Kim Deal

With her slyly sweet vocals, elliptically catchy songwriting, and effortless charm, Kim Deal is an indie rock icon. She first came to prominence in the late '80s as the founding bassist for Pixies, where her insistent eighth-note bass lines and honeyed vocals brought a spark to songs such as Doolittle's "Here Comes Your Man" and Surfer Rosa's "Gigantic" (one of a handful of songs on which she sang lead). Deal came into her own with the Breeders, whose hooky pop and experimental tangents went platinum with 1993's Last Splash, which brought the band's mischievously sexy style to a wider audience while drawing on folk, surf, and reggae influences -- all of which could be heard on songs like the smash hit single "Cannonball." The raw rock of 1995's Pacer, the lone album from her project the Amps, and the Breeders' tough yet vulnerable 2018 album All Nerve reflected the breadth of Deal's music, as did the tender playfulness of her 2024 solo album Nobody Loves You More. By that time, her enduring influence was apparent in the work of artists like Courtney Barnett, Lucy Dacus, and Olivia Rodrigo. The daughter of a father who was a laser physicist and a mother who was a teacher, Deal grew up in Dayton, Ohio. Along with her identical twin sister, Kelley, she showed an interest in music at an early age. The Deal sisters started singing together by the age of five, while Kim began learning songs on her father's acoustic guitar when she was 11. In high school, Deal was a popular cheerleader who played sports, but also loved underground music like Siouxsie and the Banshees, Elvis Costello, the Undertones, and other artists that appeared on the tapes sent to her and Kelley by a friend in California. The Deal sisters formed an early, folk-rock version of the Breeders while still in their teens, and the pair continued to play music when they moved to Boston in 1986. A week after arriving in town, Deal responded to an advertisement in the Boston Phoenix looking for a bassist who was "into Hüsker Dü and Peter, Paul and Mary." Borrowing Kelley's bass, Kim passed the audition and became the third member of Pixies alongside vocalist/guitarist Black Francis and lead guitarist Joey Santiago. The band brought on David Lovering, a friend of Deal's then-husband, as their drummer, and soon became one of the hottest groups in a scene that included their friends and frequent tourmates Throwing Muses. Ignited by the chemistry between Francis' howls and Deal's lilting vocals, Pixies' surreal songs caught the ear of manager and producer Gary Smith, who in March 1987 had the band record an 18-song demo known as The Purple Tape. The demo made its way to Ivo Watts-Russell, the head of England's 4AD Records, who signed the group to the label on the advice of his girlfriend. After selecting eight of the demo's songs and remixing them slightly, 4AD released them as Come on Pilgrim in September 1987, and the mini-album peaked at number five on the U.K. indie album chart. Pixies recorded their debut album, March 1988's Surfer Rosa that December with Steve Albini, who became one of Deal's most enduring collaborators. Albini gave the band a harder-edged sound that retained their melodic hooks, and the album became a college radio hit in America (and was ultimately certified gold by the RIAA in 2005); in the U.K., the album reached number two on the Independent Albums Chart and earned enthusiastic reviews from the British weekly music press. Pixies signed to Elektra prior to the release of April 1989's polished Doolittle, which received excellent reviews and peaked at number 98 on the U.S. charts; meanwhile, it hit number eight on the U.K. Album Chart. The group's quick rise led to tensions, however, and by the completion of their second American tour for Doolittle at the end of 1989, the bandmembers decided to take a hiatus. Deal and Throwing Muses guitarist Tanya Donelly, who became friends during their groups' 1988 European tour, launched their own band, a re-formed version of the Breeders that also featured bassist Josephine Wiggs of Perfect Disaster; when Kelley couldn't get enough time away from her job to become the band's drummer, Slint's Britt Walford joined the fold under the pseudonym Shannon Doughton. The Breeders recorded their debut album at Edinburgh, Scotland's Palladium studio in January 1990 while Deal's Pixies bandmates were starting work on their third full-length Bossanova in Los Angeles (she joined them in the studio that February). Engineered by Albini, Pod arrived in May 1990. The album peaked at 22 on the U.K. Albums chart and won praise from critics and artists including Nirvana's Kurt Cobain for its roomy, lively sound and unconventional songwriting. After opening for U2 on the first leg of the Zoo TV tour in early 1992, Pixies took another hiatus and Deal returned to the Breeders, who released the muscular yet melodic EP Safari that April. The EP also marked the debut of Kelley Deal as the band's second guitarist, and was their only release to feature both her and Donelly, who departed in 1991 to form her own band, Belly. Walford left around the same time, with the band drafting drummer Jim MacPherson to play their first high-profile gigs in 1992 opening for Nirvana on their European tour. As the group worked on their second album in the beginning of 1993, Pixies disbanded, leaving Deal able to pursue the Breeders full-time. Produced by Deal and co-produced by Mark Freegard, August 1993's Last Splash added some pop gloss to the band's sound but also incorporated touches of reggae, grunge, country, and surf as well as noisy experiments. Driven by the success of the sonic collage "Cannonball," an Alternative Airplay number two hit that also charted in several other countries, Last Splash catapulted the group into stardom. The album was certified platinum in the U.S., silver in the U.K., and gold in Canada, Australia, and France. The Breeders had a prime spot on 1994's Lollapalooza tour, but just as quickly as success hit them, they went on hiatus, partly due to exhaustion from the rapid nature of their fame and from their extensive touring. When Kelley was arrested for drug possession and went to a rehab clinic in Minnesota in late 1994, the rest of the band went their separate ways while she recuperated. Kim returned to Dayton with MacPherson, learned how to play the drums, and continued writing songs. By early 1995, she had an album's worth of new material ready to record and assembled a backing band of MacPherson and other Dayton-area musicians, including Nathan Farley and Luis Lerma of the Tasties. The Amps sounded like a rougher, lo-fi version of the Breeders; their gigs and their 1995 album Pacer emphasized the loose, charming spontaneity of Deal's style. In 1996, Deal revived the Breeders and played some California dates with the band, which featured members of the Amps. By early 1998, Kelley had rejoined the band and the duo continued to write and record songs, contributing a cover of the Three Degrees' "Collage" that appeared on the soundtrack to the big-screen adaptation of The Mod Squad. The Deals brought on bassist Mando Lopez and guitarist Richard Presley (both formerly of Fear), and drummer Jose Medeles to record the Breeders' long-awaited third album, Title TK, with Albini. Arriving in May 2002, the album was a rawer-sounding effort than Last Splash that put the Deals' harmonies at the forefront and reached 51 on the U.K. Albums chart and 130 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the U.S. Deal joined Pixies on their 2004 North America and Europe reunion tours, with Kelley accompanying her on the road to work on Breeders songs. The songwriting process extended into 2007, and the group worked with several engineers, including Albini, to record their next album. Appearing in April 2008, Mountain Battles continued Title TK's minimalist rock; it peaked at 46 in the U.K. and at number 12 on the Independent Albums chart in the U.S. In 2013, the band celebrated the 20th anniversary of Last Splash with a deluxe reissue that included singles, B-sides, demos, and live performances, and Wiggs and MacPherson returned to the Breeders for a tour where the band performed Last Splash in its entirety. That year, Deal also self-released a series of solo singles and officially left Pixies, who returned to the studio with longtime producer Gil Norton to record Indie Cindy. To make their fifth album, the Breeders' reunited Last Splash lineup recorded with Albini at his Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, as well as with Mike Montgomery at Kentucky's Candyland Recording Studio and with Tom Rastikis at Ohio's Fernwood Studios. Featuring backing vocals by Courtney Barnett, All Nerve was released in March 2018, nearly 25 years after Last Splash. The album peaked at 79 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart in the U.S., cracked the Top Ten in the U.K., and charted throughout Europe. Following the deaths of her parents, Deal ventured to the Florida Keys in early 2020 to continue work on her solo album; due to lockdowns for the COVID-19 global pandemic, she ended up staying there alone for five months. Kelley Deal, Albini, MacPherson, Walford, Teenage Fanclub's Raymond McGinley, and the Raconteurs' Jack Lawrence were among the other musicians contributing to the sessions. A Breeders tour celebrating the 30th anniversary of Last Splash preceded the release of November 2024's Nobody Loves You More, an album that encompassed familiar indie rock sounds as well as brass, strings, electronics, and some of Deal's most direct and confessional songwriting.
© Heather Phares /TiVo