Kay Hanley (born September 11, 1968) is an American alternative rock musician. She is known as the vocalist for the band Letters to Cleo.Hanley was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts. She was a member of Letters to Cleo from 1990 to 2000 (the length of the band's existence).
She came up with the band's name (she had a pen pal named Cleo when she was younger). In 1997, she started to work on other projects than the band, starting with a role in the Boston Rock Opera's performance of Jesus Christ Superstar as Mary Magdalene.
In 1999, Hanley made a cameo as herself in the film 10 Things I Hate about You, singing a cover version of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to be Kind" at the movie characters' high school prom. Towards the end of Letters to Cleo's career, she began performing with her husband and fellow Letters to Cleo member Michael Eisenstein outside of the band.
Around the same time, she gave birth to their daughter, Zoe.Starting her own solo career, Hanley started doing music for the cartoon Generation O. She also provided the singing voice for Rachael Leigh Cook's character Josie in the movie Josie and the Pussycats.
In 2002, she released her first solo album, Cherry Marmalade. That same year, she appeared on the Dropkick Murphys/Face to Face split cd, providing guest vocals on the original version of the Dropkick Murphys song "The Dirty Glass".
She also performed the song "Follow Me" for the video game Sonic Heroes in 2003. In 2004 she released a follow up to Cherry Marmalade, The Babydoll EP. She is very involved with the Boston based charity "Hot Stove, Cool Music.
" She is currently in the Los Angeles-based girl band, The Dilettantes, with New York native Michelle Lewis. In 2004, she and her husband Michael Eisenstein had their second child, Henry Aaron, the name given in honor of baseball player Hank Aaron and their love for baseball.
In August 2005, Hanley announced on her website's message board that she would be recording a cover of Iggy Pop's "Lust for Life" for the soundtrack of the Reese Witherspoon film Just Like Heaven In September 2005, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as part of a pretaped man-on-the-street segment, singing a song about falling in love at Starbucks.
The internet radio station KGRL featured her as their Flower-Powered Artist for September of 2006. The feature includes an exclusive interview, CD Review of Cherry Marmalade, Review of Babydoll EP, and an on-demand video stream of the whole Hotel Cafe performance last July 2006.
She's also quite popular with fans of the New England Patriots, as every time she has sung the National Anthem for them at Gillette Stadium the Patriots have won. She has sung eight times as of January 2007 with as many wins, including the only home playoff games for the Patriots in 2006 and 2007.
She sings the main theme song for My Friends Tigger and Pooh, a half-hour Disney Channel TV show that premiered on Playhouse Disney on May 12, 2007 and "We Are The Care Bears" from Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!.
On Thanksgiving Day 2007, Hanley sang a song called "Caring Changes The World" in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Care Bears Float. Hanley toured as a back up singer with Miley Cyrus on her Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus : Best of Both Worlds Tour.
