Corin Tucker

One of the ultimate riot grrrls, singer and guitarist Corin Tucker first attracted attention as the frontwoman of Heavens to Betsy before co-founding unarguably the scene's most important group, Sleater-Kinney. Born in Eugene, OR, in 1972, but raised in Grand Forks, ND, Tucker was encouraged to pursue a career in music by her folk singer father, and after studying film, political economy and social change at Olympia's The Evergreen State College, she joined forces with Tracy Sawyer to form her first band, Heavens to Betsy. An early exponent of the underground hardcore punk sound known as riot grrrl, the duo performed at Love Rock Revolution Girl Style Now, an all-female Washington show widely regarded as one of the movement's pivotal events, and made their recording debut on a split single with Bratmobile in 1992. A year later, Tucker teamed up with Excuse 17's Becca Albee for a one-off E.P., Tonight, released under the guise of Heartless Martin, while Heavens to Betsy's one and only studio album, Calculated, arrived in 1994, shortly before the pair disbanded. Wasting little time, Tucker began playing with another Excuse 17 member, Carrie Brownstein, and drummer friend Lola McFarlane, as Sleater-Kinney, and after the former's queercore outfit split up in 1995, the one-time side-project became a full-time concern. Although commercial success proved to be elusive - 2005's The Woods was the only one of their first seven albums which managed to crack the Top 100 in the U.S. - the feminist trio soon established a reputation as one of the definitive alternative bands of their generation. Tucker also made a brief foray into folk-punk during this period when she hooked up with The Lookers' Sarah Dougher and 1 Threw 7's sts to form Cadallaca. Adopting the monikers of Kissy, Dusty and Junior, the supergroup released 1998 debut album, Introducing Cadallaca, and 1999 E.P., Out West, before returning to their day jobs. Following the announcement of Sleater-Kinney's self-imposed hiatus in 2006, Tucker recruited Unwound's Sara Lund and Circus Lupus' Seth Lorinczi as members of her eponymous backing band, and ventured into slightly gentler territory on 2010's 'middle-aged mom record,' 1000 Years. Tucker returned to a more powerful sound on 2012 follow-up Kill My Blues before reuniting with Brownstein and Janet Weiss for Sleater-Kinney's long-awaited eighth studio effort, No Cities To Love, which peaked at a career high of No. 18 on the Billboard 200 in 2015.