Rebecca Blasband (born July 8, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and television personality known as a cast member on '' The Real World: New York'', the first season of

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

's reality television show '' The Real World''.

Early life and education

Rebecca Blasband was born and raised in

New Hope, Pennsylvania New Hope is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,612 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. New Hope is located approximately north of Philadelphia, and lies on the west b ...

, to a psychiatrist father and a German immigrant mother who runs an antique store in Philadelphia, to which her family moved to when Blasband was 13. She attended

Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic, and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, as the School of the Arts at New York University, Tisch ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

and worked as an actress with playwright

David Mamet David Alan Mamet (; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, author, and filmmaker. He won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony Award, Tony nominations for his plays ''Glengarry Glen Ross'' (1984) and ''Speed-the-Plow'' (1988). He first ...

's theater company. Returning to music, she formed a band with

Adam Schlesinger Adam Lyons Schlesinger (October 31, 1967 – April 1, 2020) was an American musician, songwriter, composer, and record producer. He was a founding member of the bands Fountains of Wayne, Ivy, and Tinted Windows, and was also a member of the ban ...

, the leader of

Ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to Western Europe, Central Europe, Southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern ...

, saying of the group's sound, "It was sort of Manchester-pop stuff. But after a while I started getting into

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

and things like that, and my direction kind of changed."Becky: The Real World: New York
MTV. 1992. Retrieved November 29, 2011.

Career

''The Real World''

In 1992, Blasband, then 24, was cast in '' The Real World: New York'', the first season of

's long-running reality television series, '' The Real World'', for which she was paid $2,500. She learned about the show from an acquaintance who was a casting director for it. She was later cast in the 2021 reunion series, '' The Real World Homecoming: New York'', in which the original cast were reunited in the same New York loft they originally lived in. After watching a clip from the original series in which Blasband and castmate

Kevin Powell Kevin Powell (born April 24, 1966) is an American writer, activist, and television personality. He is the author of 14 books, including ''The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood'' and ''When We Free the World'' published in ...

got into a heated debate about racism, the two again discussed the topic. Blasband reacted badly to criticisms from other castmates about her views on the topic, and walked off of the show in episode three.

Musician

Warner/Chappell Music signed Blasband to a publishing contract and financed an album entitled ''The Rebecca Blasband''. This album went unreleased. She moved to

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado in March 1995, and has opened for

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in 1985, Collins started a so ...

. In 1997 she released the album ''Rapt'' on the Mercury label. Despite moderately positive critical reviews the album made no impact. In 2018 she self-released the album ''Here'', which received little mainstream attention.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blasband, Becky 1967 births Living people Participants in American reality television series The Real World (TV series) cast members