CR 015: Kay Hanley on Her Extraordinary Career

The Letters to Cleo frontwoman and Emmy Award-winning songwriter discusses her path from rock stardom to children’s television.

Kay Hanley, photo by Justine Ungaro

It sounds like the plot of a made-for-TV movie: A one-hit wonder rock star leaves her hometown for Hollywood and goes on to win an Emmy for her work on an animated TV show produced by a beloved former U.S. president. And yet, it’s a pretty good summary of singer-songwriter Kay Hanley’s remarkable career path.

In 1994, the Dorchester, Massachusetts native and Letters to Cleo frontwoman became an alt-rock darling when “Here and Now,” a single from the band’s debut album, charted on the Billboard Hot 100. Music videos, tours, TV and film appearances, and two more albums followed before Letters to Cleo disbanded in 2000. Soon after, Hanley provided the singing vocals for Rachel Leigh Cook’s Josie in the live-action adaptation of Josie and the Pussycats. There were additional soundtrack contributions, TV appearances (including NBC’s Parks and Recreation), and solo albums and EPs. And then, in 2012, her career pivoted to children’s television.

For over a decade, Hanley has composed original music for numerous animated series, including Doc McStuffins, Harvey Girls Forever!, DC Super Hero Girls: Sweet Justice, Vampirina, and Ada Twist, Scientist. Her work on We the People, which was executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama, earned her an Emmy Award. And on September 3^rd, Hanley’s latest passion project, Kindergarten: The Musical, will premiere on Disney Jr. (and the following day will premiere on Disney+). As she shared on Instagram, the show—which she and her longtime songwriting partners, Michelle Lewis and Dan Petty, worked on for more than three years—is a love letter to kindergarten teachers and their students.

Though she never could have imagined that her early days in the indie rock scene would lead her to where she is today, Hanley is quick to point out that she will forever be grateful for Letters to Cleo’s enduring legacy. “Our band had one hit,” she says. “And because of that one hit, to this day, people still take my phone calls. So don’t ever shit on one-hit wonders, because you can really make a career out of it or get to where you want to be.”

Over a recent Zoom call, Hanley and I connected over our shared hometown of Dorchester, while chatting about her work in TV, the Josie and the Pussycat soundtrack, and her musical influences.

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SANDRA EBEJER: You’ve been doing some live shows with Letters to Cleo in honor

of the 30^th anniversary of the band’s debut album, Aurora Gory Alice. How has it been?

KAY HANLEY: Amazing. We started doing those last year. We did the album in its entirety, which was interesting, because we hadn’t played a lot of those songs from that album in 28 years. And just to revisit the songs that I thought I didn’t like—I just had a whole new appreciation for 22-year-old me writing lyrics, really feeling my way through who I am as a lyricist and melody writer and having a new appreciation for [the music]. Like, wow, we were pretty good at this, even then. I didn’t have a sense of that at all at the time.

When you guys started out, there was no social media, there was no Internet, there were no cell phones. Have you noticed a difference in the way that the audience interacts with you, given that we’re in a very different time?