Kim Gordon
American musician and artist, most known as co-founding member of Sonic Youth (born 1953)
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1953
- Works
- 18
Top works
- Girl in a band
- Chloë Sevigny
- Is it my body?
- Performing/guzzling
- Chronicles Vol. 3
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Film & TV
Acting · Rochester, New York, USA
Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, vocalist, artist, record producer, video director and actress. She is lead singer, bass and guitarist in the alternative rock band Sonic Youth, and in Free Kitten with Julia Cafritz (of Pussy Galore). Gordon has collaborated with a number of musicians, including Ikue Mori, DJ Olive, William Winant, Lydia Lunch, Courtney Love, Alan…
Known for
- The Best Summer — Self2026
- Marc by Sofia2026
- Bad Painter — Interviewer2025
- The Chronology of Water — Photographer2025
- FireAid Benefit Concert — Self2025
- Pavements — Self (uncredited)2025
- Sonic Youth: Live in 1991
~23 min read
Article
Kim Althea Gordon (born April 28, 1953) is an American musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, where her father was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating from Los Angeles's Otis College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City to begin an art career. There, she formed Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981. She and Moore married in 1984, and the band released a total of six albums on independent labels before the end of the 1980s. It then released nine studio albums on the label DGC Records, beginning with Goo in 1990. Gordon was also a founding member of the musical project Free Kitten, which she formed with Julia Cafritz in 1993.
Sonic Youth released its 15th and final studio album, The Eternal (2009), on Matador Records before disbanding in 2011 after Gordon and Moore separated. After the dissolution of Sonic Youth and her divorce from Moore, Gordon formed the experimental duo Body/Head with Bill Nace, which released its debut album, Coming Apart, in 2013. She subsequently formed Glitterbust with Alex Knost, releasing a self-titled debut album in 2016. Body/Head released its second studio album, The Switch, in 2018. Gordon released her first solo album, No Home Record, in 2019. Her sophomore solo effort, The Collective, followed in 2024. Released to widespread critical acclaim, it has earned Gordon her first two Grammy nominations.
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1953 births20th-century American artists20th-century American bass guitarists20th-century American singers20th-century American women artists20th-century American women guitarists20th-century American women singers21st-century American artists21st-century American bass guitarists21st-century American singers21st-century American women artists