Nina Gordon

Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro (born November 14, 1967), known as Nina Gordon, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro was born November 14, 1967, in Washington, D.C. Her father was a law student at the time of her birth.

She was raised along with her brother, Jim Shapiro, in several different locations, moving between Washington, D.C., and Madison, Wisconsin, before settling in Chicago when Gordon was a teenager.

Gordon has commented that her parents had a turbulent relationship and eventually divorced in her childhood.

Gordon attended high school at the Latin School of Chicago.

While attending college, Gordon intended to major in music, but ultimately graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from Tufts University.

She is Jewish.

Gordon and Post both sang and played guitar on Veruca Salt's material during the 1990s.

The two were also the band's primary songwriters, each writing their songs separately.

Veruca Salt released a self-funded demo tape and shopped it to labels while playing a handful of small club shows.

The buzz around the band grew, and after only a few live gigs, the band was signed to Minty Fresh Records and began recording with producer Brad Wood, who had recently worked on Liz Phair's critically acclaimed Exile in Guyville.

The band released an orange 7" single for the song "Seether," which Gordon wrote. The song was a distorted alt-rocker about an angry and misunderstood woman. Compared to the rest of Veruca Salt's material, "Seether" sounded very pop. They sent "Seether" to radio, as it was the most radio-friendly song they had written, and the reaction was positive. It quickly became a hit on college and alternative stations. The album was not complete, and the band rushed to finish it before "Seether" lost its radio momentum. The song ended up peaking at #8 on the Modern Rock charts and became a hit on MTV.

Veruca Salt was formed in Chicago in 1992 by Gordon and Louise Post.

Introduced by Gordon's good friend, actress Lili Taylor, Gordon and Post quickly became friends and began playing music together.

In 1993, they enlisted bassist Steve Lack and Gordon's brother Jim Shapiro, a guitarist who joined as the band's drummer as a favor to his sister.

She co-founded the alternative rock band Veruca Salt and played on their first two studio albums, American Thighs (1994) and Eight Arms to Hold You (1997).

During that time, Gordon wrote the band's hit singles "Seether" and "Volcano Girls".

Veruca Salt's debut studio album American Thighs was released through Minty Fresh on September 27, 1994, and re-released on November 8, 1994, by the major label Geffen Records after the label signed the band following an intense bidding war.

The album peaked at #69 on the Billboard Top 200 and was eventually certified gold.

The second single, "Number One Blind," written by Gordon and Shapiro, peaked at #20 on the Modern Rock charts, but did not do as well as "Seether".

Gordon and Post were unhappy with the song's video, and it was pulled after airing fewer than five times on MTV's 120 Minutes.

To support the album, Veruca Salt toured, opening for acts such as Hole, Live and PJ Harvey.

They also headlined a club tour, after which they entered the studio with Bob Rock to record their second album.

The band was inspired to work with Rock after hearing Metallica's "Enter Sandman" over the house PA system before a Veruca Salt concert at an outdoor music festival.

She worked with James Iha on the Smashing Pumpkins song "...Said Sadly" (the b-side to their 1995 single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"), and also recorded duets with Fig Dish and Triple Fast Action.

The band released an EP in 1996 titled Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt to tide fans over until their next album.

It was produced by Steve Albini and contains the Gordon-penned "Shimmer Like a Girl" and "New York Mining Disaster 1996".

During this time, Gordon also collaborated with other musicians on side projects.

With Scott Miller, she co-wrote the song "The Softest Tip of Her Baby Tongue," which appeared on The Loud Family's 1996 album Interbabe Concern.

Veruca Salt's second album Eight Arms to Hold You, which was released February 11, 1997, on Geffen Records, proved to be a difficult and dividing album.

Some fans of American Thighs were disappointed by the polished, hard-rock and distinctively Bob Rock production, in comparison to the laid back, indie buzz-bin vibe of American Thighs.

The new album garnered mixed reviews from music critics, as well.

Band members later admitted that the recording process for this album was more tense than the previous one, and the creative differences between Gordon and Post increased.

However, Eight Arms to Hold You sold well due to the success of the first single, "Volcano Girls," written by Gordon.

It was a catchy, power-pop tantrum that matched the success of "Seether," peaking at #8 on the Modern Rock charts.

The album peaked higher (Billboard Top 200 at 55) than American Thighs, but sales dropped off when the second single "Shutterbug" failed to chart, despite a high-budget video and Saturday Night Live performance.

Three more singles were sent to radio ("The Morning Sad," "Straight," and "Benjamin") but none of them did well enough to warrant a video.

The Gordon-penned "Benjamin" was released internationally as the third and last commercial single from the album despite having no video and no promotion.

After leaving Veruca Salt, she released two solo albums, Tonight and the Rest of My Life (2000) and Bleeding Heart Graffiti (2006).

She then rejoined Veruca Salt for their album Ghost Notes (2015).