Highlights - Muses
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Talent,
sensuality and a lot of rock & roll!
BORN:
October 9, 1969, Yeovil, England
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During
the early-'90s alternative rock explosion, several female singer-songwriters
rose to prominence, but few were as distinctive or as widely praised
as Polly Jean Harvey. Over the course of three albums, Harvey
established herself as one of the most individual and influential
songwriters of the '90s, exploring themes of sex, love and religion
with unnerving honesty, dark humor and a twisted theatricality.
At the outset of her career, she led the trio PJ Harvey, who delivered
her stark songs with bruisingly powerful, punkish abandon, as
typified by her 1992 debut, Dry.
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the noisy, uncompromising follow-up Rid of Me, the trio fell
apart, and PJ Harvey became the sole property of Polly Harvey.
Her next record, 1995's To Bring You My Love, became her mainstream
critical breakthrough, confirming her status as one of the
cornerstone figures of '90s alternative rock. |
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| Polly
Jean Harvey was raised on a sheep farm in Yeovil, England, where
she was raised by her quarryman father and her mother, who was an
artist. As a child, she learned how to play guitar and saxophone,
and when she was a teenager, she played in a variety of bands as
a sideman. In 1991, she formed PJ Harvey with bassist Steve Vaughn
and drummer Robert Ellis, and the trio recorded its debut record
for under $5, 000. |
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The
band signed with the British indie label Too Pure and released
"Dress" that fall. "Dress" became a indie rock sensation,
as did its follow-up "Sheela-Na-Gig," with both singles receiving
lavish praise in the U.K. music press. Although Harvey was
a reluctant interviewee, she cannily used the press to her
advantage, whether it was through her candid interviews or
startling, occasionally disturbingly sexy photo sessions,
which subverted traditional concepts of female sexuality. |
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| PJ
Harvey's debut Dry was released in spring 1992 to considerable praise;
it was distributed in America by Island Records. The trio followed
it with an extensive tour, culminating with an appearance at that
summer's Reading Festival. Shortly after the tour, Harvey moved
to London, where she nearly suffered a nervous breakdown due to
the extraordinary pressure and expectation surrounding her second
album. |
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group hired former Big Black frontman Steve Albini (Pixies,
Breeders), as the producer of their second album, Rid of Me.
Albini imposed his trademark noisy, guitar-heavy sound on
the record, which mirrored its harder-edged themes. Rid of
Me was a major critical success and expanded Harvey's cult
greatly. She supported the album with a tour featuring herself
in a fake leopard-skin coat and a feather boa, signaling her
developing interest in theatricality. At the end of the year,
Harvey released 4-Track Demos, a collection of her original
versions of the songs on Rid of Me. |
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Thanks to considerable press attention, as well as strong
support from MTV and modern rock radio for the single "Down
By the Water," To Bring You My Love became a moderate hit,
entering the U.S. charts at number 40. Harvey spent all of
1995 touring the album, and spent the following year in relative
seclusion. During 1996, she was relatively quiet, only appearing
twice on record: once in a duet with Nick Cave on his Murder
Ballads album -- the pair were reportedly romantically involved
-- and singing on John Parish's Dance Hall at Louse Point.
Is This Desire followed in 1998.
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Two
years later, Harvey reunited with Ellis and Mick Harvey for
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, which returned
to her earlier, more aggressive style and was inspired by her
six-month stay in New York City in 1999.
OFFICIAL PJ HARVEY'S SITE
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