Cat Power  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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Cat Power is the stage name of American singer/songwriter Chan Marshall (born Charlyn Marie Marshall on January 21, 1972). She is known for her minimalist style, sparse guitar and piano playing, and breathy vocals.

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.

Songs used in movies

• "Maybe Not"

  The Quiet (2005, Jamie Babbit); "Everything Is Fine (Tout est parfait)" (2008, Yves Christian Fournier)

• "Naked, If I Want To" (Jerry A. Miller Jr.)

  Jackpot (2001, Michael Polish) (as "Naked If I Want To Be")

• "Metal Heart"

  Desert Blue (1998, Morgan J. Freeman)

• "Rockets"

  Trance (1998, Michael Almereyda)

• "I Found a Reason" (Lou Reed)

  Habibti min elskede (2002, Pernille Fischer Christensen); The Secret Lives of Dentists (2002, Alan Rudolph); Saving Face (2004, Alice Wu); Dandelion (2004, Mark Milgard); V for Vendetta (2005, James McTeigue)

• "Sea of Love" (John Phillip Baptiste & George Khoury)

  Subrosa (2000, Helen Lee); Juno (2007, Jason Reitman)

• "In This Hole"

  New Rose Hotel (1998, Abel Ferrara); Under Heaven (1998, Meg Richman); Jackpot (2001, Michael Polish)

• "Paths of Victory" (Bob Dylan)

  North Country (2005, Niki Caro)

• "Cross Bones Style"

  Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus (2005, Andrew Douglas)

• "Nude as the News"

  Winter Passing (2005, Adam Rapp)

• "Troubled Waters" (Sam Coslow & Arthur Johnston)

  Perfect Stranger (2007, James Foley); "Everything Is Fine (Tout est parfait)" (2008, Yves Christian Fournier)

• "The Greatest"

  My Blueberry Nights (2007); 17 Again (2009); Mammoth (2009); "The Family (2013 film)"

• "Living Proof"

  My Blueberry Nights (2007)

• "Werewolf"

  Powder Blue (2009, Timothy Linh Bui); Los abrazos rotos (2009, Pedro Almodóvar)

• Unknown which song(s)

  Vern (2004, Suzi Yoonessi)