Holly Golightly

Holly Golightly joined the Billy Childish auxiliary group Thee Headcoatees in 1991 when her boyfriend, Bruce Brand (Thee Headcoatees' drummer), invited her to a gig and she ended up singing. She spent four years with Thee Headcoatees before releasing her debut record, The Good Things, in 1995. Whereas Thee Headcoatees' sound was a blend of girl group sounds and three-chord garage rock with all the original songs coming from the pen of Billy Childish, Golightly's solo sound is more a blend of pre-rock electric blues, folk-rock, and less frantic rock & roll. Apart from the wide range of covers of such artists as Willie Dixon, Ike Turner, Lee Hazlewood, Wreckless Eric, and Bill Withers, Golightly also writes her own material. Since her debut in 1995, Golightly has been very prolific, releasing eight records and numerous singles for a variety of labels. Golightly's sound has remained remarkably consistent throughout, but each record has a quality that sets it apart from the others.

One notable record was 1999's In Blood, made with friend and mentor Billy Childish, on which the two sound like a scuffed-up British version of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood. Another is 2001's Desperate Little Town, which marked a bit of a stylistic diversion as it is a very relaxed and mostly acoustic record. Golightly made a cameo appearance on the White Stripes' acclaimed 2003 album Elephant, dueting with fan Jack White on "It's True That We Love One Another." The song helped boost the public profile of Golightly's next album, Truly She Is None Other, and her subsequent American tour was documented with a lo-fi live album, Down Gina's at 3. She followed it up with another album for Damaged Goods, 2004's Slowly But Surely. Her next project was also a collaboration, this time with a Texas musician, Lawyer Dave, who also goes by the name the Brokeoffs. He and Golightly released a series country blues-inspired albums together as Holly Golightly & the Brokeoffs, 2007's You Can't Buy a Gun When You're Crying, 2008's Dirt Don't Hurt and 2011's No Help Coming .

from Wikipedia:

Holly Golightly (born Holly Golightly Smith, 1966, London) is a British singer-songwriter. Her mother christened her after the protagonist in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's. Her musical style ranges from garage rock to R&B.

Musical career

While she was dating Thee Headcoats' drummer Bruce Brand she had an impromptu singing performance with Thee Headcoats. Billy Childish, founder of the Headcoats, added her to the line up of The Delmonas and changed the name to Thee Headcoatees. Thee Headcoatees were primarily a garage band that backed up the Thee Headcoats. In 1995 she started her solo career but continued to be an active member of Thee Headcoatees until they disbanded in 1999. For her solo career, she draws from rhythm and blues, rockabilly, and sounds of the 1960s or earlier. She has released thirteen albums of her own and has collaborated with other musicians, such as Billy Childish, Rocket from the Crypt and The White Stripes. She performed two songs on the soundtrack of the film, Broken Flowers: "There Is an End (Featuring Holly Golightly)" by The Greenhornes & Holly Golightly (which can also be found on the Greenhornes' album Dual Mono), and "Tell Me Now So I Know" by Holly Golightly (found on the album Truly She Is None Other), which is a song originally written by Ray Davies.

She is a collector of rare old songs which she often covers.

2000s

More recently, Golightly has formed a duo, recording and touring extensively with her longtime band mate Lawyer Dave. As Holly Golightly and The Brokeoffs, they have released three albums to date, You Can't Buy A Gun When You're Crying in 2007, Dirt Don't Hurt in 2008 and Medicine County in 2010. You Can't Buy A Gun When You're Crying is a reference to comedian Lord Carrett's joke "I learned a lot from my second marriage... I learned they won't sell you a hand gun if you're crying..." Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs were winners of the 9th Annual Independent Music Awards for the best Americana album, Dirt Don't Hurt. In 2003, she sang with The White Stripes on the track "It's True That We Love One Another" on their fourth album, Elephant. Time Out New York described her as an "English garage rock doyenne".