Cat Power

Cat Power Introduction

Singer/songwriter Cat Power began her life as Charlyn "Chan" Marshall on January 21, 1972 in Atlanta, GA. She is known for her minimalist style, sparse guitar and piano playing, and ethereal vocals.

Cat Power Music Career

After dropping out of high school, she started performing under the name Cat Power while in Atlanta. While in Atlanta, she played her first live shows as support to her friends' bands, including Magic Bone and Opal Foxx Quartet. Due to her close relationships with the various people involved she has stated that her involvement in music at this time was primarily a social interest rather than an artistic one. She also stated in a 2007 interview for Soft Focus that the music itself was more experimental and that playing shows was often an opportunity for her and her friends to get drunk and take drugs.

Her live shows have been known for their unpolished nature, with songs beginning and ending abruptly or blending into one another without clear transitions. She has also cut short performances without explanation. On some occasions this has been put down to her suffering from stage fright and the influence of alcohol. Marshall has admitted to abusing alcohol in the past; in a 2006 interview with the New York Times, she declared herself to be sober, which she defined as having had "seven drinks in seven months."

Cat Power Other Work

In October 2006 she became the celebrity spokesperson for a line of jewelry from Chanel, beginning a series of non musical activities that continued into the following year during downtime between touring and recording commitments. In 2007 her voice could be heard in commercials for Cingular and De Beers in the United States and Garnier in the United Kingdom. Previously she had done advertisements for GAP. She appeared in Doug Aitken's MOMA installation Sleepwalkers (2007) as a dancer/FedEx worker living in New York. Her 2007 big screen debut came in My Blueberry Nights (2007), starring as Jude Law's girlfriend. Her next acting gig will be in American Widow (2008).