Patricia Anne Keenan (28 September 1968 – 14 January 2011)
[ was an English musician and singer. She was the lead vocalist and founding member of the electronic band Broadcast, which she formed in 1995. The band released a total of five studio albums, including '']The Noise Made by People
''The Noise Made by People'' is the debut studio album by English indie electronic band Broadcast. It was released on 20 March 2000 by Warp. The band recorded and produced the album themselves after being dissatisfied with the results of earlier ...
'' (2000), '' Haha Sound'' (2003), and '' Tender Buttons'' (2005), and earned a cult following.[
Keenan died unexpectedly in January 2011 of ]pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
, shortly after she had contracted swine flu
Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As ...
while completing a tour of Australia with Broadcast.
Early life
Patricia Anne Keenan was born in Winson Green, a multicultural inner-city area in west Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, England. She had two brothers, Malcolm and John, and two sisters, Maxine and Barbara. She was raised by her mother Zena, who was a sex worker
A sex worker is a person who provides sex work, either on a regular or occasional basis. The term is used in reference to those who work in all areas of the sex industry.Oxford English Dictionary, "sex worker"
According to one view, sex work i ...
: "I have got no problem with people knowing me or any personal details about myself," Keenan commented. "I have had a crazy life: I was brought up by a prostitute."
Keenan attended Archbishop Grimshaw Roman Catholic school, presently known as John Henry Newman Catholic school. She worked a range of catering jobs after school until at the age of 21 when she moved to Moseley
Moseley is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. The area is a popular cosmopolitan residential location and leisure destination, with a number of bars and restaurants. The area also has a number of boutiques and ot ...
, a bohemian enclave. She studied Creative Writing at Birmingham University while working on her music career.
Career
Soon after moving to Moseley, Keenan formed a musical duo called Hayward Winters, and subsequently met James Cargill at a 1960s psychedelic revival club. The two of them formed a relationship over their shared interest and formed a folk band, Pan Am Flight Bag. The band was short-lived, only performing two gigs before they reformed in 1996 as Broadcast, which included guitarist Tim Felton, drummer Steve Perkins, and keyboardist Roj Stevens.
With Broadcast, Keenan released a total of five studio albums, including ''The Noise Made by People
''The Noise Made by People'' is the debut studio album by English indie electronic band Broadcast. It was released on 20 March 2000 by Warp. The band recorded and produced the album themselves after being dissatisfied with the results of earlier ...
'' (2000), '' Haha Sound'' (2003), and '' Tender Buttons'' (2005); Keenan wrote the latter while her father was dying of cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
.[ In 2009 the group released a collaborative album '' Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age'', with The Focus Group, the music project of graphic designer Julian House (who also designed all of Broadcast's album sleeves).
Keenan lived in and near Birmingham throughout her life, and her music career was based there. In an interview with '' Billboard'', she said: "There's really a down tone in Birmingham. People here definitely underplay themselves. There's definitely a lack of confidence, and almost a resignation and defeatism among musicians here."
]
Artistry
Musical style
Keenan possessed an alto vocal range. Music critics noted Keenan's vocals as "childlike" and "alluringly aloof," often "woven within squishy analog synths, pastoral melodies, and mod-style rhythms." In a review published in '' Spin'' in 2001, Keenan's vocals and instrumentation alongside bandmate James Cargill were likened to being "stuck in a time warp–the sound of '70s wife-swapping parties with beanbags and unhappy children serving sausages on sticks." Keenan often explored cut-up lyric techniques, inspired partly by her interest in the occult.
Performances
Keenan suffered from stage fright
Stage fright or performance anxiety is the anxiety, fear, or persistent phobia which may be aroused in an individual by the requirement to perform in front of an audience, real or imagined, whether actually or potentially (for example, when perf ...
in the beginnings of her career, and earned a reputation for "shoegazing
Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volu ...
onstage introversion." As the band progressed, however, Keenan's stage fright receded: "I used to get nervous like the whole of that day of the show, and now it only happens the moment I walk onstage," she said in a 1998 interview. "When you listen to me sing my first line, you can always tell my heart is in my throat. Headlining gigs is a confidence booster."[
]
Death
During a tour in Australia just before Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
, Keenan contracted the swine flu virus H1N1
In virology, influenza A virus subtype H1N1 (A/H1N1) is a subtype of influenza A virus. Major outbreaks of H1N1 strains in humans include the Spanish flu, the 1977 Russian flu pandemic and the 2009 swine flu pandemic. It is an orthomyxoviru ...
. It was reported on 14 January 2011 that she had died in the hospital. A statement by Warp Record Label said: "This is an untimely, tragic loss and we will miss Trish dearly - a unique voice, an extraordinary talent and a beautiful human being. Rest in peace."
Within hours of her death, a link was posted on Broadcast's Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
to a mix of psychedelic, folk, and world music that Keenan had made for a friend prior to leaving for the band's Australian tour. Shortly after, an intimate short film Keenan recorded on Super 8 was released, which showed festival-goers at the 2007 Moseley Folk festival.[ Tributes to Keenan were made by numerous musicians, including ]Toro y Moi
Chaz Bear (born Chazwick Bradley Bundick; November 7, 1986), known professionally as Toro y Moi, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He is often recognized as a spearhead of the chillwave genre in the 2010s ...
, Graham Coxon
Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...
of Blur, and Colin Meloy
Colin Patrick Henry Meloy (born October 5, 1974) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and author best known as the frontman of the Portland, Oregon, indie folk rock band The Decemberists. In addition to vocals, he performs with an acoust ...
of The Decemberists
The Decemberists are an American indie rock band from Portland, Oregon. The band consists of Colin Meloy (lead vocals, guitar, principal songwriter), Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (piano, keyboards, accordion), Nate ...
.[
]
Discography
Broadcast
* ''Work and Non Work
''Work and Non Work'' is a compilation album by British indie electronic
Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe in ...
'' (1997)
* ''The Noise Made by People
''The Noise Made by People'' is the debut studio album by English indie electronic band Broadcast. It was released on 20 March 2000 by Warp. The band recorded and produced the album themselves after being dissatisfied with the results of earlier ...
'' (2000)
* '' Haha Sound'' (2003)
* '' Tender Buttons'' (2005)
* ''The Future Crayon
''The Future Crayon'' is a rarities and B-sides compilation by British indie electronic band Broadcast, released on 21 August 2006 by Warp. It collects all the tracks released on singles, EPs and compilations from 1999 to 2003, with the except ...
'' (2006)
* '' Broadcast and The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age'' (2009)
* ''Berberian Sound Studio
''Berberian Sound Studio'' is a 2012 British psychological horror film. It is the second feature film by British director and screenwriter Peter Strickland. The film, which stars Toby Jones, is set in a 1970s Italian horror film studio.
Plot
B ...
'' (2013)
Guest appearances
* Prefuse 73
Guillermo Scott Herren is an American producer who has been based in Atlanta, Barcelona and New York City. Herren releases music under the aliases Prefuse 73, Delarosa & Asora, Ahmad Szabo, and Piano Overlord, and is also part of the groups S ...
– "And I'm Gone" from '' Surrounded by Silence'' (2005)
* Prefuse 73 – "The Only Trial of 9000 Suns" from '' The Only She Chapters'' (2011) (released posthumously)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Keenan, Trish
1968 births
2011 deaths
English electronic musicians
Deaths from influenza
English contraltos
English women guitarists
English guitarists
Deaths from pneumonia in England
English women in electronic music
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands