Maria Louise McKee
(born August 17, 1964, Los Angeles, California) is an American singer.
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Music
A
solo artist, McKee was a founding member of the
cowpunk/
country rock band,
Lone Justice, in 1982, with whom she released two
albums. Her band opened for such acts as
U2.
When she was only 19
[1], she wrote
Feargal Sharkey's 1985
UK number one hit "
A Good Heart", a
song she has since
recorded herself and released on her album
Late December
. The song was originally written about her failed relationship with
musician Benmont Tench.
In 1987 she was featured in the
Robbie Robertson video "Somewhere Down the Crazy River".
She released her first solo, self-titled album in 1989. Her song "
Show Me Heaven", which appeared on the
soundtrack to the
film Days of Thunder
, was a
number one single in the
United Kingdom for four weeks in 1990.
[2] She refused to perform this song in public up until recently, when for the first time in 18 years she sang it at Dublin Gay Pride.
[3] She said "She felt it was the right time and place to sing it, I am proud of you".
Following her debut, McKee has released five critically acclaimed
studio (and two
live) albums. The latter three,
High Dive
,
Peddlin' Dreams
and
Late December
, were released independently via her own Viewfinder Records
label (distributed in the UK via
Cooking Vinyl).
In 1998,
The Dixie Chicks recorded McKee's track "Am I the Only One (Who's Ever Felt This Way?)" and included it on their
Grammy nominated album
Wide Open Spaces
.
Personal
McKee is the half-sister of
Love guitarist
Bryan MacLean, with whom she played in a
duo as a
teenager. She attended
University High School in
West Los Angeles, California, and is married to her bass player Jim Akin, who co-
writes and co-
produces her solo albums. In the 1990s, she spent time living in
Dublin and the
East Village, before settling in her native
Los Angeles,
California.
Session and guest work
In addition to writing Sharkey's "A Good Heart", McKee has also contributed to the
Victoria Williams'
tribute album Sweet Relief
, on the song "Opelousas (Sweet Relief)". She has also provided
backing vocals to
U2's
cover of
Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" (
B-side of 1992 "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses" single from their
Achtung Baby
album) , as well as to the
Counting Crows' 1993 debut
August and Everything After
on "Sullivan Street".
She contributed "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" to the
Pulp Fiction
soundtrack in 1994.
Scottish band
Deacon Blue wrote their
UK Top Ten hit "
Real Gone Kid" about her.
McKee also contributed a song "Never Be You" for the soundtrack to the
Walter Hill movie Streets of Fire
. She also sang a duet with Dwight Yoakam, "Big Sandy," on the latter's well acclaimed debut album "Guitars, Cadillacs and Hillbilly Music" in 1986.
Discography
She recorded a duet, "This Road is Long," with Stuart A. Staples on his 2006 "Leaving Songs."
References
- As stated by Maria before playing the song on Live - Acoustic Tour 2006
- British Hit Singles & Albums
- Dublin Gay Pride