Ann Danielewski
Encyclopedia
Anne "Annie" Decatur Danielewski (born March 23, 1967), professionally known as Poe, is an American singer and songwriter. She first hit the modern rock charts in the mid-1990s. Poe is the daughter of Polish
film director Tad Danielewski
and his second wife, Priscilla Machold. She is the sister of author Mark Z. Danielewski
. Poe's musical style is a blend of folk
, rock
and electronica elements backing intimate lyrical compositions. Poe was signed to Atlantic Records from 1995–2001. She is currently on her own label, RePoezessed Records.
, where her father was a professor at Brigham Young University
. She eventually began pursuing her undergraduate studies at Princeton University
where she organized her first band. Her first album
, Hello, was released in 1995. Her debut single, "Angry Johnny
", got much radio and MTV
airplay.
Occupied by extensive small club tours, she was unable to produce a second album until 2000's Haunted. Poe included her late father on Haunted after discovering cassette tapes containing his voice. Listening to them the first time proved so difficult that she was hesitant to use them in her music. "I took these tapes home and I couldn't listen to them," Poe explains. "It was too hard, so I kept finding ways to avoid it. They were sitting on my coffee table next to a boombox." The album also dovetails with themes and concepts from her brother Mark's postmodern novel House of Leaves
; the CD and the book were released simultaneously. Poe and Mark toured together across America at Borders Books and Music
locations in support of the album and the novel.
A remix of the song, "Hey Pretty
", featured Mark reading a passage from the novel. It was released on one of the Haunted singles and became a radio hit. "Hey Pretty" was also the theme to a short-lived MTV
soap opera Spyder Games
. The show usually ended with bits of the risque video or a picture of the single's cover. In 10 Things I Hate About You
the character of Kat has the Poe ball on her schoolbook.
Poe started a campaign which she referred to as the "Re-POE-Session", an attempt to gain control of her master recordings from her former record label, Atlantic Records
, because they refused to re-release her albums although she was still under contract. In 2004, both albums were re-released on CD by FEI/Sheridan Square Records, and in downloadable form on various online music store
s.
According to statements on her official forum, Poe started work on a third album, but details are sketchy and several years have passed since the first announcement. Her most recent work includes collaborations with Rhys Fulber
's solo project, Conjure One
. She has had a part in the writing and singing of five songs on Conjure One's albums: "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" on the self-titled first album
and "Endless Dream", "One Word" and "Extraordinary Way" on Extraordinary Ways
. She is credited as Jane on this later album.
Poe appeared in the movie Gossip
performing the song "My Lips are Sealed" (a cover of The Go-Go's
' "Our Lips Are Sealed"), and as a CGI character, Mary Magdalene/Plague, in the PlayStation
game Apocalypse
. Apocalypse also featured an alternate version of her song "Control", later released on Haunted.
Poe provides the voice of "Single Mother" in the movie musical Repo! The Genetic Opera
, along with other voices. In November 2007 Poe began collecting MP3 recordings of dream accounts on her website, Repoezessed.
On January 28, 2010, Poe performed several songs live as part of a charity benefit concert in LA. Around the same time, her official website was moved to Ning. She also announced that she was returning to the music scene after facing a decade of legal battles over her original major label contract, and she said that she would be setting a release date for "something new" in the near future.
The Song "Haunted" appears in the Xbox 360
game Alan Wake
released in May 2010. It also used over the closing credits of the 2000 movie Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
but is not included on the soundtrack release.
Poe lends vocals to two songs on the Real Steel Original Motion Picture Score ("Why We're Here" and "Parkway Hotel") composed by Danny Elfman, released November 1st, 2011.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
film director Tad Danielewski
Tad Danielewski
Tad Danielewski was a Polish-born American film director.-Early years:...
and his second wife, Priscilla Machold. She is the sister of author Mark Z. Danielewski
Mark Z. Danielewski
Mark Z. Danielewski, born March 5, 1966 in New York City, New York, is an American author, best known for his debut novel House of Leaves...
. Poe's musical style is a blend of folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and electronica elements backing intimate lyrical compositions. Poe was signed to Atlantic Records from 1995–2001. She is currently on her own label, RePoezessed Records.
History
Poe grew up in Provo, UtahProvo, Utah
Provo is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Utah, located about south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the county seat of Utah County and lies between the cities of Orem to the north and Springville to the south...
, where her father was a professor at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. She eventually began pursuing her undergraduate studies at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
where she organized her first band. Her first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Hello, was released in 1995. Her debut single, "Angry Johnny
Angry Johnny
"Angry Johnny" is a song by Poe, released as a single from her debut album Hello. The song received heavy radio airplay, and an accompanying music video was shown frequently on television. Despite its success and positive critical review the only commercial single released was in Australia;...
", got much radio and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
airplay.
Occupied by extensive small club tours, she was unable to produce a second album until 2000's Haunted. Poe included her late father on Haunted after discovering cassette tapes containing his voice. Listening to them the first time proved so difficult that she was hesitant to use them in her music. "I took these tapes home and I couldn't listen to them," Poe explains. "It was too hard, so I kept finding ways to avoid it. They were sitting on my coffee table next to a boombox." The album also dovetails with themes and concepts from her brother Mark's postmodern novel House of Leaves
House of Leaves
House of Leaves is the debut novel by the American author Mark Z. Danielewski, published by Pantheon Books. The novel quickly became a bestseller following its March 7, 2000 release. It was followed by a companion piece, The Whalestoe Letters...
; the CD and the book were released simultaneously. Poe and Mark toured together across America at Borders Books and Music
Borders Group
Borders Group, Inc. was an international book and music retailer based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The company employed approximately 19,500 throughout the U.S., primarily in its Borders and Waldenbooks stores....
locations in support of the album and the novel.
A remix of the song, "Hey Pretty
Hey Pretty
"Hey Pretty" is a song by singer-songwriter Poe. The song in its original version, on her 2000 album Haunted, was a sultry pop rant of a woman seeking sexual satisfaction on any grounds possible. It was remade by having her vocals eliminated and replaced with a reading by her brother, author Mark...
", featured Mark reading a passage from the novel. It was released on one of the Haunted singles and became a radio hit. "Hey Pretty" was also the theme to a short-lived MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
soap opera Spyder Games
Spyder Games
Spyder Games is a television series that was broadcast on MTV from June 18, 2001 through September 20, 2001. MTV's second foray into the soap opera format following the run of the anthology series Undressed, the series was originally called Spyder Web in development.Originally intended for a 3 pm...
. The show usually ended with bits of the risque video or a picture of the single's cover. In 10 Things I Hate About You
10 Things I Hate about You
10 Things I Hate About You is a 1999 American teen romantic comedy film. It is directed by Gil Junger and stars Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, and Larry Miller...
the character of Kat has the Poe ball on her schoolbook.
Poe started a campaign which she referred to as the "Re-POE-Session", an attempt to gain control of her master recordings from her former record label, Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
, because they refused to re-release her albums although she was still under contract. In 2004, both albums were re-released on CD by FEI/Sheridan Square Records, and in downloadable form on various online music store
Online music store
An online music store is an online business which sells audio files, usually music, on a per-song and/or subscription basis. It may be differentiated from music streaming services in that the music store offers the actual music file, while streaming services offer partial or full listening without...
s.
According to statements on her official forum, Poe started work on a third album, but details are sketchy and several years have passed since the first announcement. Her most recent work includes collaborations with Rhys Fulber
Rhys Fulber
Nowell Rhys Fulber is a Canadian electronic musician and producer. He was a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium along with Bill Leeb, and now records on his own under the name Conjure One.- Biography :...
's solo project, Conjure One
Conjure One
Conjure One is a Canadian electronic music project, headed by Rhys Fulber, better known as a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, as well as other musical groups alongside Bill Leeb.-History:...
. She has had a part in the writing and singing of five songs on Conjure One's albums: "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" on the self-titled first album
Conjure One (album)
Conjure One is the self-titled debut album by Canadian electronic music project Conjure One, headed by Rhys Fulber. The album was released in September 2002 .- Track listing :All tracks written by Rhys Fulber, except where noted....
and "Endless Dream", "One Word" and "Extraordinary Way" on Extraordinary Ways
Extraordinary Ways
Extraordinary Ways is an album by Canadian electronic music project Conjure One. Released in August 2005, it was the second album for the project headed by Rhys Fulber .-Track listing:#"Endless Dream"- 4:30...
. She is credited as Jane on this later album.
Poe appeared in the movie Gossip
Gossip (2000 American film)
Gossip is a 2000 teen drama film directed by Davis Guggenheim and featuring an ensemble cast including James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, and Kate Hudson.-Plot:...
performing the song "My Lips are Sealed" (a cover of The Go-Go's
The Go-Go's
The Go-Go’s are an all-female American rock band formed in 1978. They made history as the first all-female band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts....
' "Our Lips Are Sealed"), and as a CGI character, Mary Magdalene/Plague, in the PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
game Apocalypse
Apocalypse (video game)
Apocalypse is a 1998 third-person action game for the PlayStation, developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is notable for featuring actor Bruce Willis, who provides the main character's likeness and voice, as well as being the first game by Neversoft, prior to launching their...
. Apocalypse also featured an alternate version of her song "Control", later released on Haunted.
Poe provides the voice of "Single Mother" in the movie musical Repo! The Genetic Opera
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Repo! The Genetic Opera is a 2008 horror-rock opera musical film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman. The film is based on a play written and composed by Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich....
, along with other voices. In November 2007 Poe began collecting MP3 recordings of dream accounts on her website, Repoezessed.
On January 28, 2010, Poe performed several songs live as part of a charity benefit concert in LA. Around the same time, her official website was moved to Ning. She also announced that she was returning to the music scene after facing a decade of legal battles over her original major label contract, and she said that she would be setting a release date for "something new" in the near future.
The Song "Haunted" appears in the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
game Alan Wake
Alan Wake
Alan Wake is a story-driven action game in the psychological thriller genre, developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Microsoft Game Studios, released for the Xbox 360 video game console in 2010...
released in May 2010. It also used over the closing credits of the 2000 movie Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 is the 2000 American horror film and the sequel to the film The Blair Witch Project, directed by Joe Berlinger...
but is not included on the soundtrack release.
Poe lends vocals to two songs on the Real Steel Original Motion Picture Score ("Why We're Here" and "Parkway Hotel") composed by Danny Elfman, released November 1st, 2011.
Albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications Music recording sales certification Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,... (sales threshold) |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Heat Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical... |
||||||||
| 1995 | Hello
|
71 | 4 |
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States... : Gold |
|||||
| 2000 | Haunted
|
115 | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||||
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Alt Rock | US Dance | US Adult Top 40 | |||
| 1995 | "Trigger Happy Jack (Drive By a Go-Go) Trigger Happy Jack (Drive by a Go-Go) "Trigger Happy Jack" is a single from the debut album of Poe. The single was the least successful of the three that were released to promote the album, barely making an impact on the charts and quickly fell... " |
27 | — | — | Hello |
| "Angry Johnny Angry Johnny "Angry Johnny" is a song by Poe, released as a single from her debut album Hello. The song received heavy radio airplay, and an accompanying music video was shown frequently on television. Despite its success and positive critical review the only commercial single released was in Australia;... " |
7 | — | — | ||
| 1996 | "Hello Hello (Poe song) "Hello" is the second single released by singer-songwriter Poe. When first released, the single was a moderate success but fared much better on the charts when a remix of the song was introduced... " |
13 | 1 | — | |
| 1998 | "Today Today (Poe song) "Today" is a song Poe contributed to the soundtrack of the film Great Expectations in 1998. The song was released as a single in order to promote the film and soundtrack.... " |
— | — | — | Great Expectations soundtrack |
| "Rise and Shine" | — | — | — | Promo only | |
| "Control Control (Poe song) "Control" is a song that Poe contributed to the Sony PlayStation video game Apocalypse. The song was released as a promotional single to stir up attention for the game. Poe also portrayed two characters in the game, Plague and Mary Magdalene.... " |
— | — | — | Haunted | |
| 2000 | "Walk the Walk | — | — | — | |
| 2001 | "Hey Pretty Hey Pretty "Hey Pretty" is a song by singer-songwriter Poe. The song in its original version, on her 2000 album Haunted, was a sultry pop rant of a woman seeking sexual satisfaction on any grounds possible. It was remade by having her vocals eliminated and replaced with a reading by her brother, author Mark... " |
13 | — | 30 | |
| "Wild" | — | — | — | ||
Unreleased/compilation
- "Grandma Got Run Over by a ReindeerGrandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" is a novelty Christmas song, which led to the creation of an animated movie with the same title.Written by Randy Brooks, the song was originally performed by the husband and wife duo of Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire in 1979...
" (1996) originally on KROQ-FMKROQ-FMKROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...
's Kevin & Bean'sKevin and BeanKevin and Bean is the morning show on KROQ-FM, an alternative rock-format radio station in Los Angeles, California. It is hosted by Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter. The show has been on the air since 1990 and intersperses music and news with comedy bits, celebrity interviews, listener call-ins,...
Christmastime In The LBC and then re-released in 1997 on The Best of Kevin and Bean: A Family Christmas in Your Ass. - "A Rose is a Rose" on the various artist album, Lounge-a-palooza (1997)
- "I Cain't Say NoI Cain't Say NoI Cain't Say No is a song from the musical play Oklahoma! written by composer Richard Rodgers and lyricist/librettist Oscar Hammerstein II....
" (an Oklahoma!Oklahoma!Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
showtune cover) on the Welcome to Woop Woop Soundtrack (1998) - "Padre Fear" (1995) Non-LP Track. Found on the CD single of Trigger Happy Jack (Drive By A Go-Go)
- "Which Way to the Top?" (additional vocals) on Fastball'sFastball (band)Fastball is an American rock band that formed in Austin, Texas in the 1990s. The band originally called themselves "Magneto U.S.A." but changed their name after signing with Hollywood Records....
All the Pain Money Can BuyAll the Pain Money Can BuyAll the Pain Money Can Buy is the second album by American pop-rock band Fastball, released on March 10, 1998, on Hollywood Records. The album includes the hit singles "The Way" , "Fire Escape" , and "Out of My Head" .-Track listing:...
(1998) - "Strange Wind" on the Anywhere But Here Soundtrack (1999)
- "My Lips are Sealed" (cover) on the GossipGossip (2000 American film)Gossip is a 2000 teen drama film directed by Davis Guggenheim and featuring an ensemble cast including James Marsden, Lena Headey, Norman Reedus, and Kate Hudson.-Plot:...
soundtrack (1999) - "Center of the Sun" and "Make a Wish" with Conjure One (2002)
- "Endless Dream," "One Word", and "Extraordinary Way" with Conjure One (credited as "Jane") (2005)