police", "The Outer Planets", "Black Out Love Affair", "Wear U Out", "Go Down" and "Strip". Kirby occasionally releases snippets from her body of work on Myspace and her personal website. There are also several clips of her group and solo performances on YouTube. Most recently, Kirby has released a sound bite of "I Surrender" on Myspace.com, hinting that a solo album effort is still ongoing. On April 28, 2007 she performed at Coachella.[3] She appears on the release from NYC noise band, Apollo Heights on a song titled "Winter in the Summertime", released in October 2007.
In 2003, Kirby sued video game company Sega, claiming that the character of "Ulala" in their game Space Channel 5 was an unauthorized use of her likeness.[4] Kirby claimed that Sega offered to pay her $16,000 to license her name, image and songs for the game, though she rejected their offer. Kirby alleged that the video game maker later went ahead and used her resemblance anyway, and at which point she decided to initiate the lawsuit. She ultimately lost the suit and a later appeal, based on the appeals court's finding that the character was developed by designers who were unaware of Kirby or her persona. In court it was mooted that the animated character looked more like another 90's pop star, Michaela Dornonville de la Cour from the Swedish band Army of Lovers. Kirby was also mandated to pay Sega's legal fees of $608,000 (reduced from $763,000 requested) for their legal costs; a situation acknowledged by the justices as unfortunate but mandated under California statute. It was also ruled that Kirby would have to pay the cost associated with any further appeals, none of which have been filed as yet.[5] In 2008, her single "Groove Is in the Heart" was licensed for use in the Sega video game Samba de Amigo for the Wii console, ironically appearing in a stage featuring Ulala.