Hard to believe it was (gulp!) fourteen years ago when Kay Hanley, lead singer of '90s band Letters to Cleo, had us wondering what the hell she said during the rapid-fire chorus of "Here and Now." Since then, Hanley has gone from singing for beer-soaked indie-rock fans to serenading an audience of millions atop a Care Bears float in last year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.This is a typical day at the office for Hanley, a mom of two who's lent her voice and songwriting agility to kid and teen flicks like 10 Things I Hate About You, Josie and the Pussycats (she was Josie), Care Bears: Oopsy Does It and Disney shows like My Friends Tigger and Pooh.
Babble caught up with Hanley (whose new digital releases for grown-ups are available for download on her MySpace page) fresh off a stint singing backup for Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana on her "Best of Both Worlds" tour. We got the inside dirt on the kid music biz and the real Hannah Montana. — Vivian Manning-Schaffel
What's up, Kay? I feel like every time I turn on Playhouse Disney, I hear your voice.
I do quite a bit of voice work for Disney. Michael [Eisenstein, her husband and former guitarist for Letters To Cleo] and I wrote and produced music for the Care Bears: Oopsy Does It movie. I loved writing those songs! "Caring Changes the World" is one of the best songs I've written with Michael. My main focus these days is behind the scenes. My business partner Michelle and I have a company called Art Is War Productions. We do artist development, management, and music for TV and film.
Has motherhood changed your outlook on your career?
I've learned that you can still do the thing that you love and adapt.
My mommy brain and my work brain are completely unrelated.
You can pay the bills and live a creative life. But my mommy brain and my work brain are completely unrelated.
How was the view from your very own Thanksgiving Day float?
Let me tell you, if you haven't seen Manhattan from atop a Care Bears Thanksgiving Day float, you haven't seen Manhattan! American Greetings is relaunching the Care Bears brand, and they asked me to do it last year and I said sure. But I didn't grasp the enormity of it. They don't really do much to prepare you, so the next thing I knew, I was on this float. It was so surreal . . . amazing to see Manhattan like that, but it didn't make any sense. The only reason I can recall any of it is because I blogged about it!
©2008 Vivian Manning-Schaffel and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Vivian Manning-Schaffel has written for Parents, Parenting, The Advocate, The New York Post, Business Week and a variety of other publications. She lives and works in the heart of breeder Brooklyn with her husband and two kids. She's on the web at vivianmanningschaffel.com. |
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