Mirah | |
---|---|
Mirah performing at the Rio Theatre, Santa Cruz, California, Jan. 2008 |
|
Background information | |
Birth name | Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn |
Born | September 17, 1974 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA |
Genres | Indie rock |
Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
Instruments | Vocals, guitar, piano |
Years active | 1997–present |
Labels | K Records |
Associated acts | Phil Elvrum of The Microphones Black Cat Orchestra Thao Nguyen The Blow Calvin Johnson Ginger Brooks Takahashi Spectratone International |
Mirah Yom Tov Zeitlyn (born September 17, 1974, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania),[1] is an American musician based in San Francisco California. She has released five albums under the K Records label.
Contents |
Mirah was born the youngest of three children. Most of her childhood was spent in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. She started writing music from a very young age, with her first song at four years old.[2] When she was twelve, Mirah appeared on Double Dare, a television game show.[3] "I actually used the money that I won on Double Dare to pay for the time I spent on the Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament." She began singing and performing at 18 when she moved to Olympia, Washington and attended Evergreen State College.
Mirah released her first album, Storageland on Yoyo Recordings in 1997, and joined K records in 1999.[4] Mirah was previously a member of The Drivers, an all-female Olympia band. Mirah's music is featured in the documentary, Young, Jewish, and Left.[5] In 2006, K Records released Joyride: Remixes, a re-mix album of other artists covering Mirah's songs. It features revisited versions by Guy Sigsworth, Electrosexual, Yacht... In July 2008, her song "The Garden" was featured in the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance". In October 2011, her song "Special Death" was featured in the TV show "American Horror Story". Her latest album, (a)spera, was released on March 10, 2009.
In early 2010, Mirah performed with Thao Nguyen at the Noise Pop festival in San Francisco. The two later announced a 2010 North American tour, billed under the name Thao and Mirah With The Most of All.[6] Mirah and Thao performed a collaborative set and shared vocal duties on each artist's respective songs. The two artists subsequently recorded and released a collaborative album entitled Thao and Mirah April 26, 2011 on Kill Rock Stars with production by Merrill Garbus of Tune-Yards.[7] The two toured in support of the album while working with Air Traffic Control, an organization that provides artists a platform for social activism.[8]
She has also collaborated with Phil Elvrum of The Microphones, Tune-Yards, and the Black Cat Orchestra.
Mirah is openly lesbian.[9] Her sister is Emily Ana Zeitlyn of The Weeds.[10] Mirah is Jewish, and her middle name means "good day" or "holiday" in Hebrew.