Belly was an alternative rock

Alternative rock

Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...

 band formed in 1991 by former Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses

Throwing Muses is an alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Newport, Rhode Island, that toured and recorded extensively until 1997, when its members began concentrating more on other projects. The group was originally fronted by two lead singers, Kristin Hersh and Tanya Donelly, who both wrote the...

 members Tanya Donelly

Tanya Donelly

Tanya Donelly is an American Grammy-nominated singer songwriter and guitarist based in New England who co-founded Throwing Muses with her stepsister Kristin Hersh. She then went on to work in The Breeders and Belly in the 1990s...

 (who was also in The Breeders

The Breeders

The Breeders are an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 by Kim Deal of the Pixies and Tanya Donelly of Throwing Muses. The band has experienced a number of line-up changes; the current line-up consists of Kim Deal , her twin sister Kelley Deal , Jose Medeles , Mando Lopez Todd the Fox...

) and Fred Abong. The band was based in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, though all of the original members grew up in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

. The band consisted of Donelly on lead vocals and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

, Abong on bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

, Tom Gorman on guitar, and Chris Gorman on drum

Drum

The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...

s. Tom and Chris, who were brothers, were childhood friends of Donelly's; they had previously played in the hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 band Verbal Assault.

Star

Donelly named the band "Belly" because she thought the word was "both pretty and ugly." Their EP

Extended play

An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

, Slow Dust (1992), made it to number one on the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 indie chart

UK Indie Chart

The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...

. Soon after, their single "Feed the Tree

Feed the Tree

"Feed the Tree" is a song by Belly, released as the band's first single from their debut album, Star, in 1993. It is also the band's biggest hit, reaching number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States...

" made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 and their first album, Star (1993), hit number two on the UK Albums Chart

UK Albums Chart

The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

.

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the album was RIAA certified gold

Music recording sales certification

Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...

, largely based on the success of "Feed the Tree" on Modern Rock radio stations and MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

, where the video was featured as part of MTV's Buzz Bin

Buzz Bin

MTV's Buzz Bin was a select group of music videos by up and coming artists and bands that the network deemed "buzz worthy", "cutting edge", or "the next big thing"...

 videos and Alternative Nation video show for much of 1993. Two follow-up singles were released, "Gepetto" and "Slow Dog," but neither matched the initial success of "Feed the Tree." Star was consequently nominated for two Grammys

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

. The album went on to sell over 800,000 copies in the US alone and two million worldwide.

In the spring of 1993, they embarked on a US tour supported by Radiohead

Radiohead

Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...

.

King

Just after the release of Star, bassist Fred Abong left and was replaced by Gail Greenwood

Gail Greenwood

Gail Greenwood is an American musician notable for performing with the bands Belly and L7. Having originally learned to play the baritone horn, she switched to guitar after high school. Her first band, the Dames, won the WBRU Rock Hunt in 1986...

. 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

Electric guitar

An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...

 than before and less of the dreamy quality of its first album.

As a result, the group's next album, King

King (Belly album)

King is an album released by Belly in 1995, two years after their previous album, Star. Although the members had tightened their focus and polished their hook-laden songs, the album and its singles were commercial failures in the grunge-friendly atmosphere of 1995, and the band broke up shortly...

 (1995), was more rock and roll

Rock and roll

Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

-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

120 Minutes

120 Minutes is a television show in the United States dedicated to alternative music, originally airing on MTV from 1986 to 2000, and then on MTV's sister channel MTV2 from 2001 to 2003....

, although they were well received on MTV Europe. Belly appeared on the April 20, 1995 cover of Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine. The band also performed "Super Connected" on the Tonight 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.

R.E.M.

R.E.M. was an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by singer Michael Stipe, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills and drummer Bill Berry. One of the first popular alternative rock bands, R.E.M. gained early attention due to Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style and Stipe's...

 on their world tour.

Aside from touring with R.E.M, the band extensively toured in the US with Catherine Wheel

Catherine Wheel

Catherine Wheel were a four-piece alternative rock band from Great Yarmouth, England. The band was active from 1990 to 2000, experiencing fluctuating levels of commercial success, and embarking on many lengthy tours.-Biography:...

 and Jewel

Jewel (singer)

Jewel Kilcher , professionally known as Jewel, is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, producer, actress and poet...

 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

Happy Days (album)

Happy Days is the third full-length album by the English alternative rock band Catherine Wheel, released in 1995 . Like its predecessor, Chrome, it was produced by Gil Norton, and the influences of grunge and hard rock are prevalent on this album; however, the band does retain some elements of...

 was the band's first of two albums to break into the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

; 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 #22. She was also featured in the video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 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

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...

, 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.

Albums

• Star (1993)
• King
  King (Belly album)
  King is an album released by Belly in 1995, two years after their previous album, Star. Although the members had tightened their focus and polished their hook-laden songs, the album and its singles were commercial failures in the grunge-friendly atmosphere of 1995, and the band broke up shortly...
  
   (1995)
• Sweet Ride: The Best of Belly (2002)

Singles

• "Gepetto" (1992)
• "Feed the Tree
  Feed the Tree
  "Feed the Tree" is a song by Belly, released as the band's first single from their debut album, Star, in 1993. It is also the band's biggest hit, reaching number one on the Modern Rock Tracks chart in the United States...
  
  " (1993)
• "Moon" (1993)
• "Slow Dog" (1993)
• "Super Connected" (1995)
• "Now They'll Sleep" (1995)
• "Red" [Promo] (1995)
• "Seal My Fate" (1995)
• "Sun" [Promo] (1995)
• "Are You Experienced" (1994)

Compilation albums

• Generation X
• Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix
  Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix
  Stone Free: A Tribute to Jimi Hendrix is a 1993 album recorded by various artists in tribute to Jimi Hendrix. The artists were drawn from many genres of popular music. Contributors include his classic rock contemporaries Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, blues man Buddy Guy, classical violinist Nigel...
  
   (1993) - "Are You Experienced?
  Are You Experienced? (song)
  "Are You Experienced?" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix and recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience for their 1967 debut album Are You Experienced. The song was recorded on April 3, 1967 at Olympic Sound Studios in London, England; the songs "May This Be Love" and "Highway Chile" were recorded on...
  
  "
• Just Say Roe (Just Say Yes Vol. 7) (1994)
• With Honors (1994)
• UMPF (1995)
• Mallrats
  Mallrats (soundtrack)
  The Mallrats soundtrack is the 1995 soundtrack album to the film of the same name. The soundtrack features alternative rock songs performed by various artists , as well as audio clips from the film....
  
   (1995)
• Sharks Patrol These Waters (1995)
• This Is Fort Apache (1995)
• Tank Girl (1995)
• Safe and Sound (1996)
• A Bunch O' Hits: The Best Rock...Volume 1 (1996)
• In Defense of Animals, Volume 2 (1996)
• Twister (1996)
• The Rolling Stone Women in Rock Collection (1998)
• Lifetime Intimate Portrait: Women in Rock (1999)
• Out of Bounds: A Journey Through Modern Rock (1999)
• Double Shot: Pop Alternative (2000)