Cat Power

Cat Power is the recording name of Chan Marshall, born Charlyn Marie Marshall in Atlanta in 1972. She began performing in local bands around the city in the early 1990s, opening for Liz Phair in 1993, before relocating to New York, where her career as a solo artist took shape.

Her first two albums, Dear Sir and Myra Lee, were recorded on the same day in 1994 with Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth and Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar, then released in 1995 and 1996. She signed to Matador Records the same year and issued What Would the Community Think, followed in 1998 by Moon Pix, recorded with members of the group Dirty Three.

You Are Free followed in 2003, featuring guest appearances from Dave Grohl and Eddie Vedder, and The Greatest arrived in 2006, recorded with a group of Memphis studio musicians and steeped in soul. Marshall wrote its title track on the back of a paper plate during a soundcheck. Her self-produced Sun, released in 2012, reached number 10 on the Billboard 200, the highest chart position of her career.

Marshall has released two full albums built around other people's songs, The Covers Record in 2000 and Jukebox in 2008, and has performed Bob Dylan's 1966 Royal Albert Hall set in full, touring it for a year. A more recent EP, Redux, pairs a cover of James Brown and one of Prince with a reworking of one of her own songs.

Her live shows have long had a reputation for unpredictability, shows that can turn on a single song or a change of mood onstage. Across three decades her catalogue has moved between indie folk, blues and art pop without settling into any one of them for long.