Petra Haden

All Music Guide:

One of three daughters of jazz bassist Charlie Haden, Petra Haden was born in 1971 in Manhattan. Haden's early life was steeped in music, and not only due to her father's influence. She and her two sisters routinely sang together, and at a very early age she demonstrated not only an extraordinary ear for music, but also the ability to re-create the sounds of musical instruments with her own voice -- in pop, classical, jazz, blues, or any other idiom or genre one cared to name. She began studying the violin when she was eight years old, and by her teens she was on her way to becoming a virtuoso, although she also displayed proficiency on the trumpet, mandolin, and various keyboard instruments, making her a true multi-instrumentalist.

It was Haden's voice, however, with its extraordinary range, that most caught people's ears. She and her sister Rachel, along with Anna Waronker (the daughter of renowned producer Lenny Waronker) and drummer Tony Maxwell, formed the group that dog. in 1992. The Los Angeles-based indie pop/rock group released three albums over the course of five years. A year before their split in 1997, Haden recorded her first solo album, Imaginaryland, consisting of a cappella versions of cover songs. She also joined former Weezer bassist Matt Sharp in the Rentals, remaining with the group for several albums. In the ensuing decade, she worked with such additional artists as Sean Lennon, Victoria Williams, and guitarist Bill Frisell, the latter of whom joined Petra on a self-titled duet album that crossed classical, country, pop, jazz, and world music. She also worked with her siblings as part of the Haden Sisters trio.

In early 2005, Bar/None Records released Haden's The Who Sell Out, a recording that she worked on intermittently for three years. The album reinterpreted the classic Who album in its entirety, using Haden's a cappella voice as the sole instrument, and the result was a 39-minute recording that sounded like the Roches crossed with the Swingle Singers. Ten Years followed in 2008, pairing Petra with guitarist Woody Jackson.

Wikipedia:

Petra Haden (born October 11, 1971) is an American violinist and singer. She is or has been a member of several bands, including That Dog, Tito & Tarantula, and The Decemberists; has contributed to recordings by The Twilight Singers, Beck, Mike Watt, Luscious Jackson, Foo Fighters, Green Day, Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, The Rentals, Victoria Williams, Yuka Honda, The Gutter Twins, and Cornelius. She is the daughter of the jazz bassist Charlie Haden; the triplet sister of bassist Rachel Haden (her bandmate in That Dog) and cellist Tanya Haden (married to singer and actor Jack Black) with whom she has performed as The Haden Triplets; and the sister of bassist-singer Josh Haden, leader of the group Spain.

Biography

Born in New York City, in 1999 she released her first album, Imaginaryland, consisting mostly of original a cappella music. In 2000, Petra was struck by a car while crossing a street in Los Angeles; the resulting injuries forced her out of performance for several months. In 2005 she released the home-recorded album Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out (Bar/None), a complete a cappella rendition of The Who Sell Out. The project was suggested to Haden by longtime friend Mike Watt, who also gave her the eight-channel multi-track cassette recorder she used to make it. Funded in part by a Durfee grant and wanting to perform the work live, Haden created a new arrangement of The Who Sell Out for a ten woman a cappella choir called Petra Haden & The Sellouts. The premier live performance of the full work occurred in July 2005 at the Ford Amphitheatre as a part of the "sound." concert series.

She has also released a self-titled collaboration with jazz guitarist Bill Frisell.

She contributed to the recording of ØØ Void by drone metal band Sunn O))) and played on the debut and follow up album of Sunn O))) guitarist Greg Anderson's other doom metal band Goatsnake. The Haden Triplets sang the part of the "fates" in Anais Mitchell's 2010 release "Hadestown" on Righteous Babe Records.

She is also at work on a collection of songs with Yuka Honda, apparently with contributing performances by Sean Lennon.

In 2007, Haden recorded an a cappella cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" for the compilation album Guilt by Association Vol. 1. This arrangement of the song is very similar to that used in the Glee version of the song in 2009.

She performed on the soundtrack to the film An American Crime, starring Catherine Keener and Ellen Page, which premiered on Showtime in May 2008.

In 2009, Toyota commissioned Haden to perform three songs for television commercials for the third-generation Toyota Prius, including an a capella version of the Bellamy Brothers 1970s song "Let Your Love Flow".

Haden played violin on "Sentimental Tune" by Tegan and Sara, off of their album Sainthood (released October 27, 2009).