Maria McKee

Maria McKee (2017)

Maria Louise McKee (born August 17, 1964 in Los Angeles ) is an American singer and songwriter.

Musical career

Maria McKee's ancestors came from Ireland . McKee is a half-sister of Bryan McLean, 17 years his senior, guitarist for Arthur Lee's folk pioneer " Love ". McKee formed the country rock band Lone Justice in Los Angeles in 1982 , which crossed punk with country. The original line-up of Lone Justice also included Benmont Tench , Tom Petty's keyboardist .

At the age of 19 she wrote the song A Good Heart . David A. Stewart of the Eurythmics made a world hit out of it in 1985, but interpreted not by Maria McKee, but by Feargal Sharkey . A Good Heart was number 1 in the UK charts for two weeks and made McKee temporarily wealthy: " I earned a gazillian dollars and spent it all. That's what you do when you're 19 ," she said years later at a concert. In 2007 Maria McKee released her own version of A Good Heart on her album Late December .

Since Maria McKee has been on stage, the critics have been throwing up praise. Maria McKee's honey-roasted voice rivals the fragile passion of Patsy Cline , the fiery soul of Aretha Franklin and the powerful blues of Janis Joplin , the New Musical Express praised . Although music greats such as Linda Ronstadt , Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan raved about the greatest talent of the present and the record companies fought over the new child prodigies, Lone Justice's records were only moderately successful. McKee left the band and fled to Ireland. She found shelter with the musicians of the U2 band . " Nothing I do has ever hit here " she later said about her success in her home country, the USA.

In 1989 she released her first solo album. A year later she achieved an international hit with the cuddly ballad show Me Heaven . The song was the theme song in the Tom Cruise film Days of Thunder and reached number 1 in the UK , Norway , Belgium and the Netherlands . Quentin Tarantino added the song If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags) to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack a few years later .

The 1993 album You Gotta Sin to Get Saved , which was recorded for the most part with the Jayhawks , was again only a critical success. In the same year, Maria McKee took part in the Sweet Relief project in support of the multiple sclerosis musician Victoria Williams . After the release of Life Is Sweet in 1996, she took a longer creative break. It wasn't until 2003 that she released a new album, High Dive . Since then she has released two more studio and two live albums.

Maria McKee lives and works in Los Angeles with husband and producer Jim Akin.

Discography

See also : Lone Justice

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1989	Maria McKee	-	-	-	UK49 (3 weeks) UK	US120 (15 weeks) US	First published June 12, 1989 Producers: Mitchell Froom, Bruce Brody
1993	You Gotta Sin to Get Saved	-	-	-	UK26 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 31, 1993 Producer: George Drakoulias
1996	Life is sweet	-	-	-	UK81 (1 week) UK	-	First published: February 12, 1996 Producers: Bruce Brody, Maria McKee, Mark Freegard

More albums

• 2000: Ultimate Collection (compilation)
• 2003: High Dive
• 2004: Live in Hamburg
• 2005: Peddlin 'Dreams
• 2005: No One Was Kinder (Bryan Maclean with Maria McKee)
• 2006: Live Acoustic Tour 2006
• 2007: Live at the BBC
• 2007: Late December
• 2020: La vita nuova

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1990	Show Me Heaven Days of Thunder (Soundtrack)	DE12 (23 weeks) DE	AT15 (12 weeks) AT	CH4 (18 weeks) CH	UK1 silver (14 weeks)UK	-	First published: September 3, 1990 from the soundtrack of the film Days of Thunder Authors: Maria McKee, Jay Rifkin , Eric Rackin
1991	Breathe Maria McKee	-	-	-	UK59 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: January 14, 1991 Authors: Maria McKee, Gregg Sutton
1992	Sweetest Child	-	-	-	UK45 (4 weeks) UK	-	First published: July 20, 1992 Sweetest Child feat. Maria McKee Authors: Maria McKee, Martin Glover, Bruce Brody
1993	I'm Gonna Soothe You You Gotta Sin to Get Saved	-	-	-	UK35 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: May 10, 1993 Authors: Bruce Brody, Maria McKee, Marvin Etzioni
	I Can't Make It Alone You Gotta Sin to Get Saved	-	-	-	UK74 (1 week) UK	-	First published: September 6, 1993 Authors: Gerry Goffin, Carole King Original: PJ Proby , 1966
1996	This Perfect Dress Life Is Sweet	-	-	-	UK85 (1 week) UK	-	First published: April 29, 1996 Author: Maria McKee

More singles

• 1984: Never Be You (from the soundtrack to the movie Streets in Flames )
• 1989: To Miss Someone
• 1989: I've Forgotten What it Was in You
• 1992: Nobody's Child
• 1995: Life Is Sweet
• 1996: Absolutely Barking Stars
• 2005: Turn Away
• 2005: Sullen Soul

literature

• Sing yourself, Idiot , Der Spiegel 17 (1996), p. 222.

swell

1. ↑ Maria McKee: 'Show Me Heaven'? I don't think it's missed , The Independent, May 18, 2003
2. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles Albums UK US1 US2
3. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

• Official website (English)
• Maria McKee at Allmusic (English)
• Maria McKee at Discogs (English)
• Biography at vh1.com (English)