* En anglais uniquement
A founding member of
Throwing Muses,
the Breeders, and
Belly, Grammy nominated singer/songwriter and guitarist
Tanya Donelly made a significant impact on '80s and '90s alternative rock before pursuing a longer-running, laid-back solo career. With
Throwing Muses, her vocals and songwriting often lent a sweeter, poppier aspect to albums such as their 1986 self-titled debut and 1991's
The Real Ramona, a role she continued with
the Breeders on 1990's
Pod. As the leader of
Belly, she stepped into the spotlight and found commercial success with 1993's surreally catchy
Star. Later in the decade, she began working as a solo artist on albums such as 1997's
Love Songs for Underdogs, which found her adding folkier touches to her sound and working with many of her peers in Boston's underground rock scene. In the 2000s and beyond, she juggled music with motherhood and her career as a postpartum doula. As she reunited with
Belly and issued her own albums like 2004's
Whiskey Tango Ghosts and 2020's
Tanya Donelly and the Parkington Sisters, the appeal of her sprightly yet steely voice and dreamlike songwriting endured.
Tanya Donelly was born July 14, 1966, in Newport, Rhode Island. After spending the first few years of her life between there and California, her family settled in Rhode Island when she was four. A few years later, she met
Kristin Hersh, who soon became a close friend and eventually, her stepsister when
Donelly's father married
Hersh's mother.
Donelly and
Hersh learned guitar in their early teens, and quickly graduated from playing
Beatles songs and pieces written by
Hersh's father to writing and performing their own material. When they were 15, they formed
Throwing Muses, which in 1985 became the first American band ever signed to the influential British label 4AD. On albums like 1986's Throwing Muses and 1989's
Hunkpapa,
Donelly's more traditional songwriting and angular guitar playing complemented
Hersh's startling, intuitive style.
Throwing Muses was primarily
Hersh's project, however,and in 1989
Donelly joined
Pixies bassist
Kim Deal in
the Breeders, appearing on their 1990 debut album,
Pod. The following May,
Deal and
Donelly contributed a gorgeous cover of
Chris Bell's "You and Your Sister" to
This Mortal Coil's album
Blood. A month later,
Donelly officially left
Throwing Muses, but appeared on the band's 1991 album
The Real Ramona and toured with them.
In December 1991,
Donelly formed
Belly as a platform for her own songs, bringing in former
Throwing Muses bassist
Fred Abong, drummer
Chris Gorman, and his guitarist brother
Tom. Following the release of
the Breeders' muscular, melodic 1992 EP
Safari,
Donelly left that group to concentrate on
Belly. After issuing a pair of well-received EPs,
Belly released their 1993 full-length debut,
Star -- a superb collection of luminous, mythical guitar pop songs -- and for the first time in her career,
Donelly's commercial success equaled her usual critical accolades. Not not only did the record go gold on the strength of the hit single "Feed the Tree," but the band even garnered Grammy nominations for Best New Artist and Best Alternative Music Performance. Shortly after
Star's release,
Gail Greenwood replaced
Abong, and on 1995's
Glyn Johns-produced
King, the band went in a heavier, more driving direction. That year,
Donelly also appeared on the
Catherine Wheel song "Judy Staring at the Sun" from their album
Happy Days, and collaborated with
Juliana Hatfield on a cover of "Josie and the Pussycats" for the tribute album
Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits.
When
King failed to repeat
Star's success,
Donelly disbanded
Belly in 1996 to pursue a career as a solo artist. Late that year, she issued her debut EP Sliding & Diving on 4AD, and then toured with a band that included her husband, former
Juliana Hatfield bassist
Dean Fisher, as well as members of
Madder Rose and
Letters to Cleo. For 1997's full-length
Lovesongs for Underdogs, she worked with
Fisher,
Throwing Muses drummer
David Narcizo, and engineer Wally Gagel. After a tour in support of the album, she and
Fisher took a break and traveled to Central America.
When the couple welcomed a daughter two years later,
Donelly balanced motherhood and music, performing with
Throwing Muses for the first time in nine years at a pair of shows in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in 2000. In between raising a child and weekend trips to the studio, she issued the Storm EP and the album
Beautysleep in 2002, both of which featured a softer, more reflective approach than her previous music.
Donelly then worked on projects with her longtime friends: she sang backing vocals on
Throwing Muses' self-titled 2003 album and on
Mission of Burma's 2004 album
Onoffon. That year also saw the release of her largely acoustic third album
Whiskey Tango Ghosts, which once again featured
Fisher and
Narcizo. While on tour, she played a series of shows at the concert space in The Windham, a hotel in Bellows Falls, Vermont. Backed by musicians such as
Joan Wasser and
Bill Janovitz,
Donelly performed old and new material that became 2006's
This Hungry Life. That year, she also contributed a version of "Heart of Gold" to the benefit album
Cinnamon Girl: Women Artists Cover Neil Young for Charity. In 2007, she played a pair of shows with Hersh and wrote several songs for
Girl Authority's album
Road Trip because her daughter was a fan of the group.
Though
Donelly finished her training to become a postpartum doula in 2009, she continued to make music, teaming up with
Dylan in the Movies on their single "Girl with the Black Tights." In August 2013, she released the first in a series of five EPs she called
The Swan Song Series, in which she collaborated with a diverse range of musicians, writers, and artists. Participants in the project included singer/songwriters
Bill Janovitz and
Robyn Hitchcock, as well as novelists and occasional songwriters
Rick Moody and
Wesley Stace (aka
John Wesley Harding). The
Swan Song Series EPs were later collected into a set American Laundromat Records released in May 2016. That year,
Donelly and the rest of
Belly's members reunited, first touring Europe and North America and then heading into the studio. Dove, their first full-length record in 23 years, appeared in 2018. Once again, the band supported the album with a tour of the U.K. and North America.
Donelly resurfaced again in 2020, recruiting the Massachusetts-based acoustic group
the Parkington Sisters for an EP of covers of songs by artists ranging from
Leonard Cohen to
Linda Ronstadt. ~ Heather Phares & Jason Ankeny