Caroline Frances Kennedy-McCracken
(born Caroline Frances Kennedy in 1967) is an Australian musician and visual artist.
Kennedy-McCracken has been a singer-songwriter and guitarist in several bands, including The Plums (1992–1995),
Deadstar
Deadstar (styled as deadstar) were an Australian pop rock band formed in August 1995 by Peter Jones (Crowded House) on drums and percussion; Caroline Kennedy on lead vocals and guitar; and Barry Palmer (Hunters & Collectors) on guitar and bas ...
(1995–2001) and The Tulips (2002–2006). In 2013, she appeared as a vocalist on ''Don't Tell The Driver'', a solo album by the
Dirty Three
Dirty Three is an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin and bass guitar), Mick Turner (electric and bass guitars) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album '' Horse Stories'' was voted by '' ...
's
Mick Turner.
Kennedy-McCracken is also a visual artist, working primarily as a painter and sculptor.
Biography
Caroline Frances Kennedy was born in Melbourne
and became Kennedy-McCracken upon marrying musician Pete McCracken. She has pursued parallel careers in music and in visual arts.
Artist
Kennedy-McCracken's works combine painting, drawing, installation, sculpture, and music.
She was short-listed for The Siemens-RMIT Fine Art Awards in 2009, for her piece ''Notation''.
Musician
Caroline Kennedy-McCracken has performed in and with a number of Australian bands and artists, including The Plums,
Deadstar
Deadstar (styled as deadstar) were an Australian pop rock band formed in August 1995 by Peter Jones (Crowded House) on drums and percussion; Caroline Kennedy on lead vocals and guitar; and Barry Palmer (Hunters & Collectors) on guitar and bas ...
and The Tulips, as well as performing under her own name.
At the
ARIA Music Awards of 2005
The 19th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) were held on 23 October 2005 at the Sydney Superdome at the Sydney Olympic Park complex, thus continuing the pr ...
, the electronic group
Deepface DeepFace is a deep learning facial recognition system created by a research group at Facebook. It identifies human faces in digital images. The program employs a nine-layer neural network with over 120 million connection weights and was trained on ...
were nominated for 'Best Dance Release' for their single, "Been Good", which Kennedy-McCracken co-wrote.
Kennedy-McCracken has sung on records by
Crow
A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term " raven" is not pinned scientifica ...
and Charlie Marshall and The Body Electric, and on
Kim Salmon and the Surrealists' album, ''Ya Gotta Let Me Do My Thing'' . In 2009 she collaborated with
Mick Turner and
Jim White of The
Dirty Three
Dirty Three is an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin and bass guitar), Mick Turner (electric and bass guitars) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album '' Horse Stories'' was voted by '' ...
on
The Tren Brothers
The Tren Brothers are an Australian instrumental rock duo, consisting of guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White. Turner and White are two-thirds of the critically acclaimed instrumental rock trio Dirty Three; additionally, Turner also ...
' single, "Sometimes", and in 2013 sang on Turner's album, ''Don't Tell the Driver''.
The Plums
In 1992, Kennedy-McCracken formed indie pop four-piece The Plums with guitarist Steve Moffat and drummer Shamus Goble; all three had previously played in the band Jack and the Beanstalk. They were joined by Pete McCracken on bass guitar.
According to rock music historian Ian McFarlane, "The Plums mixed strident guitar riffs with melodic pop roots. Kennedy was the band's focal point with her tough-but-graceful presence, opinionated views and emotion-charged, if imperfect, vocals".
The band released two EPs on
Mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
's Temptation label, ''Au Revoir Sex Kitten'' and ''Read All Over''.
The album ''Gun'' followed in 1994. The band's final recording was the ''Heavenly'' EP, released in 1995. The band broke up the same year.
Deadstar
In 1995, Kennedy-McCracken joined pop group
Deadstar
Deadstar (styled as deadstar) were an Australian pop rock band formed in August 1995 by Peter Jones (Crowded House) on drums and percussion; Caroline Kennedy on lead vocals and guitar; and Barry Palmer (Hunters & Collectors) on guitar and bas ...
as vocalist. Deadstar, initially a side-project for drummer Peter Jones and
Hunters and Collectors
Hunters & Collectors are an Australian rock band formed in 1981. Fronted by founding mainstay, singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk. Other mainstays are John Archer on bass guitar, Dou ...
guitarist Barry Palmer, included, at different times, ex-
Crowded House
Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Later ...
bass guitarist
Nick Seymour
Nicholas More Seymour (born 9 December 1958) is an Australian musician and record producer. He is the founding bass guitarist and a mainstay of the rock group Crowded House, and is the younger brother of Mark Seymour, singer-songwriter-guitari ...
,
Michael den Elzen
Michael den Elzen (born 1962) is a musician and music producer based in Melbourne, Australia. He has performed for over 30 years with many well-known Australian and New Zealand artists, principally as a guitarist, and has contributed music for seve ...
(guitar, ex-Schnell Fenster), and Pete McCracken.
Palmer invited Kennedy to write melodies and lyrics over tracks of guitar music he had recorded for a projected short film, ''The Baby Bath Massacre''. The tracks formed the basis of the band's debut eponymous album, released in 1996. Deadstar released two more studio albums, ''Milk'' (1997) and ''Somewhere Over the Radio'' (1999) on
Mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...
's White Label Records.
At the
ARIA Music Awards of 1997
The 11th Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards) were held on 22 September 1997 at the Capitol Theatre in Sydney. The event was hosted by Australian actor–comedian Paul McD ...
Deadstar were nominated for 'Best Independent Release' for their single, "Don't It Get You Down".
At the
ARIA Music Awards of 1999
The 13th Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as the ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAS) was held on 12 October 1999 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. Hosted by Paul McDermott and Bob Downe, and pre ...
the band was again nominated, this time for 'Best Pop Release' for their single "Run Baby Run".
At the ARIA Music Awards of 2000, Deadstar were nominated for 'Best Rock Album' for ''Somewhere Over the Radio''.
In 2000 the band's single "Deeper Water" peaked at No. 28 on the
ARIA Singles Chart
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...
.
The group disbanded in 2001. In 2004 a compilation album, ''The Definitive Collection'', was issued by
Festival Mushroom
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival co ...
.
The Tulips
In 2002, Kennedy-McCracken formed a country duo with Pete McCracken. The group released an eponymous EP, and in 2003 the album ''In the Honeycone'', on Belmore Records.
The band's second album, 'Free Like a Bird', would eventually be self-released, initially as The Tulips and then as Caroline No.
Caroline No!
Kennedy-McCracken has been recording as a solo artist under the moniker Caroline No since 2012.
The Tren Brothers and Mick Turner
In 2009 Kennedy-McCracken collaborated with
Mick Turner and
Jim White of The
Dirty Three
Dirty Three is an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (violin and bass guitar), Mick Turner (electric and bass guitars) and Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their 1996 album '' Horse Stories'' was voted by '' ...
on
The Tren Brothers
The Tren Brothers are an Australian instrumental rock duo, consisting of guitarist Mick Turner and drummer Jim White. Turner and White are two-thirds of the critically acclaimed instrumental rock trio Dirty Three; additionally, Turner also ...
single "Sometimes". In 2013, she sang on Turner's acclaimed
solo album, ''Don't Tell the Driver''.
Discography
Albums
;The Plums
* ''Gun'' (
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...
/White Label Records, 1994)
;Deadstar
* ''Deadstar'' (
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...
/White Label Records, 1996)
* ''Milk'' (
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...
/White Label Records, 1997)
* ''Somewhere Over the Radio'' (
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...
/White Label Records, 1997)
* ''
The Definitive Collection'' (
Festival Mushroom Records
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival con ...
, 2004)
;The Tulips
* ''In the Honeycone'' (Belmore Records, 2003)
EPs
;The Plums
* ''Au Revoir Sex Kitten'' (Temptation, 1992)
* ''Read All Over'' (Temptation, 1993)
* ''Heavenly'' (
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...
/White Label Records, 1995)
;The Tulips
* ''The Tulips'' (
Shock
Shock may refer to:
Common uses Collective noun
*Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names
* Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves
Healthcare
* Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerge ...
, 2002)
Singles
;The Plums
* "Find this Anywhere" (
Mushroom Records
Mushroom Records was an Australian flagship record label, founded in 1972 in Melbourne. It published and distributed many successful Australian artists and expanded internationally, until it was merged with Festival Records in 1998. Festival M ...
/White Label Records)
;Deadstar
* "Going Down" (1996)
* "She Loves She" (1996)
* "Sister" (1996)
* "Don't It Get You Down?" ( 1996)
* "I've Got Something to Tell You" (1997)
* "Run Baby Run" (1999)
* "Deeper Water" (1999)
* "Somewhere Over the Radio" (May 2000)
References
;General
* Note: Archived
n-linecopy has limited functionality.
;Specific
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy-Mccracken, Caroline
1967 births
Australian songwriters
Living people
*Female
Singers from Melbourne
Australian women artists
Australian women singer-songwriters