Kathleen Brennan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1955 (age 70–71)
Kathleen Brennan | |
|---|---|
| Born | Kathleen Patricia Brennan 1955 (age 70–71) |
| Notable work | Franks Wild Years The Black Rider Woyzeck Alice Blood Money |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
Kathleen Patricia Brennan (born March 2nd 1955) is an Irish-American musician, songwriter, record producer, and artist. She is known for her work as a co-writer, producer, and influence on the work of her husband Tom Waits.
Brennan was born in Cork, Ireland and grew up in Johnsburg, Illinois, US.[1] Brennan and her husband Tom Waits first met in 1978 on the set of Paradise Alley, where Brennan was a scriptwriter and Waits was making his acting debut.[2] They met again during production of the Francis Ford Coppola film One from the Heart.[3] At the time, Brennan worked at the American Zoetrope studio as a script analyst, while Waits composed the score for One from the Heart.[4] According to Waits, they met on New Year's Eve.[5]
Waits dedicated his 1980 song "Jersey Girl" to Brennan,[6] and they were married later that year[2] in the Always Forever Wedding Chapel.[7] After they married, Brennan encouraged Waits to become his own producer.[8]
Brennan is generally regarded as the catalyst for Waits' shift towards more experimental sound[9][10] beginning with the 1983 album Swordfishtrombones,[2][11][12] which Waits produced on a dare from Brennan.[7] Her first co-writing credit appears on Rain Dogs in 1985 for "Hang Down Your Head", and by 1992 she was his main producer and song-writing partner. She introduced Waits to the music of Captain Beefheart.[13] Her work includes co-writing and collaboration on the albums Franks Wild Years (1987),[14][15] Alice (2002), and Blood Money (2002), as well as the musicals The Black Rider (1989) and Woyzeck (2000).[16][17]
Waits has described Brennan as "a remarkable collaborator.... She's bold, inventive and fearless. That's who you wanna go in the woods with, right? Somebody who finishes your sentences for you."[18] Waits has also said: "She doesn't like the limelight, but she's an incandescent presence on all songs we work on together."[19] In 2008, Waits described their collaboration as "one person holds the nail and the other one swings the hammer".[20] In 2020, Brennan described Waits' songs as either "grim reapers" or "grand weepers".[21]
In 2023, Waits and Brennan oversaw reissues of remastered versions of Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Frank's Wild Years, Bone Machine, and The Black Rider.[22] The remasters used original master tapes[23] and were marketed as "The Island Years", because they were originally released on Island Records.[24]
