Tristan Kinnett April 28th, 2021 - 1:25 PM
Australian singer/songwriter Anita Lane has passed away at age 61. Aside from her work as a solo musician, she’s also known for collaborating with Nick Cave’s groups The Bad Seeds and The Birthday Party.
Some of the songs that Lane co-wrote include The Birthday Party’s 1981-1982 tracks “A Dead Song,” “Dead Joe,” and “Kiss Me Black,” as well as The Bad Seeds’ debut album title track, “From Her to Eternity” and Your Funeral…My Trial cut “Stranger Than Kindness.” Lane also sang on several of the Bad Seeds’ songs, notably including their cover of Bob Dylan’s 1988 song “Death Is Not The End” on Murder Ballads (1996). She sang on Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, and Blixa Bargeld’s score for Ghosts… of the Civil Dead as well.
Lane contributed to some of Harvey’s and Bargeld’s own projects as well, separate from their work as members of The Bad Seeds. She was featured on Harvey’s 1996 song “Harley Davidson” and sang a duet with Cave called “I Love You…Nor Do I” on Harvey’s 1997 album Pink Elephants. Bargeld was also the lead singer for legendary German industrial pioneers Einstürzende Neubauten, who featured Lane on “Blume” and “Wüste” off their 1993 album Tabula Rasa.
Other artists that Lane worked with include Die Haut, Gudrun Gut and Kid Congo Powers. In addition, she collaborated with film composers Pale 3 on their soundtrack for The Princess and the Warrior.
Mute Records signed her as a solo artist in the late 1980s and helped her release her debut EP Dirty Sings (1988) and two albums, Dirty Pearl (1993) and Sex O’Clock (2001). Dirty Pearl is the most popular of the trio due to the showcasing of songs that she had co-written with The Bad Seeds, The Birthday Party, Einstürzende Neubauten and Die Haut, and contributions from the members of each of those acts.
Her sound adapted to the times from her dreamy alternative rock songwriting on Dirty Pearl to lusher, more soulful pop music on Sex O’Clock. No news has been revealed about the circumstances of her death at this time.
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