Cat Power

With a southern twang and a sultry, smoky croon, Charlyn Marshall's (born 21 January 1972 in Atlanta, Georgia) hushed delivery and soulful cry made her one of the coolest stars of the modern era. Taking the name Cat Power from an advert for Caterpillar boots, she dropped out of high school and started performing in Atlanta before moving to New York where she was spotted by Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley. She planned to retire from the business after receiving little recognition for her first two albums Dear Sir (1995) and Myra Lee (1996) but, encouraged by then-boyfriend Bill Callahan, she won critical acclaim with Moon Pix in 1998. Quickly becoming a favourite of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, she recorded songs by Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones for The Covers Record (2000) while building a powerful reputation for her rambling live shows, during which she was prone to breaking down, bursting into tears and running offstage. Her seventh studio album The Greatest (2006) made a huge breakthrough, winning the Shortlist Music Prize in the US, and its follow-up Jukebox (2008) reached number 12 on the Billboard Charts. Sun, her ninth studio album, was released in 2012 with its lead single "Ruin" released as a free download. This was followed by Wanderer in 2018 on which she collaborated with Lana Del Rey for single "Woman." Her first live album, Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, saw the light in November 2023.