Kim Fox (musician)

Kim Fox
Born 1968 (age 49–50)
Manhattan, New York
Origin New York City
Genres Modern adult contemporary, pop rock
Instruments Keyboards
Years active 1997-present
Labels DreamWorks, Franklin Castle

Kim Fox (born 1968 in Manhattan, New York) is an American singer, songwriter, and keyboardist based in New York City.[1]

Biography

Fox is the daughter of doo-wop singer Norman Fox, known for his band Norman Fox & The Rob-Roys. She attended Vassar College, where she majored in music composition and theory. While in college, she hoped to become an opera singer, but after seeing a performance by Suddenly, Tammy!, she decided to become a pop musician. She met producer Paul Mahern through a publishing deal with Bertelsmann Music Group; Mahern subsequently recorded her early demo tracks. She decided to move to Mahern's hometown of Bloomington, Indiana because she was taken with the city, and with Mahern's producing style.[2]

Her debut album, Moon Hut, was released on September 9, 1997 on DreamWorks Records. The album was produced by Mahern and arranged by Mark Bingham.[3][4][5] The first single from the album was "I Wanna Be a Witch", which was released to adult album alternative radio in late August 1997. Prior to the single's release, WXPN's Bruce Warren said that his station planned to put the single in heavy rotation once it was released.[4] The album's second single, "Sweetest Revenge," was released in 1998.[6]

All of the musicians who performed on Moon Hut lived in Bloomington at the time of recording.[7] The album received positive reviews from critics, but was commercially unsuccessful, which prompted Fox to back out of her contract with DreamWorks. She subsequently moved to Los Angeles, and released her second album, Return to Planet Earth, in 2003 through Franklin Castle Recordings.[2][8]

Reviews

A review of "I Wanna Be A Witch" in Billboard described Fox as "a formidable young artist with a knack for combining irony and humor with acoustic-rock-rooted melodies that have a subtle Tin Pan Alley feel."[9]

Moon Hut received 4 stars out of 5 from AllMusic's Tom Schulte, who wrote that "Potent lyrics and the bright decoration of glockenspiel, concertina and more makes Moon Hut an unforgettable album."[10] Stereo Review gave the album 3 stars out of 5,[11] and Houston Press's Hobart Rowland gave it 4 out of 5 stars, describing it as "one of the most satisfying debuts of the year".[12] The New York Daily News' Jim Farber named the album one of the overlooked CDs of 1997, writing that "If Fox lacks the bite of Sobule, or the smarts of Rigby, she bests them all in sheer vulnerability. Her self-deprecation couldn't seem more sweet."[13] Robert Christgau, however, was less favorable, giving the album a "neither" rating,[14] indicating that, according to him, it "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."[15]

Charlotte Robinson, writing for PopMatters, gave Return to Planet Earth a favorable review, concluding, "Judging from the high quality of Return to Planet Earth, we’ve got a lot to look forward to from Kim Fox."[8] Andi Zeisler also gave the album a favorable review in Bitch, writing that "Return to Planet Earth's heady, floridly retro arrangements and Fox’s sexy, enchanted voice unabashedly flout all current rules of musical cool". Zeisler also described the album as "an album of positively hooktastic orchestral pop".[16]

Discography

  • Moon Hut (DreamWorks, 1997)
  • Return to Planet Earth (Oglio/Franklin Castle, 2003)

References

  1. ↑ D, Spence (2003-11-11). "11 Questions With Kim Fox". IGN. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  2. 1 2 Mason, Stewart. "Kim Fox Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  3. ↑ "Fox Tracks". Indianapolis Star. 9 September 1997. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  4. 1 2 Inc, Nielsen Business Media (1997-07-12). "High-Profile Music at Home in Bloomington". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 86.
  5. ↑ "Staff Profiles". pietystreet.com. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  6. ↑ Inc, Nielsen Business Media (1998-05-09). "Singles". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 31.
  7. ↑ Lounges, Tom (26 October 1997). "Singer Kim Fox makes transition from Big Apple". nwitimes.com.
  8. 1 2 Robinson, Charlotte (2 March 2003). "Kim Fox: Return to Planet Earth". PopMatters. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  9. ↑ Inc, Nielsen Business Media (1997-08-30). Flick, Larry, ed. "Singles". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 86. Retrieved 2017-07-26.
  10. ↑ Schulte, Tom. "Moon Hut Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  11. ↑ "Moon Hut Review". Stereo Review. Vol. 63. CBS Magazines. 1998. p. 90.
  12. ↑ Rowland, Hobart (1997-10-30). "Sound Check". Houston Press. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  13. ↑ Farber, Jim (6 January 1998). "Time to Sing the Praises of some of 1997's Overlooked CDs". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  14. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG: kim fox". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  15. ↑ "Robert Christgau: CG 90s: Key to Icons". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 2017-07-21.
  16. ↑ Zeisler, Andi (2003). "Return to Planet Earth". Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. Bitch Publications. p. 83.
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