Before embarking on a solo career, Brody Dalle was the unmistakable raspy voice behind
the Distillers and
Spinnerette. Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, Dalle fell in love with punk rock and grunge as a teenager, and began playing guitar when she was 13. She formed the band Sourpuss while still in her teens, and eventually moved to Los Angeles after meeting and falling in love with
Rancid's
Tim Armstrong; the pair married in 1997. The following year, she formed
the Distillers, whose raw punk drew comparisons to
Courtney Love and
PJ Harvey on their 2000 self-titled debut album. Despite numerous lineup changes, the band released two more albums.
Sing Sing Death House was originally released in 2000 and reissued two years later thanks to the surprise hit single "Seneca Falls." The band's major-label debut,
Coral Fang, appeared in 2003 and found Dalle using her maiden name again after her divorce from
Armstrong.
After the Distillers officially disbanded in 2006, Dalle formed Spinnerette with Alain Johannes of Eleven and Queens of the Stone Age (that band's frontman, Josh Homme, became her second husband in 2007). The Ghetto Love EP arrived in 2008, and the band's self-titled debut album -- which featured contributions from former Distillers guitarist Tony Bevilacqua, onetime Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore, and Red Hot Chili Pepper Jack Irons -- appeared in mid-2009. Dalle took some time to care for her children Camille and Orrin and announced she was working on a solo album in late 2012. Featuring Johannes and fellow QOTSA bandmate Michael Shurman along with Shirley Manson, the Strokes' Nick Valensi, and Warpaint's Emily Kokal, Diploid Love arrived in April 2014 and reflected a more eclectic and nuanced side of Dalle's music. ~ Heather Phares, Rovi