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Vanessa Daou

About Me

Vanessa Daou is an American singer, songwriter, poet, visual artist and dancer. Most notably a musician, her work is known among electronica, nu jazz and trip hop circles for her trademark spoken word and aspirated singing style as well as its erotic and literary subtexts.

Daou was born and spent her early childhood in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, relocating in 1984 to attend boarding school in Massachusetts. As a young adult, she attended Vassar College for two years and spent several years in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen area before earning a scholarship to study dance at Columbia University. There, she would train with choreographer Eric Hawkins and explore visual art with Barry Moser and poetry with Kenneth Koch, whom she cites as having sparked her interest in spoken word. Daou ultimately graduated cum laude with a visual arts and art history degree from Barnard College/Columbia and frequently appeared in her senior year at Postcrypt Coffeehouse, the university’s on-campus poetry lounge.

While still a student, Daou began her career recording for NuGroove Records, one of New York’s seminal underground electronica labels. Demos Daou had recorded with new husband/producer/musical collaborator Peter Daou caught the attention of two NuGroove DJs, and they invited her to provide guest vocals on a developing track. The experiment led to the label’s top-selling single “It Could Not Happen,” which later was released on Network Records in the United Kingdom. The Daous also performed as “Vandal” at Los Angeles’ Stranger Than Fiction rave at the Shrine Auditorium in 1990.

Daou’s underground success brought her to the attention of Columbia Records, which signed her to a seven-album record deal. Vanessa, along with a five-piece band including Peter Daou on keyboards, released Head Music as The Daou in 1992. An airy fusion of rock, jazz and funk, Head Music enjoyed moderate success and received praiseworthy reviews in the New York Times Sunday Arts & Leisure section and CREAM and Billboard magazines. The album’s first single “Surrender Yourself” was remixed by Danny Tenaglia and reached #1 on Billboard’s Dance Chart. Creative disagreements with Columbia would see Vanessa negotiate out of her contract and subsequently release Head Music’s next two singles for the independent Tribal Records.

In 1994 Daou, now billed as a solo act, recorded Zipless, a sexually-charged collection of pieces inspired by the work of husband Peter’s aunt, the poet/novelist Erica Jong. A slight stylistic evolution from Head Music, Zipless employed a somewhat more synthesized sound and introduced Daou’s foray into recorded spoken word. The Daous released Zipless on their own label, Lotus Records. The album quickly established a cult following and attracted the attention of Bob Krasnow, the music A&R executive whose artist signings include Anita Baker, Björk, Natalie Merchant and Metallica. Krasnow signed Vanessa to his fledgling MCA Records subsidiary Krasnow Entertainment and re-released Zipless in 1995.

read more: http://www.last.fm/music/Vanessa+Daou/+wiki