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Neko Case
Neko Case performing at the Henry Fonda Theater in Los Angeles, 2007
Background information
Born	September 8, 1970 (1970-09-08) (age 39) Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Origin	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Genres	Indie rock, alternative country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	vocals, percussion, piano, guitar
Years active	1994–present
Labels	Mint, Bloodshot, Lady Pilot, Matador, Anti-
Associated acts	Neko Case and Her Boyfriends, The New Pornographers, The Corn Sisters, The Sadies, Cub, Maow, Kelly Hogan, Jon Rauhouse

Neko Case (pronounced /ˈniːkoʊ ˈkʰeɪs/)¹ (born September 8, 1970 in Alexandria, Virginia) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her solo career and her contributions as a member of the Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers.

Case recorded and toured for several years as Neko Case & Her Boyfriends before performing solely under her name. She primarily performs her own material, but also performs and has recorded cover versions of songs by artists such as Harry Nilsson, Loretta Lynn, Tom Waits, Nick Lowe, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Scott Walker, Randy Newman, Queen, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Hank Williams. She frequently infuses humorous narratives into her live sets.

Biography

Early life

Case was born in Alexandria, Virginia, to teenage parents of Ukrainian ancestry. The original family name, changed before she was born, was Shevchenko.² Her family traveled around while she was young before settling in Tacoma, Washington, the city she considers her hometown. She left home when she was fifteen. Her father was in the United States Air Force.³

Vancouver

In 1994, Case moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, to attend the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. While attending school she played drums in several local bands, including the Del Logs, the Propanes, the Weasles, Cub (which featured I Am Spoonbender's Robynn Iwata), and Maow. All of these bands were local punk groups except for Cub and The Weasles, which Case described as a "country music supergroup".

In 1998, Case graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, which meant the loss of her student visa eligibility. She left Canada for Seattle, Washington. Before leaving, Case recorded vocals for a few songs that ended up on Mass Romantic, The New Pornographers' first album. Her lead vocals on songs like "Letter from an Occupant" are straightforward, full-volume power-pop performances, entirely shedding any country elements. Released on November 28, 2000, Mass Romantic became a surprise success. Although the band was originally conceived as a side project for its members, The New Pornographers decided to tour and eventually to record a second, third, and a fourth album.

In addition to recording with The New Pornographers, Case frequently collaborates with other Canadian musicians, including The Sadies and Carolyn Mark, and has recorded material by several noted Canadian songwriters, in particular on her 2001 EP Canadian Amp. As a result, she is also considered a significant figure in Canadian music—both CBC Radio 3 and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada have referred to Case as an "honourary Canadian".⁴

"I hope I can comfort people a bit—maybe show people that making music is fun and accessible to them as well. I'm not out to become Faith Hill, I never want to play an arena, and I never want to be on the MTV Video Music Awards, much less make a video with me in it. I would like to reach a larger audience and see the state of music change in favor of musicians and music fans in my lifetime. I care very much about that."⁵

Seattle

Case fully embraced country music on her 1997 album with Her Boyfriends, The Virginian. The album contained original compositions as well as covers of songs by Ernest Tubb, Loretta Lynn and even the 1974 Queen song "Misfire". When the album was released, critics compared Case to honky-tonk singers like Lynn and Patsy Cline, and to rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson, particularly in her vocal timbre.

On February 22, 2000, Case released her second solo album with Her Boyfriends, Furnace Room Lullaby. It introduced the "country noir" elements that have defined Case's subsequent solo career. That tone was evident even from the cover photo, featuring Case sprawled out corpse-like on a concrete floor. On the album itself, her vocal style moves away from outright honky-tonk but retains her twang, garnering comparisons to musicians such as Cline, Lynn, Hazel Dickens, Tanya Tucker, and Dolly Parton. The title track was included on the soundtrack to Sam Raimi's film The Gift, and "Porchlight" was featured on the soundtrack to The Slaughter Rule.

Case sometimes tours with her friend Canadian singer and songwriter Carolyn Mark, as The Corn Sisters. One of their performances, at Seattle's Hattie's Hat restaurant in Ballard, was recorded and released as an album, The Other Women, on November 28, 2000.

Chicago

At about the time Furnace Room Lullaby was released, Case left Seattle for Chicago because she felt that Seattle wasn't hospitable to its local artists.

Case's first work in Chicago was an eight-song EP that she recorded in her kitchen. Canadian Amp, her first recording without Her Boyfriends, was released on her own Lady Pilot label in 2001. She wrote two of the tracks. Six tracks are covers, including Neil Young's "Dreaming Man" and Hank Williams' "Alone and Forsaken". Four of the covers were written by Canadian artists. The EP was initially available only at Case's live shows, but it eventually saw wider release.

Case recorded her third full-length album, Blacklisted, in Tucson, Arizona. Her first album credited to Case alone, without Her Boyfriends, it was released on August 20, 2002. Some believe the title Blacklisted alludes to Case being banned for life from the Grand Ole Opry because she took her shirt off during a performance on August 4, 2001,⁶ though Case herself has denied this.⁷ Asked about the incident in 2004, Case said "I had heatstroke. People would love it to be a 'fuck you' punk thing. But it was actually a physical ailment thing."⁸

Most of the album's fourteen songs are originals, except for covers of "Running Out of Fools", previously a hit for Aretha Franklin, and "Look for Me (I'll Be Around)" by Sarah Vaughan. Blacklisted finds Case even deeper in a "country noir" mood, and was described by critics as lush, bleak, and atmospheric. Case cited filmmaker David Lynch, composer Angelo Badalamenti, and Neil Young's soundtrack to the film Dead Man as influences. One track, "Deep Red Bells", was inspired by Case's memories of being a vulnerable young woman in the Seattle area while the Green River Killer was at large.

In April 2003, Case was voted the "Sexiest Babe of Indie Rock" in a Playboy.com internet poll, receiving 32% of the vote. Playboy asked her to pose nude for the magazine, but she declined their offer. She told Entertainment Weekly that "I didn't want to be the girl who posed in Playboy and then—by the way—made some music. I would be really fucking irritated if after a show somebody came up to me and handed me some naked picture of myself and wanted me to sign it instead of my CD."⁹ In later interviews, she declined to discuss the survey at all.

New Pornographers follow-up albums

The New Pornographers' second album, Electric Version, was released on May 6, 2003. Case sang lead on even more of the songs on this album, and toured with the group again.

On April 3 and April 4, 2004, Case played two shows with longtime collaborators The Sadies at Lee's Palace in Toronto, which were recorded for release as a live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, in October of the same year.

Twin Cinema, the New Pornographers' third album, was released on August 23, 2005, with Case again providing vocals on several tracks. In addition to providing backing vocals on several songs, Case performs lead vocals on two ballads, "The Bones of an Idol" and "These Are the Fables". She opted out of most subsequent touring duties with the band; however, her parts were taken over by Kathryn Calder.

On Challengers, released on August 21, 2007, Case contributes lead vocals to the title song as well as "Go Places", in addition to her backing vocals on the other tracks.

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood

Fox Confessor Brings the Flood was released on March 7, 2006. The album was recorded primarily in Tucson, over the course of two years as Case worked on the live The Tigers Have Spoken and continued to play with The New Pornographers. Critics hailed the record not only for Case's trademark vocals but also her use of stark imagery and non-standard song structures. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood wound up on many "Best of 2006" lists, such as No.1 on the Amazon.com music editors' picks and No. 2 on NPR's All Songs Considered. The album debuted at #54 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. It contains Case's most autobiographical song, "Hold On, Hold On". Case said: "the song is actually about me. It's not metaphorical about other people. It's not little pieces of my life made into a story about someone else or someone fictitious."¹⁰

Middle Cyclone

Case's latest album, Middle Cyclone, was released on March 3, 2009. In advance of a U.S. and European tour, Case appeared as a musical guest on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." Later in 2009 she also appeared on "Late Show with David Letterman," "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien," and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." Amazon.com rated "Middle Cyclone" the number one album of 2009.¹¹ Case performed "This Tornado Loves You" from the Middle Cyclone on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien on June 11, 2009.¹²

Middle Cyclone debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts in its first week of release, making it Case's first album ever to reach the top ten in the United States. When released no other record from an independent record company had debuted at a higher position in 2009.¹³

She toured extensively to promote Middle Cyclone with dates in North America, Europe, and Australia, as well as a performance at Lollapalooza 2009 in Grant Park, Chicago.

Awards

Case was honored as the Female Artist of the Year at the Plug Independent Music Awards on February 2, 2006.¹⁴

Acting career

On January 28, 2008, Case's voice appeared in the Aqua Teen Hunger Force episode "Sirens". Case is also scheduled to participate in a new series with Aqua Teen Hunger Force co-creator Dave Willis titled Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge.¹⁵

On March 3, 2010 Case appeared as a guest on the Australian musical quiz show: Spicks and Specks. Her team, lead by Alan Brough, won 18-16. At the end of the show she sang a cover of Heart's Magic Man backed by Kelly Hogan and Paul Rigby.

Discography

Cub

• Betti-Cola (CA: Mint Records, 1993)¹⁶

Maow

• I Ruv Me Too (7" EP) (US: Twist Like This Records, 1995)
• Unforgiving Sounds of Maow (CA: Mint Records, 1996)

As Special Guest

• Well Have Yourself A Meaty Little Christmas, There (2009). (Williams Street Records) song: "Santa Left A Booger In My Stocking" guest to: Meatwad.

Neko Case

The Corn Sisters

• The Other Women (CA: Mint Records, 2000)

The New Pornographers

• Mass Romantic (CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2000)
• Electric Version (CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2003)
• Twin Cinema (CA: Mint Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2005)
• Challengers (CA: Last Gang Records; US & EU: Matador Records, 2007)

The Sadies

• Make Your Bed/Gunspeak/Little Sadie (7") (US: Bloodshot Records, 1998)
• My '63 / Highway 145 (by Whiskeytown) (Split 7") (US: Bloodshot Records BS 037, 1998)

Other contributions

• The Band of Blacky Ranchette – Still Lookin' Good to Me (Thrill Jockey, 2003)
• Touch My Heart: a Tribute to Johnny Paycheck - If I'm Gonna Sink (I Might as Well Go to the Bottom) SugarHill Recording Studios, 2003)
• "Santa Left a Booger In My Stocking" (with Meatwad) - Have Yourself A Meaty Little Christmas (Williams Street Records, 2009)

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Videography

• Live from Austin TX Neko Case (DVD) (US: New West Records/Austin City Limits/KLRU, 2006)

See also

• List of musicians from British Columbia
• Music of Vancouver
• Music of Virginia

References

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External links

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• Official site
• Neko Case's page at Mint Records
• Neko Case's page at Bloodshot Records
• Neko Case's page at ANTI- Records
• Neko Case interview March 2009
• MSNBC article
• NPR interview
• Full concerts on NPR Music
• Participant on NPR Wait Wait Don't Tell Me "Not My Job" Segment