Liz Phair
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Liz Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American singer/songwriter. She emerged from Chicago with her debut album, Exile in Guyville, and became a critical darling.
Phair was born in New Haven, Connecticut, but was raised in a suburb of Chicago by her wealthy adoptive parents. After studying art history at Oberlin College in Ohio, Phair met guitarist Chris Brokaw (late of Come) and the pair moved to San Francisco for a brief period. After moving back to Chicago, Phair began writing songs and releasing homemade tapes under the name Girlysound, supporting herself by selling her drawings on the streets of Chicago. Soon, she was a part of the alternative music scene in Chicago and became friends with Urge Overkill, a popular band, as well as Brad Wood and John Henderson, head of Feel Good All Over, an independent label in Chicago. An attempt at recording the Girlysound tapes failed due to arguments between Henderson and Phair.
Meanwhile, Brokaw gave several Girlysound tapes to the head of Matador Records, Gerard Cosley, leading to a contract. Phair's debut album, Exile in Guyville, was released in 1993 and received uniformly excellent reviews. The album attracted some attention because it was structured as a response to the classic Rolling Stones album, Exile on Main Street. The critical success of her debut album meant Phair soon attracted naysayers in the indie rock scene, notably including Steve Albini, but her fanbase continued to grow. The album established Phair's penchant for exploring sexually explicit lyrics such as in the song "Flower": "I want to be your blow job queen/...I'll fuck you and your minions too."
Phair's second album received much media attention and an advertising blitz. Whip-Smart debuted at #27 in 1994 and "Supernova", the first single, became a Top Ten modern rock hit. In spite of this, the album received mixed reviews and did not sell well. In 1995, Phair married Jim Staskauskas (whom she later divorced), a film editor who had worked on her videos, and then released Juvenilia, an EP that included Girlysound material. She worked on her third album for a long time, delayed by the birth of a child, James Nicholas Staskauskas, on December 21, 1996. whitechocolatespaceegg was finally released in 1998.
In 2003, her self-titled fourth album was released. Despite some negative reviews, especially from the independent music press who considered Phair to have sold out by making the record very pop-oriented, Liz Phair was commercially successful and seemed to propel Phair out of the "alternative-chick" category and straight onto the pop charts. The debut single "Why Can't I?", co-written by music production team The Matrix, became a major hit in the North America, and its follow-up, "Extraordinary", was also somewhat successful and appeared on the soundtrack to the 2004 movie Raising Helen. Phair continued to flirt with sexually explicit themes, however, as was most evident in a track called "H.W.C.", which stood for "Hot White Cum".
Discography
- Exile in Guyville (1993)
- Whip-Smart (1994)
- Juvenilia EP (1995)
- whitechocolatespaceegg (1998)
- Liz Phair (2003)
- Comeandgetit EP (2003)
- Somebody's Miracle (2005)
Filmography (Actress)
Filmography (Composer)
- Raising Helen (2004) (song "Extraordinary")
- 13 Going On 30 (2004) (song "Why Can't I?")
- Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! (2004) (song "Why Can't I?")
- Thirteen (2003) (song "Explain It To Me")
- High Fidelity (2000) (song "Baby Got Going")
- Chasing Amy (1997) (song "California")
- Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) (song "Six Dick Pimp")
- Stealing Beauty (1996) (song "Rocket Boy")
- Walking and Talking (1996) (song "Go West")
- Higher Learning (1995) (song "Don't Have Time")de:Liz Phair