Michael* Posted January 7, 2009 Posted January 7, 2009 Karen O Karen Lee Orzolek (born November 22, 1978), better known by her stage name Karen O, is the vocalist for the New York art rock group Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Early life Karen's mother is Korean and father is Polish. Karen was born in South Korea, but eventually moved to America. She grew up in Englewood, New Jersey, and attended Oberlin College, but transferred to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Karen is now based in Los Angeles. Reputation Karen O has been noted for her sense of fashion, wearing over-the-top outfits made by her friend, fashion designer Christian Joy. In the early days of the band she became well known for her outrageous antics during live shows, which included spitting water, beer, or sometimes grapes into the crowd, and often simulating sexual acts with the stage monitors or her microphone. She was asked by Playboy to pose on their cover. She said on the subject, "If I see footage from our shows, I'm shocked by what I'm doing. But Playboy asked me about being on the cover. That's pretty insane. I may do it in the future." Since then, however, Karen stated in an interview with NME magazine that she has changed her mind on the issue due to the audience that Playboy magazine attracts. She won Spin Magazine's Sex Goddess Award in both 2004 and 2005. In 2006 she was named one of rock's hottest women by Blender. In 2007 Karen placed #3 on Spinner.com's Women Who Rock Right Now. She had begun working on a small side project called Native Korean Rock and the Fishnets with fellow NYC musicians in 2008. Video work In 2004 Karen, hiding behind the moniker Marshmellow, directed the music video for "We Fenced Other Gardens with the Bones of Our Own" by the Liars, fronted by her then boyfriend Angus Andrew. The following year she directed the "Blessed Evening" video for Foetus with her then boyfriend Spike Jonze working as cinematographer. In 2006 she directed the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' video "Cheated Hearts". Under the moniker Kids With Canes, Karen and her boyfriend Barnaby Clay directed the music video for the Tiny Masters of Today song "Hologram World", released on February 8, 2008. Karen also contributed vocals to the song, served as choreographer of the video, in which she appears along with Yeah Yeah Yeahs bandmates Nick Zinner and Brian Chase as well as Mike D from the Beastie Boys, Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers, Russell Simins from the Blues Explosion and Sam James from The Mooney Suzuki. Links Official Site Official Myspace The Yeah Yeah Yeahs Project Quote
bjorkian Posted January 10, 2009 Posted January 10, 2009 I thought Karen already had a thread. ? Anyway, i am glad to see someone else interested in her. Quote
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