Belly (band) - King

King

Just after the release of Star, bassist Fred Abong left and was replaced by Gail Greenwood. Greenwood was originally a guitar player in a Boston-area metal band before being recruited to play bass in Belly. The live sound of the band evolved to accommodate her style, with its shows featuring more electric guitar than before and less of the dreamy quality of its first album.

As a result, the group's next album, King (1995), was more rock and roll-oriented. The album was not a popular success and the band was stuck between mainstream and underground acceptance. King saw its numerous singles fail to sustain any significant airplay on Modern Rock radio. The videos for "Now They'll Sleep" and "Super Connected" received little airplay on MTV US outside of limited airings on 120 Minutes, although they were well received on MTV Europe. Belly appeared on the April 20, 1995 cover of Rolling Stone magazine. The band also performed "Super Connected" on the Late Show with David Letterman in June that year. It was one of the band's last major U.S television appearances.

In 1995, Belly was one of the support bands for R.E.M. on their world tour.

Aside from touring with R.E.M, the band extensively toured in the US with Catherine Wheel and Jewel as support acts. Both acts were emerging into the American mainstream at the time, and Belly helped them with exposure. Catherine Wheel's 1995 release Happy Days was the band's first of two albums to break into the Billboard 200; the LP's second single "Judy Staring At The Sun," featured Donelly's vocals, and became a Modern Rock hit in the U.S. peaking at No. 22. She was also featured in the video for the song and it became popular on MTV's 120 Minutes.

Belly vocalist Tanya Donelly's voice has been described as having a "fiery spark" with a "sweet rasp in her throat," with a style described as "down to earth." According to an account in the Chicago Tribune, which described Belly as a "cute-as-a-button band", Donelly once approached the microphone during a performance and deliberately "burped."

In 1996, Donelly broke up the band; she has since released several solo albums. Greenwood went on to stints in L7 and Benny Sizzler, and the Gorman brothers began careers as commercial photographers based in New York City.