Cat Power

At 52 years old, Cat Power has this physical status:

Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall ( SHAHN; born January 21, 1972), better known by her stage name Cat Power, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, occasional actress, and model.

Cat Power was originally the name of Marshall's first band, but has become her stage name as a solo artist. Born in Atlanta, Marshall was raised throughout the southern United States, and began performing in local bands in Atlanta in the early 1990s.

After opening for Liz Phair in 1993, she worked with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar, with whom she recorded her first two albums, Dear Sir (1995) and Myra Lee (1996), on the same day in 1994.

In 1996, she signed with Matador Records, and released a third album of new material with Shelley and Foljahn, What Would the Community Think.

Following this, she released the critically acclaimed Moon Pix (1998), recorded with members of Dirty Three, and The Covers Record (2000), a collection of sparsely arranged cover songs. After a brief hiatus she released You Are Free (2003), featuring guest musicians Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder, followed by the soul-influenced The Greatest (2006), recorded with numerous Memphis studio musicians.

A second album of cover tracks, Jukebox, was released in 2008.

In 2012 she released the self-produced Sun, which debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200, the highest charting album of her career to date.Critics have noted the constant evolution of Cat Power's sound, with a mix of punk, folk and blues on her earliest albums, and elements of soul and other genres more prevalent in her later material.

Her 2012 album Sun incorporated electronica.

Early life

Charlyn Marie Marshall was born January 21, 1972, in Atlanta, Georgia, the second child of Charlie Marshall, a blues musician and pianist, and Myra Lee Marshall (née Russell). She has one older sister, Miranda ("Mandy"). Her parents divorced in 1979 and remarried shortly thereafter. Her mother remarried and had a son, Lenny, and the family traveled around often because of her stepfather's profession.

Marshall attended ten different schools throughout the Southern U.S. in Greensboro; Bartlett and Memphis and throughout Georgia and South Carolina. At times she was left in the care of her grandmother. She was not allowed to buy records when she was growing up, but she listened to her stepfather's record collection, which included artists Otis Redding, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Rolling Stones, as well as her parents' records, which included Black Flag, Sister Sledge, and Barry White. In sixth grade, she adopted the nickname Chan (pronounced "Shawn"), which she would later use professionally. When she was 13, she listened to the Smiths, the Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. She had to save up to buy cassettes and the first one she got was a record by the Misfits. At age 16, she became estranged from her mother, and had no further contact with her until she was 24.

Religion was a large part of Marshall's upbringing; her father was a Jehovah's Witness, though she attended Southern Baptist churches with her grandmother, where she began singing while learning hymns.

Personal life

In 2005, Marshall entered a relationship with actor Giovanni Ribisi, and resided with Ribisi and his daughter in Los Angeles. They also had a rental house in Malibu where she had a studio. Following the release of The Greatest, Marshall canceled her impending spring 2006 tour, and used the hiatus to recover from mental health issues. As part of her recovery, she was admitted to the psychiatric ward at Mount Sinai Medical Center & Miami Heart Institute, leaving after a week. Marshall gave a first person account of her breakdown in an interview for the November 2006 issue of Spin.

In June 2012, it was reported that Marshall had ended her relationship with Ribisi, and the completion of her upcoming record had coincided with their breakup: "I cut my hair off three days [after the breakup], got on a plane to France, and finished the shit." Shortly after the release of Sun, Marshall began having trouble breathing and was hospitalized multiple times, though doctors were unable to diagnose her. "I thought I was dying," she recounted. "They told me they were going to put me in a coma to save my lungs. My friend came to visit and told me I'd made the Billboard Top 10 and all I could think was: 'I don't want to die.'" Marshall was subsequently diagnosed with hereditary angioedema, an immune disorder that causes sporadic swelling of the face and throat due to C1 esterase inhibitor deficiency. In September 2012, she stated she had been hospitalized due to the condition over eight times, which led her to cancel her European tour.

In April 2015, Marshall announced that she had recently given birth to a son, but did not name the child's father.

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Career

Marshall's first instrument was a 1950s Silvertone guitar, which she taught herself how to play. She began playing music in Atlanta in the late 1980s with Glen Thrasher, Marc Moore, Damon Moore, and Fletcher Liegerot, who would gather in a basement for jam sessions. The band was booked for a show and had to come up with a name quickly; Marshall chose Cat Power as the band's name after seeing a man wearing a Caterpillar trucker cap.

While in Atlanta, Marshall performed her first live shows as the 'ethic Bone and Opal Foxx Quartets performed. She said in a 2007 interview that the music itself was more experimental, and that playing shows provided her and her colleagues with a way to get wasted and take drugs. A number of her local peers became involved in heroin use. Marshall and her boyfriend, as well as the death of her best friend, AIDS, in 1992, relocating to New York City with Glen Thrasher. She was aided in getting a job in a restaurant by a new boyfriend.

Thrasher introduced her to New York's free jazz and experimental music scene. She gave her first New York show of improvisational music after attending Anthony Braxton's concert at a warehouse in Brooklyn. During this period, one of her performances was as the support act to Man or Astro-man. It consisted of her playing a two-string guitar and singing the word "no" for 15 minutes. She was in contact with God Is My Co-Pilot, who helped with the debut of her first single, "Headlights," on their limited run of 500 copies on their Making of Americans label around this period.

Marshall and Myra Lee premiered in December 1994 in a tiny basement studio near Mott Street in New York City, with guitarist Tim Foljahn and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley; Marshall and Shelley had first met after she appeared at a show opening for Liz Phair in 1993. The trio's entire set of 20 songs were recorded in a single day, including Dear Sir and Myra Lee, who were split into two albums in October 1995 and March 1996, respectively. Although Dear Sir is Marshall's debut album, it's not the length of an EP.

Marshall signed to Matador Records in 1996 and released What Would the Community Think, her third album that was released in September, which was released in Memphis, Tennessee. Shelley and Foljahn appeared as backing singers on the album, and "Nude as the News" promoted her single and music video about the abortion she suffered at the age of 20. Critics cited the album as evidence of her maturation as a singer and songwriter from her first two releases' "dense and cathartic" content.

Marshall took a trip to South Africa after which she left New York City and found part-time as a babysitter in Portland, Oregon. Marshall and her then-boyfriend, musician Bill Callahan, moved to Prosperity, South Carolina, in the spring of 1997. Marshall wrote six new songs on her first album, Moon Pix (1998), which she recorded in Melbourne, Australia, with backing singer Mick Turner and Jim White of the Australian band Dirty Three. Moon Pix was well-reced by critics, and her music video for the song "Cross Bones Style" helped her gain more attention. Rolling Stone would later talk about it as her 'breakthrough' record.

Marshall appeared in a string of shows in which she provided musical accompaniment to the silent film The Passion of Joan of Arc in 1999. The shows combined original music and covers, some of which will be released on Marshall's fifth album, The Covers Record, in 2000. The songs were recorded in two sessions in 1998 and 1999, respectively. In addition, she appeared on eleven covers during a Peel session on June 18, 2000, which included own interpretations of Bob Dylan's "Hard Times in New York Town" and Oasis' "Wonderwall." According to reports, her Matador contract for 2000 was based on a Post-it note signed by herself and the company's founder.

Marshall was embraced by fashion for her "neo grunge" style and portrayed as a muse by designers Marc Jacobs and Nicolas Ghesquière in the early 2000s. Mark Borthwick and Katja Rahlwes photographed her in 2001 for her fall fashion issue in New York City, and Catherine Deneuve appeared in Purple magazine with Catherine Deneuve.

Marshall released You Are Free, her first album of original material in five years, in February 2003. The collection, which featured guest artists including Eddie Vedder, Dave Grohl, and Warren Ellis, became the first charting Cat Power album to reach 105 on the Billboard 200. For the album "He War," Brett Vapnek's music video was released. Marshall appeared in Europe, Brazil, the United States, and Australia throughout 2003 and 2004. Marshall's live performances had become increasingly diverse and unpredictable during this time, and a 2003 New Yorker article introduced "It's foolhardy to refer a Cat Power festival as a concert," citing "rambling confessions" and "[talking] to a friend's baby from the stage." Marshall attributed this time to a drinking disorder later in life. Marshall bought a house in South Beach, Miami, around the time when You Are Free's first appeared.

Matador released Speaking for Trees, a DVD film of Marshall playing her guitar in a woodland in October 2004. The set was accompanied by an audio CD containing the 18-minute song "Willie Deadwilder," which featured M. Ward on guitar.

Marshall released her seventh album, The Greatest, a Southern soul-influenced collection of new music starring veteran Memphis studio artists, including Mabon "Teenie" Hodges, Leroy Hodges, David Smith, and Steve Potts on January 22, 2006. The album debuted at 34 on the Billboard 200, and analysts praised its "polished and recognizable" sound, predicting that it would "gain her a lot of new followers." Marshall was the first woman to win the award after a critical reception and won the 2006 Shortlist Music Prize. Rolling Stone Magazine also rated it as the best album of 2006.

Marshall collaborated on several projects, including Mick Collins on a recording of Ludwig Rellstab's poem "Auf Dem Strom" for the film Wayne County Ramblin's; lead vocals on Serge Gainsbourg's "Je t'aime... moi non plus" by Ono; and a reworked version of "Revelations" with Yoko Ono; "I'm a Witch" by Andrea Coveney (2004).

After being seen by Karl Lagerfeld smoking a cigarette outside the Mercer Hotel in New York in the fall of 2006, Marshall became a celebrity ambassador for a Chanel line of jewelry. Lagerfeld selected Cat Power for the soundtrack to his spring 2007 fashion preview. He also photographed Marshall for a Purple tribute.

Marshall contributed to the soundtrack of Ethan Hawke's film The Hottest State, which features Jesse Harris and Terry Manning, and the Academy Award-winning film Juno. She made her feature film debut in My Blueberry Nights opposite Jude Law the same year, appearing in a small role. In Doug Aitken's MoMA installation Sleepwalkers, she performed as a postal worker. She appeared on Faithless' album track A Kind of Peace in 2007.

Marshall's second covers album, Jukebox, was released in January 2008. Judah Bauer of the Blues Explosion, Gregg Foreman of The Delta 72, Erik Paparazzi of Lizard Music, and Jim White of Dirty Three were among the original songs "Song to Bobby," Marshall's tribute to Bob Dylan, and a reworking of the Moon Pix song "Metal Heart." On the album Modern Guilt (2008), she performed backing vocals on two tracks, "Orphanages" and "Walls." In July of that year, the album was released.

Marshall and members of the Dirty Delta Blues (Erik Paparazzi and Gregg Foreman) of September 2008 produced their own interpretation of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" for a Lincoln vehicle commercial. In Apple's Christmas commercial "Misunderstood" in 2013, Cat Power's version of "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" was used. Dark End of the Street, an EP made up of songs left over from Jukebox sessions, was released in December 2008. On the 2009 album Easy Come Easy Go, Marianne Faithfull's cover of "Hold On, Hold On" by Neko Case provided support vocals on Marianne Faithfull's cover of "Hold On, Hold On" by Neko Case. She appeared on Eddie Vedder's "Tonight You Belong to Me" as a guest vocalist in 2011.

Marshall postponed a planned appearance in Tel Aviv, Israel, citing "much confusion" and "sick in her spirit" in February 2012. She had been asked to leave the country due to the country's conflict with Palestine. Two months later, she postponed her appearance at the Coachella Music Festival, claiming that she "didn't think it was fair to play Coachella" when her latest album is still unfinished, but that she will debut it later in 2012. Sun, Marshall's ninth studio album, was released in September 2012. After releasing the lead single "Ruin" as a free download the previous June, it was released in September 2012. Marshall incorporated electronica elements and arrangements into her "real slow guitar-based songs" she had written on the album. Sun was praised as a unique collection of sounds in a review that appeared on September 4, 2012, as a result of Consequence of Sound. Marshall's 2012 release, according to reviewer Sarah Grant, "a passionate pop album of electronic music filtered through a singer-songwriter's soul." The album debuted at a career peak of No. 1 in North America. On the first week, the Billboard 200 chart debuted ten on the Billboard 200 chart, selling over 23,000 copies.

Marshall will be narrator for the documentary Janis: Little Girl Blue, directed by Amy J. Berg, which revolves around Janis Joplin's life and premiered at the 2015 Venice Film Festival. Marshall appeared on television in China, Illinois, in the hourlong musical special "Magical Pet." Marshall performs three original songs written by designer Brad Neely.

Marshall revealed on Instagram on July 28, 2017, although she did not reveal the name or the expected release date, although she did not reveal its name or expected release date.

Marshall would perform a Moon Pix 20th anniversary concert at Sydney Opera House on March 20, 2018, which was attended by album collaborators Jim White and Mick Turner from May 25 to June 16.

Marshall unveiled her 10th studio album, Wanderer, on July 18, 2018. She also posted the title track as an introduction to the collection. Before the album was released on October 5, 2018, she released two more singles, "Woman" starring Lana Del Rey on August 15 and a cover of Rihanna's "Stay" featuring Lana Del Rey on September 18. It was her first appearance on Matador Records since 1996. Matador was not thrilled with the Wanderer's recordings, according to Marshall, they wanted her to rerecord it and make it sound more commercial. In September, she embarked on a world tour to promote the album.

In August 2021, Power began supporting Alanis Morissette and Garbage. Since the original opening act Liz Phair had cancelled her appearances, she was a last-minute addition to the lineup. Power contributed four new songs to the soundtrack of the 2021 film Flag Day's soundtrack. Covers, her eleventh studio album, was released on January 14, 2022, and it will be accompanied by a US tour.

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Awards and nominations

• Won: Shortlist Music Prize for The Greatest
• Nominated: Best International Female Solo Artist, 2007 BRIT Awards
• Nominated: Best Art Vinyl for Jukebox
• Nominated: Best International Female Solo Artist, 2013 BRIT Awards
• Nominated: Best Cinematography for "Where Is My Love?", 2007 Antville Music Video Awards
• Nominated: Comeback of the Year, 2018 Rober Awards Music Prize
• Nominated: Best Foreign Solo Act, Wanderer Best Foreign Album, 2019 Sweden GAFFA Awards
• Nominated: Best Pop Video - International for "Go Up", 2017 UK Music Video Awards