Cassie Grzymkowski (born March 17, 1986), better known by her stage name Cassie Ramone, is an American musician and artist. Ramone rose to prominence as the guitarist and vocalist of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band

Vivian Girls Vivian Girls is an American band based in Brooklyn, New York. The only consistent members have been Cassie Ramone and Katy Goodman, on guitar and bass, respectively; the group has had several drummers throughout its history. They took their n ...

, who broke up in 2014, and later reformed in 2019. She also formed the band project The Babies with

Kevin Morby Kevin Robert Morby (born 2 April 1988) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. A former member of Woods (band), Woods and The Babies, Morby has released seven solo studio albums: ''Harlem River (album), Harlem River'' (2013), ''Still Li ...

(of Woods). During The Babies' hiatus, Ramone embarked on a solo career, releasing her debut album '' The Time Has Come'' in August 2014.

Biography

Born and raised in

Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood is a Village (New Jersey), village in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Ridgewood is a suburban commuter town, bedroom community of New York City, located approximately northwest of Midtown M ...

, Ramone attended Ridgewood High School, where she met her later bandmate Katy Goodman. In 2004, she moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

and began studying at

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

. Ramone formed the band Bossy along with Jamie Ewing and Justin Sullivan, that lasted until 2007. The same year, she co-found the indie rock band

with Goodman and

Frankie Rose Frankie Rose (born January 18, 1979) is an American musician and songwriter. She was an original member of Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, Vivian Girls and Beverly. Career Formerly of bands Vivian Girls and Beverly, Frankie was the drummer f ...

. They released three albums, ''

'' (2008), '' Everything Goes Wrong'' (2009) and '' Share the Joy'' (2011), before breaking up in 2014. In 2019, the band reformed and released their fourth album, ''

Memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembe ...

.'' After meeting

of Woods, they started a side project called The Babies who released albums in 2011 and 2012. In 2014, Ramone embarked a solo career and released her debut album '' The Time Has Come'', featuring

Ariel Pink Ariel Marcus Rosenberg ( ; born June 24, 1978), professionally known as Ariel Pink, is an American musician, singer, and songwriter whose work draws heavily from the popular music of the 1960s–1980s. His lo-fi aesthetic and home-recorded al ...

on bass. In early 2015, she formed Melt, who only conceived a demo. She also formed another band with Dee Dee from

Dum Dum Girls Dum Dum Girls was an American rock band, formed in 2008. It began as the bedroom recording project of singer and songwriter Dee Dee (née Kristin Gundred). She is currently based in Los Angeles. The name is a double homage to the Vaselines' a ...

and OJ from XRay Eyeballs called OCDPP. They debuted as a live act in 2015 and released an EP called ''7" Long Player'' in 2020. Ramone released a Christmas album titled ''Christmas in Reno'' on December 11, 2015.

Art

Apart from music, Ramone is an artist who designed the cover art for most of the Vivian Girls and The Babies' discography, and La Sera's ''La Sera'' (2011). She also does drawings, paintings, sculptures and collages that uploads in her

Flickr Flickr ( ) is an image hosting service, image and Online video platform, video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was previously a co ...

account.

Influences

Ramone cites

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

, The Wipers,

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

The Shangri-las The Shangri-Las were an American girl group of the 1960s, consisting of Mary Weiss, her sister Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss and twin sisters Marguerite "Marge" Ganser and Mary Ann Ganser. Between 1964 and 1966 several hit pop songs of theirs docu ...

, Rush, The Bananas,

The Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of t ...

Johnny Horton John LaGale Horton (April 30, 1925 – November 5, 1960) was an American country, honky tonk, and rockabilly musician during the 1950s. He is best known for a series of history-inspired narrative country saga songs that became international ...

The Carpenters The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen Carpenter, Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (musician), Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinctive soft musical style, combining ...

Dead Moon Dead Moon was an American rock band formed in 1987 in Portland, Oregon. The band consisted of singer/guitarist Fred Cole, singer/bassist Toody Cole and drummer Andrew Loomis. Dead Moon initially disbanded in 2006, before reuniting in 2014 and ...

and

Elliott Smith Steven Paul Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003), known as Elliott Smith, was an American musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived much of his life in Portland, Oregon, whe ...

among her favorite artists.

Discography

Solo artist

Studio albums

Split singles

Album appearances

with Bossy

*''The Best of Bossy'' (2009)

with Vivian Girls

*''

'' (2008) *'' Everything Goes Wrong'' (2009) *'' Share the Joy'' (2011) *''

'' (2019)

with The Babies

* '' The Babies'' (2011) * '' Our House on the Hill'' (2012)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramone, Cassie 1986 births 21st-century American singer-songwriters American rock guitarists American women rock singers American rock songwriters American women singer-songwriters American indie rock musicians Singer-songwriters from New Jersey Living people 21st-century American guitarists Guitarists from New Jersey Musicians from Ridgewood, New Jersey Ridgewood High School (New Jersey) alumni 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American women guitarists