American singer and songwriter
Musical artist
Kay Hanley
(born September 11, 1968) 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 in
Dorchester, Massachusetts
,
[1]
across the street from the
Wahlberg
family. She attended school at St. Gregory's and Latin Academy. She has been lead singer/songwriter for rock band
Letters To Cleo
since 1990. The band name was inspired by Hanley's childhood penpal.
In 1996, she co-starred alongside
Gary Cherone
in 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
" to
Heath Ledger
and
Julia Stiles
at their characters' high school prom, in addition to performing original song "Come On" with Letters to Cleo during an earlier scene at a club. Towards the end of the 90s she began performing with her then-husband
[2]
and fellow Letters To Cleo member Michael Eisenstein outside of the band. Around the same time, she gave birth to their daughter, Zoe Mabel.
Songwriting
[
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]
In 1999 Hanley began a shift in her music career. She wrote and performed songs 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, which has raised over 6 million dollars for
The Foundation To Be Named Later
She sang the theme song
[3]
for
My Friends Tigger & Pooh
,
[4]
a half-hour Disney Channel TV show that premiered on Playhouse Disney on May 12, 2007, and "We Are Care Bears" from
Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!
and
Care Bears to the Rescue
.
Hanley and longtime writing partner Michelle Lewis currently compose all-original songs for animated television shows such as the hit Disney series
Doc McStuffins
.,
[5]
Cartoon Network/WB's
DC Super Hero Girls
, and
Harvey Girls Forever
and
Ada Twist, Scientist
on Netflix.
Hanley won a 2022
Emmy Award
for songwriting on
We The People.
She and writing partners
Michelle Lewis
, Dan Petty, and Charlton Pettus created Kindergarten The Musical. In production at
Disney Junior
, the show will debut in fall 2024. Hanley serves as
executive producer
.
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
Mechanical Licensing Collective
's Unclaimed Royalties Oversight Committee in August 2019
On
Thanksgiving Day
2007, Hanley sang a song called "Caring Changes The World" 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 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
.
In 2020, at the height of the
COVID-19 pandemic
, she appeared as lead vocalist in a "distanced" music video, a cover of
Donnie Iris
's "Ah! Leah!"
[6]
Later that year, she appeared on
Saving for a Custom Van
, a
tribute album
for
Adam Schlesinger
, with whom she had worked on
Josie and the Pussycats
, following his death from COVID-19. She performed the
Fountains of Wayne
song "
Radiation Vibe
" in his memory.
[7]
Hanley married audio engineer Clayton Janes in 2021 in
Bentonville
, Arkansas.
Oh 2023, Hanley and her fellow Letters to Cleo bandmate Tom Polce wrote the songs for “Subspace Rhapsody,” an episode of
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
performed in the style of a broadway musical.
Discography
[
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]
Letters to Cleo
[
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Pet Projects
[
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]
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.
Year
|
Artist
|
Title
|
Label
|
Role
|
2003
|
The Gentlemen
|
Blondes Prefer the Gentlemen
|
Sodapop Records
|
Vocals
|
2007
|
Murder Capitol of the World
|
St. Jude's Revenge
|
Dot Rat
|
Vocals
|
2008
|
Cruiserweight
|
Big Bold Letters
|
Doghouse/Siren Songs
|
Composer, Background Vocals
|
Solo
[
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]
Year
|
Title
|
Label
|
2002
|
Cherry Marmalade
|
Zoe Records
|
2003
|
The Paradise - Boston, MA 5/30/03
(live)
|
Instant Live
[8]
|
2004
|
The Babydoll EP
|
The Paradise - Boston, MA 8/26/04
(live)
|
2006
|
Kay Hanley / Scamper split single CD
|
De Guerre/Scamper
|
2008
|
Weaponize
|
De Guerre
|
Soundtracks
[
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Special appearances
[
edit
]
Filmography
[
edit
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Further reading
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]
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International
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National
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Artists
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Other
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