Talk:Nellie McKay

21 really?
Do you all buy the fact that she was born in '84 not '82? I wouldn't be suprised is she decided to claim she was only 19 to give a sort of child prodigy vibe to her work. Why would her father lie?
 * Please sign your comments. In answer to your question, apparently McKay isn't exactly cozy with her old man, so such things do need to be taken with a grain of salt. In any event, McKay would hardly be the first performer to fudge her age. Fact is, according to all official sources she was born in 84. The fact there is a claim made of a different birth year cannot be ignored, and has been acknowledged. Beyond that there isn't much else that can be done unless an official, verifiable, unrelated source indicates otherwise. 23skidoo 05:23, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
 * She was not really born in 1984, nor even on December 13. In addition to her father's own testimony, she also graduated from high school and started college in 2000, at her claimed age of 15 which is extremely unlikely. Even her British birth certificate supposedly gives the 1982 date. Anyway, try googling it --Fallout boy 06:18, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Good detective work! 23skidoo 15:31, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

"McKay was born in London, England, on April 13, 1982, but has spent most of her life in the United States." http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?pid=591005 (Brodey)

Sony probably wanted to sell her as a younger artist, and McKay complied. Sony has done this with other female artists in the past, notably Heather Nova in the mid-90s. 66.90.150.79 22:05, 23 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree. I think it's something that she's trying to play it down now. The last paragraph of this article explains that Nellie's website originally listed her age as 19 years and then later removed all reference to age.--Abie the Fish Peddler (talk) 00:32, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

==Style Nellie McKay is a brilliant artist who delights in spreading her opinions and political messages through songs the tunes and music of which have a mix of jazz, chimes and rap--Nellie McKay's rapping in songs such as Sari could be compared to that of the band Blondie in songs such as Rapture.==

This passage sounds like it would belong on a nellie mckay fan page, not an encyclopedic article i think it should be edited or removed. (Brodey)
 * Feel free to delete or edit such things when you find them - Be bold as the Wikipedia guide says. I've killed this section for the reasons you state and also because it simply duplicates content already covered in the introduction. 23skidoo 15:19, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Threepenny Opera
The article says she has been announced to appear in Threepenny Opera, and she has in fact been appearing in that play since its "preview" opening the last week of March. There aren't any formal reviews (the official opening night is April 20, and I understand tradition dictates that preview performances aren't subject to review), though reviews submitted by theatergoers to sites such as The New York Times are mixed at best. Actually, a sizeable majority of these nonprofessional reviewers give the play a thumbs-down, though they have little to say about Nellie McKay's performance. The larger issue, it seems, is Wallace Shawn's translation/adaption of the Brecht original. For instance, the lead character, Mack the Knife, has been written to be a bisexual, and homo-erotic themes are prevalent throughout. Some also found the liberal use of vulgarities to be unappealing, though some conceded that the irreverent Brecht would likely approve. As for Nellie, she plays Polly Peachum, whom I believe is married to Mack the Knife (the character's name is actually MacHeath, but he is indeed the inspiration for Mack the Knife), and more than one person wrote to say they appreciated her "dry" sense of humor and enjoyed one of her musical numbers that was a contradition to her all-white, virginal appearance in the play. Actual Wikipedia writers/editors would need to check my facts and spellings before using any of this. Thanks for the opportunity to contribute. -- rlmcyd@aol.com.

Lovely! Now someone has updated the article to say Nellie is playing "Sally." Actually, Nellie is playing Polly Peachum. There is no Sally in the Threepenny Opera. -- rlmcyd@aol.com


 * The majority of the above is only appropriate at The Threepenny Opera. It's sufficient here to say that she plays Polly, and a word or two about her reception. --Dhartung | Talk 23:24, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

CD release
I see the article says that her new CD is scheduled for Oct 31 release. Was this changed recently? According to a local music shop here in Calgary, the CD was supposed to be released on Oct. 24. Maybe they got the info wrong? 23skidoo 02:27, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Official label site says October 31. The NYT said it would be available digitally on October 24, though. --Dhartung | Talk 02:35, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
 * I bet that's what happened - the store saw the digital release date and posted that. Thanks. 23skidoo 02:44, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
 * For whatever reason the actual release of the album in Canada (and apparently elsewhere) was delayed until Nov. 21 so I indicated this in the article. However can anyone confirm for certain that the album was actually available in US stores on the 31st or was its release similarly delayed down there? 23skidoo 15:28, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
 * It did appear in US stores on the scheduled date. It didn't get a big release, but they did have it in at least one store I went to.Raymondluxuryacht 17:22, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Rumor Has It soundtrack
Shouldn't there be a mention of the songs Nellie McKay contributed to the "Rumour Has It" soundtrack? What about adding a discography for her?

LGBT
Is she a lesbian or bisexual? If so, there are categories for musicians in these categories where she should be listed. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 198.86.240.98 (talk) 18:56, 12 January 2007 (UTC).
 * Something like that should only be added if she has officially "come out." Otherwise it could be considered slander.Antmusic 16:42, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

She is straight. There is an interview with her discussing the song 'David', where the song is really about someone named David and she is in fact quite enamored with him. He is a college professor. She mentions in this interview that when she is down, holding onto (hugging) "her man" is one of the few things that will cheer her up. She also mentions that hugging people like a friend or her mother are not as good as hugging a man. 66.90.150.79 22:05, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

I don't think she would say something that non-sarcastically, so I don't think it proves she is straight. We can't know either way.69.120.62.28 (talk) 03:27, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

She self-identified as straight in 2004 Hogan (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 19:34, 4 October 2009 (UTC).

Bad, Bad External Link
Hi! I don't know how to edit links but under external links there is one listed as "Nellie McKay - WebSite and Forum" however I'm pretty sure that this website:

http://www.buttsacrossamerica.com/buttshot_pages/charoltte_motor_speedway.html

should not be showing up when I click on that particular link.

Someone who actually appreciates and respects Nellie McKay please fix this error. Thanks!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Eolandra (talk • contribs)

Name
All Music Guide gives her name as Eleanora Marie McKay instead of Nell Marie McKay. Which one's right? - DNewhall 12:42, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

P.S. I Love You
She plays Ciara in this movie. Why is there no reference to her here or in the P.S. I Love You article? Or on IMDB for that matter?

Note issue
In the Note 1 of this page, it states the controversy over her age (leading some to recall an incident in which Sony's misrepresented the age of one of its female artists). Should it not behoove someone to actually cite or notate these previous episodes? Also, how many is 'some'? And are we sure they were 'recalling'? Wouldn't some more objective language, like 'similar to a previous incident (citation needed)'? Thomas banacek (talk) 01:27, 28 November 2010 (UTC)
 * I'm going to be bold and remove that part of the note. It's irrelevant without further information, and it also suggests that Sony was behind the age issue, which it may not have been. I don't think that part of the note is needed at all and in fact I believe it to be a recent addition as I remember reading that note when it first went up and I don't recall ever seeing that accusation made. 68.146.64.9 (talk) 16:28, 28 November 2010 (UTC)

Career section
The Career section has subsections that cover a single year (2004, 2005, and so on). I think that instead there should be subsections that cover multiple years, as in the featured articles Madonna and Mariah Carey. Something like:


 * 2004–2006
 * 2007–present

Unless I hear any objections, I will incorporate this change. AroundLAin80Days (talk) 16:54, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

I went ahead and made this change. My decision to have the first period end in 2006 and the second period begin in 2007 was somewhat arbitrary. As her career progresses, we might find that it makes sense to configure the time periods differently. AroundLAin80Days (talk) 22:20, 17 December 2010 (UTC)

Collaboration with a Band Not Mentioned?
The song "Light And Night" by Tally Hall featured Nellie McKay and was released on September 8th/9th 2009 as a free download from http://mp3.walmart.com/elephant with the purchase of Kate DiCamillo’s book The Magician’s Elephant. However, it does not seem to be mentioned in this article. I'm not sure why it was not mentioned, but I hope it will be fixed. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stygtality (talk • contribs) 03:32, 24 February 2017 (UTC)

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