Kathleen Hanna

Kathleen Hanna (born November 12, 1968) is an American singer, musician and pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer.

Hanna was born November 12, 1968, in Portland, Oregon.

At age three, her family moved to Calverton, Maryland; as Hanna's father changed occupations, the family moved several more times.

Hanna first became interested in feminism around the age of nine, after her mother took her to a rally in Washington, D.C. where feminist icon Gloria Steinem spoke.

After high school, she relocated from Portland to Olympia, Washington, to attend The Evergreen State College in the late 1980s.

During this time she worked as a stripper to pay her tuition.

"My parents didn't go to college. I felt lucky [to attend]."

While at Evergreen, with fellow student and photographer Aaron Baush-Greene, she set up a photo exhibit featuring the pair's photography, which dealt with sexism, violence against women, and AIDS – issues that were heightened for Hanna when she volunteered for SafePlace, a domestic violence organization.

However, the school administrators took the photos down before they had the chance to be viewed, an act of censorship that prompted what Hanna refers to as her "first foray into activism": the creation of Reko Muse, an independent feminist art gallery, with friends Heidi Arbogast and Tammy Rae Carland.

Hanna began doing spoken word performances that addressed sexism and violence against women.

Eventually, she abandoned spoken word in favor of music after a conversation with one of her favorite writers, countercultural icon Kathy Acker.

Hanna recalled,

"Acker asked me why writing was important to me, and I said, 'Because I felt like I'd never been listened to and I had a lot to say,' and she said, 'Then why are you doing spoken word—no one goes to spoken word shows! You should get in a band.'"

Hanna then formed a band with Arbogast and Carland, called Amy Carter, which put on shows before the art exhibitions.

Later, Hanna started another band called Viva Knievel that toured the United States for two months before disbanding.

In the early-to-mid-1990s she was the lead singer of feminist punk band Bikini Kill, and then fronted Le Tigre in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Upon returning to Olympia in 1990, Hanna began collaborating with Evergreen student, drummer and punk zinester Tobi Vail after seeing a performance of the Go Team (a band made up of Vail, Billy Karren, and Calvin Johnson) and recognizing Vail as the mastermind behind the fanzine Jigsaw that Hanna greatly admired and loved.

In October 1990, Hanna and Vail joined with Karren and bassist Kathi Wilcox to form Bikini Kill, which soon became part of the seminal early-1990s Olympia, Washington music scene.

One goal of the band was to inspire more women to join the male-dominated punk scene.

While Bikini Kill were in Washington, D.C. during summer 1991, Kathleen recorded with two side projects, featured on the compilation cassette A Wonderful Treat: Suture (with Sharon Cheslow and Dug E. Bird), and Wondertwins (with Tim Green of Nation of Ulysses).

Bikini Kill, Suture, and Wondertwins all performed at the International Pop Underground Convention in August 1991.

Bikini Kill's first release for the Kill Rock Stars label was a self-titled EP produced by Ian MacKaye of Fugazi.

Bikini Kill then toured the UK, recording a split LP with UK band Huggy Bear.

This tour was filmed and the band was interviewed by Lucy Thane for her documentary, It Changed My Life: Bikini Kill in the UK.

Upon returning to the U.S., the band began working with Joan Jett, who produced their single "New Radio/Rebel Girl".

After the single's release, Hanna began co-writing songs with Jett for her new album.

At the same time, Hanna recorded her spoken-word "Rockstar", released on a 7-inch single in the Kill Rock Stars "Wordcore" series; and "I Wish I Was Him", which appears on the KRS compilation Rock Stars Kill.

The song, written by Ben Lee about alternative rock heartthrob Evan Dando, was originally recorded by Lee's band Noise Addict.

The first two Bikini Kill EPs were released on CD as The C.D. Version of the First Two Records in 1993.

The band released two more full-length albums, Pussy Whipped in 1994 and Reject All American in 1996, and in 1998, Kill Rock Stars released Bikini Kill: The Singles, a collection of the group's seven-inch and compilation tracks.

Bikini Kill amicably disbanded in mid-1998.

After Bikini Kill's breakup, Hanna began working on a solo project called Julie Ruin.

In a 2000 interview with BUST magazine, Hanna recalled: "My mom was a housewife and wasn't somebody that people would think of as a feminist, and when Ms. magazine came out we were incredibly inspired by it. I used to cut pictures out of it and make posters that said 'Girls can do anything', and stuff like that, and my mom was inspired to work at a basement of a church doing anti-domestic violence work. Then she took me to the Solidarity Day thing, and it was the first time I had ever been in a big crowd of women yelling, and it really made me want to do it forever."

Hanna's interest grew when her mother checked out a copy of Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique from the library.

Their involvement in the women's rights movement was done quietly during Hanna's childhood, due to her father's disapproval.

Upon her parents' divorce, Hanna returned to Portland and attended Lincoln High School and Grant High School.

In 2009, Hanna made her zines, art pieces, photography, video, music, journals, and other material which focus on the early formation of the Riot Grrrl movement available at the Fales Library at New York University.

Since 2010, she has recorded as the Julie Ruin.

A documentary film about Hanna was released in 2013 by director Sini Anderson, titled The Punk Singer, detailing Hanna's life and career, as well as revealing her years-long battle with Lyme disease.

Hanna is married to Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys.