Poe (singer)

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Poe
Annie Danielewski at EdgeFest in Dayton, Ohio 1996. © 1996 Kent Hagan
Background information
Birth name	Annie Decatur Danielewski
Born	March 23, 1968 (1968-03-23) (age 40)
Origin	New York City, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)	Vocals, Guitar
Years active	1995 - present

Annie Decatur Danielewski (born March 23, 1968), professionally known as Poe, first hit the modern rock charts in the mid-1990s. She is the daughter of Polish film director Tad Danielewski and his wife, Priscilla Machold. Poe is also the sister of author Mark Z. Danielewski.

Contents 1 History 2 References 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 3.3 Unreleased/compilation 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] History

She pursued her undergraduate studies at Princeton University where she organized her first band. Her first album, Hello, was released in 1995. Her debut single, "Angry Johnny", got much radio and MTV airplay.

As an artist who tours small clubs continuously, she was unable to produce a second album until 2000's Haunted. Poe included her late father on Haunted after discovering cassette tapes containing his voice. But listening to them the first time proved so difficult that she was hesitant to use them in her music. "I took these tapes home and I couldn't listen to them," Poe explains. "It was too hard, so I kept finding ways to avoid it. They were sitting on my coffee table next to a boombox."^[1] The album also dovetails with themes and concepts from her brother Mark's postmodern novel House of Leaves; the CD and the book were released simultaneously. Ann and Mark toured together across America at Borders Books and Music locations in support of the album and the novel. A remix of the song, "Hey Pretty", featured Mark reading a passage from the novel. It was released on one of the Haunted singles and became a radio hit. Hey Pretty was also the theme to a short-lived MTV soap opera Spyder Games. The show usually ended with bits of the risque video or a picture of the single's cover.

Poe started a campaign which she referred to as the "Re-POE-Session", an attempt to gain control of her master recordings from her former record label, Atlantic Records, because they refused to re-release her albums although she was still under contract. Her dedicated fan base, "The Angry Psychos", supported her fight by passing a "Poe Ball" around the country to show their support. In 2004, both albums were re-released on CD by FEI/Sheridan Square Records, and in downloadable form on various online music stores.

According to statements on her official forum Poe has (or had) started work on a third album, but details are sketchy and several years have passed since the first announcement. Her most recent work includes a collaboration with Rhys Fulber's solo project, Conjure One. She sings on the songs "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" on Conjure One's self-titled first album; she is credited with co-writing both songs.

Poe's musical style is an unusual blend of folk, rock, and electronica elements backing intimate lyrical compositions.

Poe appeared in the movie Gossip performing the song "My Lips are Sealed" (a cover of The Go-Go's' "Our Lips Are Sealed"), and as a CGI character, Mary Magdalene/Plague, in the PlayStation game, Apocalypse. Apocalypse also featured an alternate version of her song, "Control", later released on Haunted.

In November of 2007 Poe began collecting MP3 recordings of dream accounts on her website Repoezessed.

[edit] References

1. ^ Baltin, S: “The Haunting Return of Poe”, Rollingstone, 2000.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

• Hello (1995) Gold
• Haunted (2000)

[edit] Singles

• "Trigger Happy Jack (Drive by a Go-Go)" (1995) (#27 Modern Rock hit)
• "Angry Johnny" (1995) (#7 Modern Rock hit)
• "Hello" (1996) (#13 Modern Rock, #1 Dance hit)
• "Today" (Promo 1998)
• "Rise and Shine" Charity Single (1998)
• "Control" (Promo 1998)
• "Walk the Walk" (Promo, 2000)
• "Hey Pretty" Drive-by 2001 remix (Promo, 2001) (#13 Modern Rock, #30 Adult Top 40 hit)
• "Wild" (Promo, 2001)

[edit] Unreleased/compilation

• "Endless Dream," "One Word," and "Extraordinary Way" with Conjure One (credited as "Jane") (2005)
• "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" with Conjure One (2002)
• "My Lips are Sealed" (cover) on the Gossip soundtrack (1999)
• "Strange Wind" on the Anywhere But Here Soundtrack (1999)
• "Which Way To The Top?" (additional vocals) on Fastball's All the Pain Money Can Buy (1998)
• "I Can't Say No" (an Oklahoma! showtune cover) on the Welcome to Woop Woop Soundtrack (1998)
• "A Rose is a Rose" on the various artist album, Lounge-a-palooza (1997)
• "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" (1996) originally on KROQ's Kevin & Bean's Christmastime In The LBC and then re-released in 1997 on The Best of Kevin and Bean: A Family Christmas in Your Ass.

[edit] See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the US Dance chart
• Conjure One

[edit] External links

• Poe at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Poe Website