Kathleen Patricia Brennan (born 1955) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and artist. She is known for her work as a co-writer, producer, and influence on the work of her husband

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

Biography

Brennan was born in Cork, Ireland and grew up in

Johnsburg, Illinois Johnsburg is a village in McHenry County, Illinois. It is a northwestern suburb of Chicago with a population of 6,355 as of the 2020 U.S. census. History The area that came to be known as Johnsburg was first settled in 1841, five years after t ...

in the US, after her family moved there when she was young. Brennan and Waits first met in 1978 when Waits made his acting debut in '' Paradise Alley'' while Brennan was a scriptwriter, and then again during production of the

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five ...

film '' One from the Heart.'' At the time, Brennan worked at the

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studio as a

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, while Waits composed the score for ''One from the Heart''. According to Waits, they met on New Year's Eve. Waits dedicated his 1980 song Jersey Girl to Brennan, and they were married later that year in the Always Forever Wedding Chapel. After they married, Brennan encouraged Waits to become his own producer. Brennan is generally regarded as the catalyst for Waits' shift towards more experimental sound beginning with the 1983 album '' Swordfishtrombones'', which Waits produced on dare from Brennan. Her first co-writing credit appears on ''Rain Dogs'' in 1985 for " Hang Down Your Head", and by 1992 she was his main producer and constant song-writing partner; her record collection introduced him to the music of

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. Her work includes co-writing and collaboration on the albums '' Franks Wild Years'' (1987), ''

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'' (2002), and ''

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'' (2002), as well as the musicals '' The Black Rider'' (1989) and '' Woyzeck'' (2000). Waits has described Brennan as "a remarkable collaborator... She's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you." Waits has also said: "She doesn't like the limelight, but she's an incandescent presence on all songs we work on together." In 2008, Waits described their collaboration as "one person holds the nail and the other one swings the hammer". In 2020, Brennan described Waits' songs as either "grim reapers" or "grand weepers".

Honors and awards

In 2015, Brennan and Waits were honored as part of the ''This Is Dedicated: Music's Greatest Marriages'' show by

Jarrod Spector Jarrod Spector (born April 16, 1981) is an American actor and singer. Early life and education Spector was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He made his Broadway debut in ''Les Misérables'', playing Gavroche. Afterward, he studied econom ...

and

Kelli Barrett Kelli Barrett (born January 26, 1984) is an American actress. Biography Kelli Barrett was raised by a single mother in Virginia Beach, Virginia. As a child, she showed interest in acting after seeing '' Merrily We Roll Along'' on stage. She sang ...

. In 2016, Brennan was honored, along with Waits and John Prine, at The Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Awards from PEN New England. The event was hosted by the JFK Library; during the event Colum McCann honored the creative partnership of Brennan and Waits, stating, "The world as we have it is their lucky anthem. They fling it open with their lives and a few strings and a voice that was somehow scratched by heaven.".

Personal life

Brennan and Waits live in northern California with their three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brennan, Kathleen 1955 births Living people People from Johnsburg, Illinois American women composers Record producers from Illinois American women painters Songwriters from Illinois 21st-century American women artists American women record producers