Deanna Kirk
{{short description|American jazz musician}}
Deanna Kirk is an American jazz singer and songwriter based in New York City. She is known for owning Deanna's, a jazz club in downtown Manhattan, and for her songwriting contributions to film and television soundtracks. Kirk's musical style blends elements of jazz and art-rock, and she has gained recognition for her lyrical depth.
Career
=Music=
Kirk is recognized as a jazz cabaret singer and songwriter, described as "really an art-rock diva" in the tradition of Tori Amos and Sarah McLaughlan, sometimes performing under the alter ego "Marianna". Her lyrics are noted for their "romantically philosophical" themes.{{cite news |last1=Himes |first1=Geoffrey |title=. Jane Siberry "Child (Music for the Christmas Season) Sheeba, Deanna Kirk "Where Are You Now" Blackbird |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1997/11/28/jane-siberry-child-music-for-the-christmas-season-sheeba/4c25389e-20e8-4c41-9a72-cd19d81641ea/ |access-date=15 June 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=November 28, 1997}} Her live album, Live at Deanna's, was initially intended for exclusive sale at her nightclub but was later released nationally by Atlantic Records. This release helped secure her a contract with Blackbird Recording Company. Kirk's debut album with Blackbird, Mariana Trench (1996), featured original songs alongside covers of works by Leonard Cohen and Sandy Denny.{{cite news |last1=Price |first1=Deborah Evans |title=Singer/club owner Deanna Kirk moves to the Blackbird 'Trench'. |issue= 108 Issue 18, p12. 2p. 2 |publisher=Billboard |date=May 4, 1996}}{{cite web |title=Deanna Kirk |url=https://soundcloud.com/deannakirknyc |website=soundcloud.com |publisher=Soundcloud |access-date=8 October 2024}} Her second studio album, Where Are You Now? (1997), released by Blackbird/Elektra, included the track You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch.{{cite web|last1=Lee|first1=Chang|title=Second Chance Jazz Singer|url=https://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/09/second-chance-jazz-singer/|website=The New York Times|accessdate=2 September 2017|date=9 June 2009}}{{cite web|last1=Eckert|first1=Ginger|title=Jane Siberry|url=http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/article/13014389/jane-siberry|website=Washington City Paper|accessdate=2 September 2017|date=28 November 1997}}
Kirk gained significant media attention, being featured on the front page of Billboard as the flagship artist of Blackbird Recording Company.{{cite news |last1=Newman |first1=Melinda |title=Blackbird reaches worldwide deal with Atlantic; guided by voices signs with TVT |issue=111 Issue 18, p14. 1/2p. 1ph |publisher=Billboard |date= May 1, 1999}} She has also been covered by People, The New York Times, Time Out, and New York Magazine.{{cite news |last1=Linden |first1=Amy |title=Picks & pans: Song |issue=48 Issue 25, p27, 4p |publisher=People |date=December 22, 1997}}{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=C. |title=A jazzy room of her own. Published in: New York |issue=25 Issue 7, p25 |publisher=New York |date=December 2, 1992}}
=Nightclub Ownership=
In the mid-1990s Kirk opened Deanna's, a "popular East Village hole-in-the-wall jazz club" on East 7th Street, where she performed standards. After a fire destroyed the club she reopened a more upscale Deanna's on Rivington Street on the Lower East Side.{{cite news |last1=Botton |first1=Sari |title=A NIGHT OUT WITH: Deanna Kirk; Grown-Up Crooning |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/31/archives/a-night-out-with-deanna-kirk-grownup-crooning.html |access-date=13 June 2024 |work=New York Times |date=October 31, 1999}} The club's history and the fire that destroyed the East Village location is recounted in Ballad of the Small Cafe, on Kirk's album, Where Are You Now.
=Film and Television Work=
She signed a publishing deal with Bug Music and began to write and record for film and television soundtracks. Her music has been featured in the television shows as Felicity and Hyperion Bay and on the movie soundtracks Down to You (2000) and Me Myself I (2000).{{cite web |title=Deanna Kirk Vocalist |url=https://www.smallslive.com/artists/296-deanna-kirk/ |website=smallslive.com |publisher=Smalls Jazz Club |access-date=8 October 2024}} She toured North America with Jane Siberry, has toured internationally, was the house chanteuse at her club Deanna's, and regularly performs at clubs including Smalls and LaMama with the Deanna Kirk Quintet in New York City.{{cite web |title=Deanna Kirk jazz |url=https://www.reverbnation.com/deannakirk |website=reverbnation.com |access-date=8 October 2024}}
=Personal life=
Kirk, a concert-level pianist, was born in Manhattan and grew up in Freeport, Long Island. She had decided to interrupt her career as a jazz singer to take care of her son and is performing regularly again.{{cite news |last1=Lee |first1=Chang |title=Lens: Second Chance video |url=https://www.nytimes.com/video/nyregion/1194840806556/jazz-singer.html |access-date=8 October 2024 |work=New York Times |date=June 9, 2009}}
Discography
- Live at Deanna's (Atlantic, 1994)
- Marianna Trench (Blackbird, 1996)
- Where Are You Now? (Blackbird, 1997)
- Beautyway (Deanna Kirk, 2002){{cite web|title=Deanna Kirk {{!}} Credits {{!}} AllMusic|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/deanna-kirk-mn0000231998/credits|website=AllMusic|accessdate=2 September 2017}}
- Lost in Languid Love Songs (Deanna Kirk, 2013)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|www.deannakirksings.com}}
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aIzmtXXsAk&list=OLAK5uy%20nMCD9%20rvIWkK4Qp8z0Alr1UXRtie1bHD0 You're A Mean One Mr. Grinch]
- [https://www.instagram.com/deannakirkofficial/ Official Instagram]
{{Authority control}}
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American women jazz singers
Category:American jazz singers
Category:Music venues in Manhattan
Category:Nightlife in New York City
Category:21st-century American women