Mary Lorson

{{BLP sources|date=October 2016}}{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Mary Lorson

| image =

| caption =

| image_size = 250

| background = solo_singer

| birth_name = Mary Lorson

| birth_date =

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| death_date =

| origin =

| occupation = Musician

| instrument = Vocals, guitar, piano

| genre = Alternative rock

| years_active = 1991–present

| label =

| associated_acts = Madder Rose, Saint Low, Billy Coté

| website =

}}

Mary Lorson is an American writer, musician and composer. Best known as the lead singer of alternative pop groups Madder Rose and Saint Low, Lorson has gone on to release albums with The Piano Creeps and Mary Lorson & the Soubrettes. She lives in Ithaca, New York.

Biography

Lorson was born and raised in the suburbs of New York City{{cite web|url=http://www.verbalrocket.com/marylorson.html|title=Interview with: Mary Lorson (Madder Rose, Saint Low)|date=|website=verbalrocket.com|publisher=|last1=Verbal Rocket|accessdate=8 March 2015}} and formed Madder Rose with Billy Coté in 1991 in Greenwich Village.{{cite web | url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/355576/MADDER-ROSE-WILL-SHOW-SL-THAT-NOT-BEING-BORING-MATTERS.html?pg=all | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325060430/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/355576/MADDER-ROSE-WILL-SHOW-SL-THAT-NOT-BEING-BORING-MATTERS.html?pg=all | url-status=dead | archive-date=March 25, 2014 | title=madder rose will show s.l. that not being boring matters | work=Deseret News | date=27 May 1994 | accessdate=24 March 2014 | author=Iwasaki, Scott}} When Madder Rose disbanded in 1999 she founded Saint Low with bassist Stahl Caso, violinist Joe Myer, pianist Michael Stark, vocalist Jennie Stearns, and drummer Zaun Marshburn. Lorson and Coté toured with Tanya Donelly from 1996-7.{{cite web | url=http://www.adequacy.net/2002/05/interview-with-mary-lorson-saint-low/ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404112950/http://www.adequacy.net/2002/05/interview-with-mary-lorson-saint-low/ | url-status=usurped | archive-date=April 4, 2012 | title=Interview with Mary Lorson & Saint Low | work=Delusions of Adequacy | date=15 May 2002 | accessdate=8 March 2015}}

Lorson and Coté have collaborated on film scores including the original score for "What Remains: The Life and Art of Sally Mann" for Steven Cantor and HBO. She and Coté have a son, Roman. A breast cancer survivor and high school English teacher, Lorson is the author of "Freak Baby and the Kill Thought," an original screenplay about the life of vaudeville singer and actress Eva Tanguay.{{cite web | url=http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article/6320/Mary-Lorson | title=Interview: Mary Lorson | work=Penny Black Magazine | date=15 January 2012 | accessdate=8 March 2015 | author=Clarkson, John}} The album "BurnBabyBurn," released by Mary Lorson & the Soubrettes in 2011, features a version of Tanguay's 1922 song "I Don't Care."{{Cite news|url=http://www.ithaca.com/entertainment/looking-back-at-a-wild-girl-mary-lorson-draws-inspiration/article_9309fc33-15c6-52f6-bde9-7e94642a8187.html|title=Looking back at a wild girl: Mary Lorson draws inspiration from vaudeville legend Eva Tanguay|last=VanCampen|first=Bryan|work=Ithaca Times|access-date=2018-01-10|language=en}}

Lorson's projects also have included developing a television series, "Old School"; scoring the independent web series "The Chanticleer"; a multimedia performance memoir, "Signal"; and setting a chapter of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake to music, for the Waywords and Meansigns project.{{cite web|url=http://www.punknews.org/article/57550/mike-watt-part-of-project-setting-finnegans-wake-to-music|title=Punk News article|date=10 April 2015 |accessdate=2015-04-10}} Her 11th full-length album, "Themes From Whatever," was released in November 2017.