Anita Lane
Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Anita Louise Lane (18 March 1960<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> – 27 April 2021) was an Australian singer-songwriter who was briefly a member of the Bad Seeds with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and collaborated with both bandmates. Lane released two solo albums, Dirty Pearl (1993) and Sex O'Clock (2001).
Early life
Anita Louise Lane was born in Melbourne in 1960. She began singing and writing songs at the age of 16. She was a classmate of Rowland S. Howard while both were students at the Prahran College of Advanced Education, undertaking the Tertiary Orientation Programme.Template:Citation needed
Music career
1979–1983 : The Birthday Party
Template:Main Lane met Nick Cave in 1977 and the pair began an intermittent personal relationship.<ref name="Cave Bio"/> Cave, on lead vocals, was a member of a new wave group the Boys Next Door with Mick Harvey on guitar, Phill Calvert on drums and Tracy Pew on bass guitar.<ref name="McFarlane TBP"/><ref name="Nimmervoll BND"/> By December 1978, Rowland S. Howard had joined the line up on lead guitar.<ref name="McFarlane TBP"/><ref name="Nimmervoll BND"/> In February 1980, the Boys Next Door were renamed as the Birthday Party and Lane and Cave moved to London with the group.<ref name="Nimmervoll BND"/>
Lane and Cave co-wrote the lyrics for "A Dead Song", which appeared on their debut album Prayers on Fire which was released in April 1981.<ref name="APRA Dead Song"/><ref name="Maurer"/> AllMusic's Greg Maurer praised the album and noted Lane's song writing contribution.<ref name="Maurer"/> George Sarostin of Only Solitaire felt that, on this track, Cave "sounds, with all of his whiny 'okay okay', just like one of those poor innocent or half-innocent victims with a bloody nose and a gun at their temple in a gangster movie".<ref name="Sarostin"/>
For their second album, Junkyard, which was released in May 1982, Lane and Cave co-wrote "Dead Joe" and "Kiss Me Black".<ref name="APRA Dead Joe"/><ref name="Raggett"/><ref name="Hage"/> Session and touring musician Barry Adamson provided bass guitar on "Kiss Me Black".<ref name="Raggett"/> The group relocated to West Berlin in August 1982 prior to their cessation in June of the following year.<ref name="McFarlane TBP"/><ref name="Nimmervoll BND"/><ref name="Anita Bio"/>
1984–2001: Collaborations and solo career
Lane was briefly a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds playing piano, along with singing backing and occasional lead vocals. She was a member alongside Cave, Harvey, Adamson, Blixa Bargeld and Hugo Race.<ref name="McFarlane NC&tBS"/><ref name="Holmgren"/> She supplied lyrics for "From Her to Eternity", the title track of their debut album (June 1984).<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="McFarlane NC&tBS"/><ref name="APRA From Her"/> She left the group soon after.<ref name="McFarlane NC&tBS"/><ref name="Holmgren"/>
Lane co-wrote "Stranger Than Kindness" with Bargeld,<ref name="APRA From Her"/> which appears on Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds' fourth album, Your Funeral... My Trial which was released in November 1986.<ref name="Hage"/> Chris Long of BBC Music reviewed the album in May 2009 and found that "Stranger Than Kindness" was a "twisted love song. At once both beautiful and startling, it is a song that sounds like a held breath, never letting slip the power that swells within it".<ref name="Long"/>
Lane added her lead vocals over a musical score by Bargeld, Cave and Harvey for the soundtrack of the 1988 Australian film Ghosts... of the Civil Dead, including the track "A Prison in the Desert".<ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Behm"/> Jon Behm of Reviler.org praised her "ethereal howling/whispering vocals, which due to her babydoll voice sound a bit like the ravings of a mentally disturbed child. It's a pretty intriguing tune for any fan of moody, somewhat frightening music".<ref name="Behm"/>
Lane had a "sporadic solo career" beginning with her four-track extended play Dirty Sings in 1988 on Mute Records.<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Koradi"/> For the recording, she was joined by Adamson, Cave, Harvey and Thomas Wydler on drums (of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, ex-Die Haut);<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="AMG McFarlane"/> while Harvey produced the EP.<ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="AMG McFarlane"/>
She also provided guest vocals on "The Bells Belong to the Ashes" for the album Headless Body in Topless Bar in 1988 by German post-punk post-rock band Die Haut.<ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Smith"/>
In 1989, Lane was featured on Adamson's debut solo album, Moss Side Story; with Harvey, she was part of the Freedom Choir on "Suck on the Honey of Love" and "Free at Last".<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Holmgren"/> She supplied vocals again for his second solo effort, the soundtrack for the film Delusion (1991).<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Holmgren"/>
In 1992, she performed a duet with Kid Congo Powers on Die Haut's track "Excited" and another with Bargeld on "How Long (Have We Known Each Other Now)" for the German group's album Head On.<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Holmgren"/> Lane and Bargeld duetted again on "Blume" for his group, Einstürzende Neubauten's sixth studio album, Tabula Rasa (1993).<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Holmgren"/> The track is co-written by Lane, Bargeld and his group members.<ref name="APRA Blume"/>
In 1993, Lane issued her debut solo studio album Dirty Pearl, recorded from 1982 to that year.<ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Koradi"/><ref name="Raggett 2"/> It consists of her work with The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Einstürzende Neubauten and Die Haut, as well as exclusive album tracks.<ref name="Raggett 2"/> The album was co-produced by Bargeld, Cave, Harvey, Johannes Beck, John Cafferty, Die Haut, Einstürzende Neubaten, Sven Röhrig, and The Birthday Party.<ref name="Holmgren"/><ref name="Raggett 2"/> An expanded CD version includes all four Dirty Sings tracks.<ref name="AMG McFarlane"/><ref name="Raggett 2"/> Ned Raggett of AllMusic noted that Dirty Pearl was a "collection organized in reverse chronological order", which was "a bit fragmented as a result [it] still makes for an involving listen, demonstrating clearly that her work is worth taking on its own terms instead of simply being a Cave footnote".<ref name="Raggett 2"/> He praised her singing "a good if at points girlish voice, albeit one that she's shown more control over with time ... she has a taste for smoky sonic settings for her vocals, sometimes low-key and sly, other times frenetic even as she keeps her cool".<ref name="Raggett 2"/> Consumable Online's Reto Koradi felt the music "glooms in the dark, slow and almost hypnotic. The lyrics paint pictures of dreams, love, sex, religion and death".<ref name="Koradi"/> Most of the original tracks were co-written by Lane with Harvey.<ref name="Koradi"/><ref name="Raggett 2"/> The album provided Lane's single "The World's a Girl", which appeared on 5 June 1995. Koradi declared that it was "an obvious choice as a single, it's the most radio-friendly track".<ref name="Koradi"/> The lead track was co-written with Harvey. The two B-sides were duets with Cave for cover versions of "Bedazzled" – originally by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore for their 1967 film of the same name; and "I Love You... Nor Do I" – originally by Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot in French as "Je t'aime... moi non plus" (recorded in 1967).
In 1995, Lane contributed vocals to Harvey's Serge Gainsbourg tribute album Intoxicated Man. She returned in 1997 for his second Gainsbourg-inspired album Pink Elephants. Over the two albums, Harvey had Lane "singing the female parts originally performed by the likes of Jane Birkin, Brigitte Bardot and Anna Karina".<ref name="Harvey"/>
For Murder Ballads, released in February 1996, the ninth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Lane sang a verse of their cover version of Bob Dylan's "Death Is Not the End" and vocals for "The Kindness of Strangers".<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Smith"/>
Lane's second solo studio album Sex O' Clock was released on 23 October 2001, produced by Harvey.<ref name="Hage"/><ref name="Mason"/> AllMusic's Stewart Mason found it "mixes sleek, creamy, and often danceable R&B-tinged pop tunes with the sort of lyrical plain-spokenness implied by the title".<ref name="Mason"/> He could not decide whether her delivery which is "so deadpan that it's hard to tell if the sexually-obsessed (and to be honest, rather trite) lyrics ... are meant as parodies of Tori Amos and/or Alanis Morissette, or if Lane takes ... [her lines] seriously".<ref name="Mason"/>
Sex O'Clock includes a cover version of Gil Scott-Heron's song "Home Is Where the Hatred Is", which Mason lists as one of its "best tracks".<ref name="Mason"/> Another of Mason's favourites is "I Hate Myself",<ref name="Mason"/> co-written by Doc Pomus and Ken Hirsch. Lane and Adamson duet on a cover version of Lee Hazlewood's "These Boots Were Made for Walking".<ref name="Smith"/> In May 2008, Guy Blackman of The Age felt the album was under-appreciated, it was "a classic of suggestive orchestral pop. It should have set the world alight, but didn't".<ref name="Blackman"/>
Anita Lane's vocals, sourced from a telephone recording, are sampled by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in the 2024 Wild God track "O Wow O Wow (How Wonderful She Is)".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Cover versions
Digital hardcore band Lolita Storm covered "Stranger Than Kindness" for the tribute album Eyes for an Eye: A Tribute to Nick Cave in 1996.<ref name="Second Stranger"/> Swedish singer Karin Dreijer (under their pseudonym, Fever Ray) also covered it in November 2009,<ref name="Second Stranger"/> which was accompanied by a music video.<ref name="Studarus"/> It was issued as a single in support of Dreijer's self-titled debut album.<ref name="Studarus"/> "A Dead Song" was performed by US artists, Get Hustle, for a tribute album, Release the Bats – The Birthday Party as Heard Through the Grinder of Three One G (2006).<ref name="Second Dead"/> Australian singer-songwriter Tim Rogers tackled "From Her to Eternity" on Straight to You – Triple J's Tribute to Nick Cave in February 2012.<ref name="Straight"/>
Personal life
From 1977, Lane and Nick Cave had a personal and professional relationship; they separated as a couple in 1983 but intermittently worked together professionally into the 1990s.<ref name="Snow"/> In 1984, Lane formed a personal relationship with Australian journalist and writer Nicolas Rothwell.<ref name="Snow"/><ref name="Rothwell Bio"/> They lived together for a short time in New York where Rothwell was then working. In the mid-1980s, she lived back in Sydney, Australia, in a relationship with Andrew Foote before returning to Berlin, where she had spent some time with Cave in the early 1980s, and resumed her relationship with Cave. It would, however, be short lived.Template:Citation needed
After the relationship with Cave ended, Lane stayed on in Berlin. By the early 1990s, she had married German man Johannes Beck, with whom she had her first child in 1990.<ref name="RS"/> After the breakdown of the marriage, she lived in Essaouira, Morocco in 1994/95 where she commenced a relationship with Sicilian man Andrea Libonati. This resulted in two more sons.<ref name=Telegraph20210607/> In 2003, Lane moved back to Australia<ref name=Telegraph20210607/> with Libonati and her children and took up residence in Byron Bay,<ref name="Scatena"/> before moving back to Melbourne in 2008 with her children to her original family home in the suburb of Glen Iris. From early 2020, Lane had moved by herself into a house in Melbourne's inner suburb of Collingwood where she lived until her death.Template:Citation needed
On 27 April 2021, Lane died at age 61.<ref name=Telegraph20210607>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="RS"/> No cause of death was given.<ref name="Guardian"/><ref name="RS"/> She was less active in her career in the final years of her life primarily due to health issues.<ref name=Telegraph20210607/>
Discography
Albums
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Dirty Pearl |
|
| Intoxicated Man (Mick Harvey featuring Anita Lane) |
|
| Sex O'Clock |
|
EPs
| Title | EP details |
|---|---|
| Dirty Sings |
|
| Yadi Yadi (As Gudrun Gut and Anita Lane) |
|
Other appearances
| Year | Title | Artist | Contributions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Prayers on Fire: "A Dead Song" | The Birthday Party | co-writing lyrics |
| 1982 | Junkyard: "Dead Joe", "Kiss Me Black" | The Birthday Party | co-writing lyrics |
| 1984 | From Her to Eternity: "From Her to Eternity" | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | co-writing lyrics |
| 1986 | Your Funeral, My Trial: "Stranger Than Kindness" | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | co-writing lyrics |
| 1988 | Headless Body in a Topless Bar: "The Bells Belong to the Ashes" | Die Haut | guest lead vocalist |
| 1989 | Ghosts... of the Civil Dead: "A Prison in the Desert", "Lilly's Theme (A Touch of Warmth)" | Soundtrack by Blixa Bargeld, Nick Cave, Mick Harvey | guest lead vocalist |
| 1989 | Moss Side Story: "Suck on the Honey of Love", "Free at Last" | Barry Adamson | guest backing vocalist |
| 1992 | Head On: "Excited", "How Long (Have We Known Each Other Now)" | Die Haut | guest lead vocalist (duets) |
| 1993 | Tabula Rasa: "Blume", "Wüste" | Einstürzende Neubauten | co-writing lyrics (for "Blume" only), guest lead vocalist (both tracks) |
| 1995 | Intoxicated Man: "69 Erotic Year", "Harley Davidson", "Ford Mustang", "Overseas Telegram", "Bonnie and Clyde", "Song of Slurs" | Mick Harvey | guest lead vocalist (duets) |
| 1995 | "Initials B.B." (7" & CDs) | Mick Harvey | guest lead vocalist (duet) |
| 1996 | Members of the Ocean Club: "Yadiyadi", "Firething" | Gudrun Gut | guest lead vocalist (duets) |
| 1996 | Murder Ballads: "The Kindness of Strangers", "Death Is not the End" | Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds | guest lead vocalist |
| 1997 | Pink Elephants: "I Love You ... Nor Do I" ("Je t'aime... moi non plus") | Mick Harvey | guest vocalist |
| 2000 | Objectif Pub: "I Got You (I Feel Good)" | various artists compilation | lead vocalist |
| 2000 | Der Krieger und die Kaiserin: "Four Days" | Soundtrack by Pale 3 | co-writing lyrics, guest lead vocalist |
References
- General
- Template:Cite encyclopedia Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality
- Specific
Template:Refend Template:Reflist
External links
- Anita Lane Official Website Biography archived from the original on 17 July 2012.
- Mute biography
- Lyrics
- Anita Lane discography
- Template:AllMusic
- Template:Discogs artist
- [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if:
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