Rainey
Encyclopedia
Rainey Haynes, also known simply as Rainey, is an American rock singer and writer.
. By her early 20s, she was touring the South with her band; she also toured Europe and the Near East
to entertain U.S. troops at this time. Returning to the U.S., she continued to travel, by now from coast to coast, performing with her band. In Nashville she recorded an album for MCA Records
produced by Ron Chancy, and she was nominated "Most Promising New Artist of the Year" by the Country Music Association
.
In 1986 she moved to Los Angeles, where she played at numerous Southern California
music venues with a new version of her band, which over a period of time included Steve Farris (lead guitar
ist for Mister Mister
), Bob Birch (long time and current bass player
for Elton John
), Rocket Ritchotte (former guitarist for David Lee Roth
, Cher), Kenny Rarrick (former keyboard player
for Melissa Manchester
), and Michael Dorian (former keyboard player for Terence Trent D'Arby). She studied acting and dance at the National Academy of Performing Arts
in Hollywood, under the guidance of the legendary Golden Age Hollywood actor and writer, Francis Lederer. Lederer had Rainey sing for him at every class session she attended. She worked in scenes with Martin Landau (North By Northwest, Ed Wood) and tried to break into films, once being considered for a role opposite Michael J. Fox
in the 1987 film, Light of Day
(the role went to Joan Jett
), as well as for the Ellen Aim character in Streets of Fire
(the role went to Diane Lane
). During this time she made appearances in the infamous, now cult TV classic Cop Rock
. She also studied video production
with director Raymond Nassau (a former cinematographer for Cecil B. DeMille
).
Meanwhile she was writing and performing songs that were included in film and TV soundtracks. Her voice was heard in numerous episodes of the TV series Fame
, and she sang the theme song
to the TV series Dancing to the Hits. From the mid-eighties into the nineties she free-lanced for Hanna-Barbera Studios
for both their animated TV and movie divisions as the singing voice of "Brittany", Alvin the Chipmunk's girlfriend. This involved a difficult process of recording where Rainey sang to pre-recorded tracks playing back at half-speed, on which she would sing rock songs in the same, high keys, holding the same, difficult high notes, but with the difference of holding them twice as long as in a normal rock tune, after which the whole thing would then be played back at the original speed, with the result that the instruments sounded normal and her voice had the requisite, "chipmunk" sound. She has since said that it was the most difficult singing job she ever had. But she was quite successful at it and was known at that time around Hanna-Barbera as "the funkiest chipmunk ever!" Other songs by Rainey in the movies included "Old Enough To Rock and Roll," which she wrote and performed for the film Iron Eagle
(the film also included Twisted Sister
’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”); and "I Can Fly" and “Technique,” two songs that she performed for the Sarah Jessica Parker
film Girls Just Want To Have Fun
. Without any support or promotion by the record company responsible for the soundtrack of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun
" and solely as the result of New York area DJs playing the song because of local patrons' requests, "I Can Fly" reached the Billboard Top Ten Dance Chart and stayed in the top ten for six months following the film's release. The European label Disconet released a 7:35 extended dance mix version of Rainey singing "I Can Fly" in their "Disconet Remix Greatest Hits" series.
In 1987 Rainey toured France for six months as backup vocalist
and duet singer for French superstar Johnny Hallyday
. The following year, she appeared on the T.V. show Star Search
and won Best Female Vocalist three times.
In the early 1990s
she and her partner, Rob, had moved to an island north of Seattle, where they bought a farm in rural Washington state. The farm had the remnants of a sign for which the upper plank was missing and the lower said, "and Holly Farm." They named the place And Holly Farm, and built a house and recording studio
. By 1992 Rainey had completed work on a rock musical
play called Hunchback (based on Victor Hugo
’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
). The play was produced in 1994 at the Playhouse Theater in Seattle, with Rainey as producer, director, and lead actor
. A larger production was staged for five weeks in 1998 at Seattle’s King Cat Theater.
Throughout the 1990s and beyond, she performed in local Seattle night-spots, focusing largely on jazz. In the early 2000s, she became involved in organizing benefit concerts for local Seattle charities. Today she continues to write music, which she records in this studio, and to produce works in the visual arts media of stone sculpting and oil painting
. She also writes fiction and poetry.
Life and career
Haynes showed an interest in singing, songwriting, and performing at a very early age, and had taught herself to play guitar by age 13. At 18, she moved to New Orleans, where she formed a rock bandRock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
. By her early 20s, she was touring the South with her band; she also toured Europe and the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...
to entertain U.S. troops at this time. Returning to the U.S., she continued to travel, by now from coast to coast, performing with her band. In Nashville she recorded an album for MCA Records
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
produced by Ron Chancy, and she was nominated "Most Promising New Artist of the Year" by the Country Music Association
Country Music Association
The Country Music Association was founded in 1958 in Nashville, Tennessee. It originally consisted of only 233 members and was the first trade organization formed to promote a music genre...
.
In 1986 she moved to Los Angeles, where she played at numerous Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
music venues with a new version of her band, which over a period of time included Steve Farris (lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist for Mister Mister
Mr. Mister
Mr. Mister is an American pop rock band most popular in the 1980s. The band's name came from an inside joke about a Weather Report album called Mr. Gone where they referred to each other as "Mister This" or "Mister That", and eventually selected "Mr. Mister." Mr. Mister may be considered as...
), Bob Birch (long time and current bass player
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
for Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
), Rocket Ritchotte (former guitarist for David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth
David Lee Roth is an American rock vocalist, songwriter, actor, author, and former radio personality. Roth was ranked nineteenth by Hit Parader on their list of the 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Singers of All Time....
, Cher), Kenny Rarrick (former keyboard player
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
for Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester
Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Beginning in the 1970s, she has recorded generally in the adult contemporary genre. She has also appeared as an actress on television, in films, and on stage....
), and Michael Dorian (former keyboard player for Terence Trent D'Arby). She studied acting and dance at the National Academy of Performing Arts
National Academy of Performing Arts
The National Academy of Performing Arts is located in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.NAPA was established as an institution to conserve and teach performing arts and music to students in Pakistan.- NAPA :...
in Hollywood, under the guidance of the legendary Golden Age Hollywood actor and writer, Francis Lederer. Lederer had Rainey sing for him at every class session she attended. She worked in scenes with Martin Landau (North By Northwest, Ed Wood) and tried to break into films, once being considered for a role opposite Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox
Michael J. Fox, OC is a Canadian American actor, author, producer, activist and voice-over artist. With a film and television career spanning from the late 1970s, Fox's roles have included Marty McFly from the Back to the Future trilogy ; Alex P...
in the 1987 film, Light of Day
Light of Day
The soundtrack to the film was released in 1987. As a single, "Light of Day" reached number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received additional album-oriented rock airplay due to the connection of Joan Jett and Bruce Springsteen....
(the role went to Joan Jett
Joan Jett
Joan Jett is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular...
), as well as for the Ellen Aim character in Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire
Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s...
(the role went to Diane Lane
Diane Lane
Diane Lane is an American film actress.Born and raised in New York City, Lane made her screen debut at the age of 13 in George Roy Hill's 1979 film A Little Romance, starring opposite Sir Laurence Olivier. Soon after, she was featured on the cover of Time magazine...
). During this time she made appearances in the infamous, now cult TV classic Cop Rock
Cop Rock
Cop Rock is an American musical police drama series that aired on ABC in 1990. The show, a police drama presented as a musical, was co-created by Steven Bochco, who also served as executive producer...
. She also studied video production
Video production
Video production is videography, the process of capturing moving images on electronic media even streaming media. The term includes methods of production and post-production...
with director Raymond Nassau (a former cinematographer for Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...
).
Meanwhile she was writing and performing songs that were included in film and TV soundtracks. Her voice was heard in numerous episodes of the TV series Fame
Fame (1982 TV series)
Fame is an American television series originally produced between 1982 and 1987. The show was based on the 1980 motion picture of the same name. Using a mixture of drama and music, it followed the lives of the students and faculty at the New York City High School for the Performing Arts. Although...
, and she sang the theme song
Theme music
Theme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
to the TV series Dancing to the Hits. From the mid-eighties into the nineties she free-lanced for Hanna-Barbera Studios
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
for both their animated TV and movie divisions as the singing voice of "Brittany", Alvin the Chipmunk's girlfriend. This involved a difficult process of recording where Rainey sang to pre-recorded tracks playing back at half-speed, on which she would sing rock songs in the same, high keys, holding the same, difficult high notes, but with the difference of holding them twice as long as in a normal rock tune, after which the whole thing would then be played back at the original speed, with the result that the instruments sounded normal and her voice had the requisite, "chipmunk" sound. She has since said that it was the most difficult singing job she ever had. But she was quite successful at it and was known at that time around Hanna-Barbera as "the funkiest chipmunk ever!" Other songs by Rainey in the movies included "Old Enough To Rock and Roll," which she wrote and performed for the film Iron Eagle
Iron Eagle
Iron Eagle is a 1986 action film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Jason Gedrick and Louis Gossett, Jr. While it received mixed reviews, the film earned US$24,159,872 at the U.S. box office. Iron Eagle was followed by three sequels: Iron Eagle II, Aces: Iron Eagle III and Iron Eagle on the...
(the film also included Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister
Twisted Sister is an American heavy metal band from Long Island. Musically, the band implements elements of traditional heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, along with a style that is similar to early glam metal bands...
’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It”); and "I Can Fly" and “Technique,” two songs that she performed for the Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is an American film, television, and theater actress and producer.She is best known for her leading role as Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City , for which she won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards...
film Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (film)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun is a 1985 dance film starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, directed by Alan Metter.It resembles the style of Footloose and Flashdance. For many years, Comedy Central, Lifetime, USA Network, Lifetime Movie Network and ABC Family have aired the film...
. Without any support or promotion by the record company responsible for the soundtrack of "Girls Just Want To Have Fun
Girls Just Want to Have Fun (film)
Girls Just Want to Have Fun is a 1985 dance film starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, directed by Alan Metter.It resembles the style of Footloose and Flashdance. For many years, Comedy Central, Lifetime, USA Network, Lifetime Movie Network and ABC Family have aired the film...
" and solely as the result of New York area DJs playing the song because of local patrons' requests, "I Can Fly" reached the Billboard Top Ten Dance Chart and stayed in the top ten for six months following the film's release. The European label Disconet released a 7:35 extended dance mix version of Rainey singing "I Can Fly" in their "Disconet Remix Greatest Hits" series.
In 1987 Rainey toured France for six months as backup vocalist
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
and duet singer for French superstar Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday is a French singer and actor. An icon in the French-speaking world since the beginning of his career, he was considered by some to have been the French Elvis Presley. He was married for 15 years to one of the most popular French female singers: Sylvie Vartan...
. The following year, she appeared on the T.V. show Star Search
Star Search
Star Search is a television show that was produced from 1983-95, hosted by Ed McMahon, and created by Alfred Masini. A relaunch was produced in 2003-04. The show was originally filmed at the old Earl Carroll Theatre at 6230 Sunset Blvd...
and won Best Female Vocalist three times.
In the early 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
she and her partner, Rob, had moved to an island north of Seattle, where they bought a farm in rural Washington state. The farm had the remnants of a sign for which the upper plank was missing and the lower said, "and Holly Farm." They named the place And Holly Farm, and built a house and recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
. By 1992 Rainey had completed work on a rock musical
Rock opera
A rock opera is a work of rock music that presents a storyline told over multiple parts, songs or sections in the manner of opera. A rock opera differs from a conventional rock album, which usually includes songs that are not unified by a common theme or narrative. More recent developments include...
play called Hunchback (based on Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
’s novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame is a novel by Victor Hugo published in 1831. The French title refers to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, on which the story is centered.-Background:...
). The play was produced in 1994 at the Playhouse Theater in Seattle, with Rainey as producer, director, and lead actor
Leading actor
A leading actor, leading actress, star, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play. The word lead may also refer to the largest role in the piece and leading actor may refer to a person who typically plays such parts or an actor with a respected body of work...
. A larger production was staged for five weeks in 1998 at Seattle’s King Cat Theater.
Throughout the 1990s and beyond, she performed in local Seattle night-spots, focusing largely on jazz. In the early 2000s, she became involved in organizing benefit concerts for local Seattle charities. Today she continues to write music, which she records in this studio, and to produce works in the visual arts media of stone sculpting and oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
. She also writes fiction and poetry.