Corin Tucker | |
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 Tucker performing live withSleater-Kinney in London, 2015 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Corin Lisa Tucker |
| Born | (1972-11-09)November 9, 1972 (age 52) State College, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
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Corin Lisa Tucker (born November 9, 1972) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for her work with rock bandSleater-Kinney.[1][2] Tucker is also a member of the alternative rock supergroupFilthy Friends, and previously recorded with the punk bandHeavens to Betsy as well as The Corin Tucker Band.[2][3]
Entertainment Weekly writes, "Corin Tucker's place in rock history is already set in stone, and her work in theriot grrrl era is pretty much peerless, thanks to the muscular guitar style, otherworldly wail, and knack for punchy, pounding three-minute blasts she brought to such great heights with riot queens Sleater-Kinney."[4]Rolling Stone called her "a punk-rock heroine."[5] In 2023,Rolling Stone ranked Tucker at number 155 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[6]
Tucker was born inState College, Pennsylvania, and spent her childhood inGrand Forks, North Dakota.[1][2][7] There, her father was a college professor and her mother was a medical technician.[2][7] Her father is also a folk singer and musician.[2][8] She began studying piano when she was twelve.[2] In high school inEugene, Oregon, she was in a band with friends called This That.[2]
Tucker says she "grew up on theBeatles" but that "her mind was completely blown" when she heardR.E.M.'s albumMurmur when she was eleven.[9] Her other musical influences include the Soundtrack fromThe Wizard of Oz,Joan Jett & the Blackhearts'I Love Rock 'N' Roll,The B-52's,Pat Benatar'sGet Nervous,Television'sMarquee Moon, andBikini Kill.[10][7] Her first concert was to see the bandX in Eugene around 1987.[7]
In 1990, Tucker attendedEvergreen State College inOlympia, Washington, where she studied film, political economy, and social change.[2] She was also exposed to the music scene in Olympia.[2] Tucker said, "I was 18 when I went to a show thatBratmobile andBikini Kill played. It was February 14, 1991...It was the first time I'd seen feminism translated into an emotional language. For young women to be doing that, basically teenagers on stage, to be taking that kind of stance, that kind of power, was blowing people's minds. And it totally blew my mind. I was like, 'OK, that's it. That's it for me — I'm going in a band, right now.'"[2] The result was the band Heavens to Betsy.[2]
In her first year at Evergreen, Tucker made a documentary about women in music.[2] The documentary included footage of early shows by Bikini Kill and Bratmobile, and interviews withBeat Happening andNirvana.[2] Tucker graduated from college in 1994.[2]
She says her role models areMaya Angelou,Nora Ephron, andPatti Smith.[7][8] As Tucker puts its, "Women who have had really long careers and done a lot of different things."[7]
Although she later relocated toPortland, Oregon, Tucker still describes herself as "a small-town girl" from Eugene.[11]
Starting in 1991, Tucker has been a singer, guitarist, and songwriter in several rock bands.[8] In 1999,Esquire wrote that Tucker "has been the most interesting singer in pop music since 1991, when she first opened her mouth in public, in a two-woman drums-and-guitar punk band with the wonderful name ofHeavens to Betsy."[12]
Tucker is usually the front person and lead singer. One reviewer noted, "Her voice is enormous, with a natural swing--the sort of swing that neitherTina Turner norMick Jagger has ever had, the ability to take a note and ring it like a bell in a tower."[12]
Tucker was a founding member of the influentialriot grrrl bandHeavens to Betsy along withTracy Sawyer, a longtime friend fromEugene, Oregon.[2][13] Tucker played the first public show of her career when the band performed at theInternational Pop Underground Convention in August 1991.[14][15] Heavens to Betsy recorded a splitsingle withBratmobile, and several singles forindependent record labels.[2] The band released a self-titled demo in 1992, the four-song 7" recordThese Monsters Are Real in 1992, the albumCalculated in 1994, and the 7" four-songDirection in 1994.[13][2] The band broke up in 1994.[2]Rolling Stone wrote, "Heavens to Betsy [was] one of the standout acts connected to the riot-grrrl movement."[8]
Heartless Martin was Tucker's "one-off collaboration" withBecca Albee ofExcuse 17.[16] Heartless Martin released a five-song EP,Tonigh.[16]
After Heavens to Betsy split in 1994, Tucker formedSleater-Kinney withExcuse 17 memberCarrie Brownstein and friendLora McFarlane. Tucker wrote most of the lyrics, sang lead vocals, and played second guitar to Brownstein's lead, with the duo collaborating on music.[17][8]Janet Weiss eventually replaced McFarlane on drums.[12] In 1999,Esquire said Sleater-Kinney was "the best band in the world."[12] They released seven albums over eleven years before going on hiatus in 2006.[2] On August 12, 2006, the band played what was supposed to be their final show at Crystal Ballroom in Portland.[2] However, the band reunited and recordedNo Cities to Love in 2015, followed byThe Center Won't Hold in 2019, andPath of Wellness in 2021.[17][18][19]
While in Sleater-Kinney, Tucker worked on a side project,Cadallaca, with organistSarah Dougher and drummer STS ofThe Lookers.[20][2][21] In 1998, Cadallaca released their first albumIntroducing Cadallaca.[20][21] They released an EP,Out West, onKill Rock Stars in 2000.[21][2]
In April 2010, Tucker announced she was recording a solo album forKill Rock Stars.[22]Unwound's Sara Lund andGolden Bear's'Circus Lupus and Seth Lorinczi assisted Tucker with this project which was dubbed The Corin Tucker Band.[22][23] The album1,000 Years was released on October 5, 2010, and was streamed viaNPR.[24] The album's eleven songs were different from other Tucker projects—many of the songs were slowerfolk andAmericana, and Tucker played acoustic guitar.[22][23][25] Tucker said the album is "definitely more of a middle-aged mom record, in a way. It's not a record that a young person would write... There's some sadness, some reinvention, some rebirth."[22] She cited post-punk acts like theEnglish Beat,The Raincoats,The Slits, andSinead O'Connor'sThe Lion and the Cobra as influences for1,000 Years.[22][25]
Most reviews of the album were positive.[26]Rolling Stone wrote, "She's not shredding the awesome vocal cords so much, but she gets fierce in other ways, trying on cellos and piano ballads. When she finally cranks it up Sleater-Kinney-style on 'Doubt,' it feels earned: a cry ofself-determination, as inspiring as ever."[26]Pitchfork said, "This album's strengths—its intimacy, its containment, its subtlety—are not the qualities that made Sleater-Kinney great, but it would be ungenerous to dismiss this because it's not as thrilling, confrontational, or exuberant."[26] However, anEntertainment Weekly reviewer wrote that the album's songs "sound scrapbooked from other '90s-centric acts (Liz Phair,Pavement) but never take on a form of their own."[27] The band toured on both U.S. coasts to support1,000 Years, in addition to a few festival dates in other parts of the country.[22][24]
The Corin Tucker Band's second album,Kill My Blues, was released on September 18, 2012, and contained twelve songs.[4][28] In an interview, Tucker said, "For this record, we really bonded, the four of us, being on tour and playing music together, so in writing this record, we all worked together in the practice space, writing these songs and just enjoying the writing process and everything that came out of it."[5] The resulting songs cover "the finite nature of existence, the stalemate of our political climate, a moment in the transition from girlhood to womanhood...[and] love of different kinds."[5] This album also sounded more like aSleater-Kinney album than1,000 Years.[4] One reviewer wrote, "This album harks somewhat to the glory days of the Riot Grrrl Olympia scene of the late '90s, but it's by no means retrospective or reactionary."[29] However, another reviewer correctly predictedKill My Blues "will inevitably go down as one of the most underrated albums of the year."[4] This album was also supported by a nationwide tour.[30]
Alt-rock "supergroup"Filthy Friends is another side project for Tucker, with Tucker on lead vocals andR.E.M.'sPeter Buck on guitar, along with other musician friends rounding out the band.[3][31] The two met when Tucker's husband worked on a film project with R.E.M.[9] Formed in 2014,Filthy Friends has released two albums:Invitation (2017) andEmerald Valley (2019).[9][2] On both albums, Tucker wrote the majority of the lyrics to match Buck's music.[31]
OnEmerald Valley, she played Buck'sFender Musicmaster guitar.[31] Tucker said, "It's a smaller-sized Fender guitar, and I love it. It's really different, and it makes me play differently in this band, because I usually play aGibson Les Paul and I'm usually a rhythm guitar player, almost a bass player, in Sleater-Kinney."[31]
Tucker has worked on a variety of other musical projects. She sang back-up vocals on two ofPeter Buck's solo albums, includingPeter Buck (2012).[32][9] She sang a duet withEddie Vedder ofPearl Jam for the title track ofJohn Doe's EPThe Golden State in 2008.[33][2] She also provided vocals for the song "Hard Sun" on Vedder's soundtrack for the 2007 filmInto the Wild.[2] In 2018, she covered the title track "Shine On," for the album released byThe Jim Henson Company as part of theFraggle Rock's 30th anniversary celebration.[34]
Tucker has also dabbled in television and film. She appeared in two episodes of bandmateCarrie Brownstein's television showPortlandia, portraying a member of the fictional band Echo Echo.[35][2][36] In addition,Portlandia was first filmed at Tucker's house and she was the camera crew.[7]
Tucker is in the following films portraying herself:The Punk Singer (2013),Burn to Shine 03: Portland, OR (2006), andDon't Need You: The Herstory of Riot Grrrl (2005), as well as an episode of the television showThe L Word (2006) and the web seriesSound Advice (2015).[37][38][39][40][41]
Tucker previously identified as alesbian, but now identifies asbisexual.[42][43][25] Shecame out to her family when she was nineteen years old.[44] She briefly dated bandmateCarrie Brownstein at the beginning of Sleater-Kinney in May 1994, a fact that was revealed to the world in a now-infamousSpin article.[2][44] Tucker called the article a "pain in the ass."[44] She said, "We weren't asked about our personal lives in the interview. We talked about things we thought were really important, and what they printed was that we dated. It just came out as being gossip."[44] Tucker wrote the Sleater-Kinney song "One More Hour" about her breakup with Brownstein.[45][46]
Tucker has been outspoken in her support of the pro-choice movement.[2][7] An ardent feminist, she believes it is more important than ever for women to fight for equality.[25] She also spoke against theIraq War, despite offending audiences.[2] In her songs withFilthy Friends, she has protesteddeforestation,U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, andoil pipelines.[31]
She got her only tattoo when she was eighteen—it's the name "Heavens to Betsy" in cursive with a star on either side, on her ankle.[7]
Tucker married filmmakerLance Bangs in June 2000 inIceland.[2] They have a son, Marshall Tucker Bangs (born March 8, 2001), and a daughter, Glory Bangs (born 2008).[47][48][2] Marshall was born prematurely.[2]
Outside of music, she is in web development and interactive media for a healthcare company.[7] In addition, she makes training and informational videos for the healthcare company.[7] She also designed and ran a website for her father's business.[23]
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