Biography
As a child, Blake became fascinated with France, and in junior high participated in an exchange program in France. She graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1983, after which she moved back to New York City to become a cartoon animator. March worked as an animator for Archie Comics and Pee Wee's Playhouse; in 1986 she worked on the Madonna feature Who's That Girl, animating the star in the title sequence and the contemporaneous music video. Her first band, The Pussywillows, was formed in 1987; March took a year off to attend the Disney-founded Character Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts. In 1991 the Pussywillows broke up and March formed The Shitbirds, which lasted until 1995. Since then, March has recorded as a solo artist, and has appeared on some motion picture soundtracks, as well as performing the theme song for the Cartoon Network series I Am Weasel.
Her albums contain songs sung in both English and French, and her style is heavily influenced by French 1960s pop music.
Her best known work is the English translation of the Serge Gainsbourg song, "Laisse tomber les filles", renamed as "Chick Habit." The song has since been featured in the 1999 campy teen comedy But I'm a Cheerleader, and was brought to wider audiences in Quentin Tarantino's 2007 film Death Proof; it was also used as the backing music to television advertisements for the Renault Twingo in the UK and in France in 2008.
March has recently collaborated in the U.S. with the Dust Brothers, and in France with Bertrand Burgalat. Her latest album, a collaboration with Steve Hanft, is called Magic Monsters. It became available via iTunes, Amazon.com, and other digital music distributors on 22 April 2008. The album is available on vinyl format on the label Martyrs of Pop.
Read more about this topic: April March
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