Kathleen Brennan
Encyclopedia
Kathleen Brennan is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and artist. She was born in Johnsburg, Illinois
, as noted by her husband and musical collaborator Tom Waits
, in the song of the same name. Brennan and Waits met in 1980 during the filming of the Francis Ford Coppola
film One from the Heart
. Waits was composing the original soundtrack for the film, while Brennan worked at the film's studio, named American Zoetrope
, as a script analyst.
Waits said in a March 31, 1998 radio interview with Chris Douridas on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic
: "We met on New Year's Eve at a party in Hollywood. I was leaving the next day. I was moving to New York City and I was never coming back here to the Los Angeles area ever again. That was what I said. But I'd said that before. So we met on New Year's and then I left. I was gone for about four months and then I got a call to do One from the Heart. I came back and I got a little office with a piano in it and I was writing songs and Kathleen was working at Zoetrope. She was a story analyst. Somebody told her to go down and knock on my door and she did and I opened the door and there she was and that was it. That was it for me. Love at first sight. Love at second sight." They were married on August 10, 1980, reportedly at the Always Forever Wedding Chapel, open 24 hours a day.
Waits describes his wife as "a remarkable collaborator, and she's a shiksa
goddess and a trapeze artist, all of that. She can fix the truck. Expert on the African violet and all that. She's outta this world. I don't know what to say. I'm a lucky man. She has a remarkable imagination. And that's the nation where I live. She's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you."
Brennan is credited as a co-writer and collaborator on numerous songs and projects written since her marriage to Waits and is credited with introducing him to the music of Captain Beefheart
. She is generally regarded as the catalyst for Waits' more experimental sound beginning with the album Swordfishtrombones
. Waits has said: "She doesn't like the limelight, but she's an incandescent presence on all songs we work on together."
Brennan contributed one of her paintings to the sleeve insert for Waits' album The Black Rider
.
Brennan and Waits live in northern California with their three children: daughter Kellesimone (b. 1983) and sons Casey (b. 1985) and Sullivan (b. 1993).
Brennan was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards
to support independent artists' careers.
Johnsburg, Illinois
Johnsburg is a northwest suburban Chicago village in McHenry County, Illinois, United States. The population was 5,391 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, as noted by her husband and musical collaborator Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, in the song of the same name. Brennan and Waits met in 1980 during the filming of the Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is widely acclaimed as one of Hollywood's most innovative and influential film directors...
film One from the Heart
One from the Heart
One from the Heart is a 1982 musical film directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The characters themselves do not actually sing but the powerful score dominates the movie. It is set entirely in Las Vegas, on the Las Vegas Strip and the desert surrounding the city...
. Waits was composing the original soundtrack for the film, while Brennan worked at the film's studio, named American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope
American Zoetrope is a studio founded by Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas. Founded on December 12, 1969, American Zoetrope was an early adopter of digital filmmaking, including some of the earliest uses of HDTV...
, as a script analyst.
Waits said in a March 31, 1998 radio interview with Chris Douridas on KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic
Morning Becomes Eclectic
Morning Becomes Eclectic is a three-hour adult album alternative radio program first aired in 1977 and broadcast live every weekday from KCRW in Santa Monica, California. The show's name is a play on the Eugene O'Neill trilogy of plays, Mourning Becomes Electra.The show is hosted by Jason Bentley,...
: "We met on New Year's Eve at a party in Hollywood. I was leaving the next day. I was moving to New York City and I was never coming back here to the Los Angeles area ever again. That was what I said. But I'd said that before. So we met on New Year's and then I left. I was gone for about four months and then I got a call to do One from the Heart. I came back and I got a little office with a piano in it and I was writing songs and Kathleen was working at Zoetrope. She was a story analyst. Somebody told her to go down and knock on my door and she did and I opened the door and there she was and that was it. That was it for me. Love at first sight. Love at second sight." They were married on August 10, 1980, reportedly at the Always Forever Wedding Chapel, open 24 hours a day.
Waits describes his wife as "a remarkable collaborator, and she's a shiksa
Shiksa
Shiksa or shikse, is a Yiddish and Polish word that has moved into English usage, mostly in North American Jewish culture, as a term for a non-Jewish woman, initially and sometimes still pejorative but now often used satirically...
goddess and a trapeze artist, all of that. She can fix the truck. Expert on the African violet and all that. She's outta this world. I don't know what to say. I'm a lucky man. She has a remarkable imagination. And that's the nation where I live. She's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you."
Brennan is credited as a co-writer and collaborator on numerous songs and projects written since her marriage to Waits and is credited with introducing him to the music of Captain Beefheart
Captain Beefheart
Don Van Vliet January 15, 1941 December 17, 2010) was an American musician, singer-songwriter and artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. His musical work was conducted with a rotating ensemble of musicians called The Magic Band, active between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12...
. She is generally regarded as the catalyst for Waits' more experimental sound beginning with the album Swordfishtrombones
Swordfishtrombones
Swordfishtrombones is an album by American singer-songwriter Tom Waits, released in September 1983. It was the first album that Waits produced himself....
. Waits has said: "She doesn't like the limelight, but she's an incandescent presence on all songs we work on together."
Brennan contributed one of her paintings to the sleeve insert for Waits' album The Black Rider
The Black Rider (album)
The Black Rider is an album by Tom Waits, released in 1993 on Island Records. The album contains studio versions of songs Waits wrote for the play The Black Rider, directed by Robert Wilson and co-written by William S. Burroughs...
.
Brennan and Waits live in northern California with their three children: daughter Kellesimone (b. 1983) and sons Casey (b. 1985) and Sullivan (b. 1993).
Brennan was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards
The Independent Music Awards is an international program that honors top-ranked independent artists and releases in more than 50 Album, Song, Music Video and Design categories....
to support independent artists' careers.