Kay Hanley

Kay Hanley
Hanley in 2007
Background information
Born	September 11, 1968 Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA
Genres	Rock folk pop acoustic alternative
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Zoë Records De Guerre
Associated acts	Letters to Cleo Michael Eisenstein Veruca Salt Cheap Trick American Hi-Fi Palmdale Bowling for Soup

Kay Hanley is an American singer and songwriter. She is best known as the vocalist for the alternative rock band Letters to Cleo.

Life and career[]

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Hanley grew up on Range rd and went to St. Gregory's elementary school in Dorchester. She was a member of Letters To Cleo from 1990 to 2000 (the length of the band's existence, with the exception of the 2008-2009 reunion tour). The band name was conceived by Hanley in reference to a pen pal named Cleo that she had when she was younger. In 1997, she began working on other projects, beginning with a role in the Boston Rock Opera's performance of Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene.

In 1999, Hanley appeared as herself in the film 10 Things I Hate About You, singing a cover version of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" at the movie characters' high school prom, in addition to performing "Come On" with Letters to Cleo during an earlier scene at a club. Towards the end of her Letters to Cleo career, she began performing with her then-husband^[1] and fellow Letters To Cleo member Michael Eisenstein outside of the band. Around the same time, she gave birth to their daughter, Zoe.

Upon the split of Letters to Cleo, Hanley embarked upon a solo career. She performed music for the Kids' WB cartoon series Generation O! along with the rest of Letters to Cleo and provided the singing voice for Rachael Leigh Cook's character Josie in the movie Josie and the Pussycats. In 2002, she released her first solo album, Cherry Marmalade. That same year, she appeared on the Dropkick Murphys/Face to Face split CD, providing guest vocals on the original version of the Dropkick Murphys song "The Dirty Glass".

In 2003, Hanley was approached by Jun Senoue from Sega to co-write and perform on an original song for their upcoming entry in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, entitled Sonic Heroes. The result was the song "Follow Me."

In 2004, Hanley released a follow up to Cherry Marmalade, The Babydoll EP. That same year, she and her then-husband Michael Eisenstein had their second child, Henry Aaron, the name given in honor of baseball player Hank Aaron and their love for baseball.

In August 2005, Hanley recorded a cover of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" for the soundtrack of the Reese Witherspoon film Just Like Heaven. In September 2005, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of a pre-taped man-on-the-street segment, singing a song about falling in love at Starbucks.

Hanley is popular with fans of the New England Patriots thanks to the team at one point going 8–0 after she sang the pre-game National Anthem at Gillette Stadium. The streak came to an end when the Patriots lost on January 10, 2010 to the Baltimore Ravens. Hanley is also very involved with the Boston-based charity "Hot Stove, Cool Music," both as performer and spokesperson for the semi-annual event.

She sang the theme song ^[2] for My Friends Tigger & Pooh,^[3] a half-hour Disney Channel TV show that premiered on Playhouse Disney on May 12, 2007 and "" from Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! and .

Hanley and longtime writing partner Michelle Lewis currently compose all-original songs for animated television shows such as the hit Disney series Doc McStuffins.,^[4] Cartoon Network/WB's DC Super Hero Girls, and Harvey Girls Forever on Netflix.

She is co-executive director of Songwriters of North America, an LA-based non-profit which advocates for fair pay and other rights for songwriters. Due to her work with SONA in getting the Music Modernization Act passed into law in October 2018, Hanley was elected Vice Chair of the 's Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee in August 2019

On Thanksgiving Day 2007, Hanley sang a song called "" in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Care Bears float.

In 2007-08, Hanley toured as a back-up singer with Miley Cyrus for Hannah Montana concerts and events.

Hanley's latest album, Weaponize, was released May 27, 2008.

Hanley provided vocals on Bowling For Soup's track "I've Never Done Anything Like This" from their album Fishin' for Woos.

Hanley co-wrote "Don't Wanna Be Famous" on the band The Dollyrots' eponymous album.

In 2014, Kay Hanley appeared in the Parks and Recreation season 6 finale, performing her song "Here & Now" at the Pawnee-Eagleton Unity Concert. The character of Ben Wyatt, played by Adam Scott, is seen offstage in his Letters to Cleo t-shirt, blissfully watching the band as Hanley winks at him. Hanley is seen later in the episode entering Tom Haverford's new restaurant, Tom's Bistro.

Discography[]

Letters to Cleo[]

Pet Projects[]

The title of this section indicates projects that both Hanley and Eisenstein have taken an active interest in developing, in terms of playing multiple roles, including production as well as composition and/or instrumentation.

Solo[]

Soundtracks[]

Special appearances[]

Filmography[]

Further reading[]

• MacNeil, Jason. "Kay Hanley". Allmusic. Retrieved January 21, 2012.

References[]

External links[]

• Kay Hanley on Twitter
• Letters to Cleo website
• Kay Hanley's MySpace
• Kay Hanley at IMDb
• Kay and USA Mike's Lynx