Johnette Napolitano

Johnette Napolitano earned recognition chiefly as the vocalist and bassist for the alternative rock trio Concrete Blonde, which operated throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. She has also established herself as a poet, social activist, film composer, and sculptor. Born September 22, 1957, in Hollywood, she remained at the periphery of the Los Angeles punk and new wave circles while employed at the storied Gold Star Studios, until she launched the duo Dream 6 with guitarist Jim Mankey.

The pair issued a self-titled EP in 1982, produced by Jim’s brother Earle Mankey—a onetime member of Sparks’ original lineup and then a prominent producer in the local new wave community—which drew the interest of IRS Records head Miles Copeland. After recruiting drummer Harry Rushakoff, a transplant from Chicago, and adopting the name Concrete Blonde, a moniker said to have been supplied by R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe to evoke the group’s fusion of forceful and delicate qualities, the band delivered its debut album in 1987.

That record was soon followed by Free, Bloodletting (which contained the band’s biggest success, “Joey”), Walking in London, and Mexican Moon, before Concrete Blonde disbanded in 1995. Napolitano next pursued two brief collaborations—Vowel Movement with Holly Beth Vincent of Holly & the Italians and Pretty & Twisted with the late Marc Moreland, formerly of Wall of Voodoo—alongside occasional Concrete Blonde reunion projects.

She subsequently developed a parallel career scoring soundtracks for modest- and mid-budget independent films, among them Wicker Park and Underworld. During this period she also released two largely improvised, predominantly electronic albums: Sketchbook in 2002 and Sketchbook 2 in 2006. Her first full-length solo album, Scarred, appeared in spring 2007.