Нина Гордон: От Veruca Salt до сольной карьеры.

American singer and guitarist

Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro (born November 14, 1967), known as Nina Gordon, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co founded the alternative rock band Veruca Salt and played on their first two studio albums, American Thighs (1994) and Eight Arms to Hold You (1997). During that time, Gordon wrote the band's hit singles "Seether" and "Volcano Girls". After leaving Veruca Salt, she released two solo albums, Tonight and the Rest of My Life (2000) and Bleeding Heart Graffiti (2006). She then rejoined Veruca Salt for their album Ghost Notes (2015).

Nina Rachel Gordon Shapiro was born November 14, 1967, in Washington, D. C. Her father was a law student at the time of her birth. She was raised along with her brother, Jim Shapiro, in several different locations, moving between Washington, D. C., and Madison, Wisconsin, before settling in Chicago when Gordon was a teenager. Gordon has commented that her parents had a turbulent relationship and eventually divorced in her childhood.

Veruca Salt was formed in Chicago in 1992 by Gordon and Louise Post. Introduced by Gordon's good friend, actress Lili Taylor, Gordon and Post quickly became friends and began playing music together. In 1993, they enlisted bassist Steve Lack and Gordon's brother Jim Shapiro, a guitarist who joined as the band's drummer as a favor to his sister. Gordon and Post both sang and played guitar on Veruca Salt's material during the 1990s. The two were also the band's primary songwriters, each writing their songs separately. Veruca Salt released a self funded demo tape and shopped it to labels while playing a handful of small club shows. The buzz around the band grew, and after only a few live gigs, the band was signed to Minty Fresh Records and began recording with producer Brad Wood, who had recently worked on Liz Phair's critically acclaimed Exile in Guyville. Veruca Salt's debut studio album American Thighs was released through Minty Fresh on September 27, 1994, and re released on November 8, 1994, by the major label Geffen Records after the label signed the band following an intense bidding war. The album peaked at #69 on the Billboard Top 200 and was eventually certified gold. The second single, "Number One Blind," written by Gordon and Shapiro, peaked at #20 on the Modern Rock charts, but did not do as well as "Seether". Gordon and Post were unhappy with the song's video, and it was pulled after airing fewer than five times on MTV's 120 Minutes. To support the album, Veruca Salt toured, opening for acts such as Hole, Live and PJ Harvey. They also headlined a club tour, after which they entered the studio with Bob Rock to record their second album. The band was inspired to work with Rock after hearing Metallica's "Enter Sandman" over the house PA system before a Veruca Salt concert at an outdoor music festival. The band released an EP in 1996 titled Blow It Out Your Ass It's Veruca Salt to tide fans over until their next album. It was produced by Steve Albini and contains the Gordon penned "Shimmer Like a Girl" and "New York Mining Disaster 1996". During this time, Gordon also collaborated with other musicians on side projects. With Scott Miller, she co wrote the song "The Softest Tip of Her Baby Tongue," which appeared on The Loud Family's 1996 album Interbabe Concern. She worked with James Iha on the Smashing Pumpkins song " Said Sadly" (the b side to their 1995 single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings"), and also recorded duets with Fig Dish and Triple Fast Action.

Veruca Salt's second album Eight Arms to Hold You, which was released February 11, 1997, on Geffen Records, proved to be a difficult and dividing album. Some fans of American Thighs were disappointed by the polished, hard rock and distinctively Bob Rock production, in comparison to the laid back, indie buzz bin vibe of American Thighs. The new album garnered mixed reviews from music critics, as well. Band members later admitted that the recording process for this album was more tense than the previous one, and the creative differences between Gordon and Post increased. However, Eight Arms to Hold You sold well due to the success of the first single, "Volcano Girls," written by Gordon. In 1998, Gordon sang on James Iha's solo album Let It Come Down on the song "Beauty."

Soon after leaving Veruca Salt, Gordon demoed solo material in Boston with friends Kay Hanley and Michael Eisenstein from the band Letters to Cleo. Shortly after, she began recording with Eight Arms producer Bob Rock. The album, titled Tonight and the Rest of My Life, was finished in early 1999 and was set to be released by the Outpost Records label, owned by Geffen Records, in August 1999. However, the merger of Geffen Records with Interscope Records forced Outpost Records to fold, leaving Gordon without a label. However, it floated around the mid 100s for months, and sold close to 300,000 copies in the U. S. and 50,000 in Japan.

In the early 2000s, Gordon and Post reconciled via email, but the two did not work together professionally for years afterward. Some songs were re recorded and included on her next album. The remaining songs were eventually made available free on her website as an EP titled Songs from Even the Sunbeams. During this time, Gordon was performing at Largo in Los Angeles, for "Bring the Rock" nights, covering songs by N. W. A, Skid Row, Backstreet Boys, Phil Collins, and others. Her cover of N. W. A's "Straight Outta Compton" gained her popularity on Internet music blogs. She also wrote a song with Fefe Dobson titled "Get You Off" for Dobson's album Sunday Love (on which Gordon also sang back up), as well as a song for Courtney Jaye's album Traveling Light titled "This Is the Day," which she wrote with her boyfriend Jeff Russo. Still seeing promise in the material from Even the Sunbeams, Gordon booked producer and long time friend Bob Rock to record an album in 2005. In a few months, Gordon re did most of the songs and recorded new songs, as well. The album, now titled Bleeding Heart Graffiti, was released August 8, 2006. The first song to see the light of day from the project was the b side "The Blue Hour," a half French, half English rock song that could be heard on Gordon's website. The lead single from Bleeding Heart Graffiti, "Kiss Me 'Til It Bleeds" was released in mid July. There was a physical promotional single for "Kiss Me 'Til It Bleeds" and it contained the Bleeding Heart Graffiti album track "Don't Let Me Down," as well as Gordon's previous hit single, "Tonight and the Rest of My Life". Almost all radio stations received digital copies of the single rather than physical CD singles, however. After Bleeding Heart Graffiti, Gordon did not release any new music during the rest of the decade. In the late 2000s, Gordon had two children with her boyfriend, musician Jeff Russo. Gordon and Russo later married. The band announced tour dates in April 2014 and released a 10" single on Record Store Day. That year, they played several concerts in the United States and Australia. The fifth Veruca Salt album, Ghost Notes, contained songs about the original members' breakup and eventual reunion. It was released on July 10, 2015, to favorable reviews.

Gordon and husband Jeff Russo have two children.