Cat Power is the stage name of American singer-songwriter and musician Charlyn Marie "Chan" Marshall, born January 21, 1972, in Atlanta, Georgia. Although Cat Power began as the name of an early band, it became Marshall's solo identity. Her music combines elements of folk, blues, soul, country, alternative rock, and experimental pop, often emphasizing atmosphere, emotional directness, and the expressive qualities of her voice.
Marshall grew up across the southern United States and was influenced by church music, blues, country, and the rock records played by her family. She became involved in Atlanta's underground music scene before moving to New York City in the early 1990s. There she became connected with experimental musicians and began performing intimate, partly improvised sets. Her first single, "Headlights" backed with "Darling Said Sir," appeared in 1993 through the independent label Making of Americans.
With assistance from Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and guitarist Tim Foljahn of Two Dollar Guitar, Marshall recorded material that became her first two releases, Dear Sir and Myra Lee. Issued in 1995 and 1996, the albums established the stark, unstable sound associated with her earliest work. Her songs could shift rapidly between hushed confession and abrasive release, while her choice of covers demonstrated a longstanding interest in reinterpreting established material rather than treating genre boundaries as fixed.
Marshall signed with Matador Records and released What Would the Community Think in 1996. The album presented a more focused version of her songwriting, particularly on "Nude as the News," while retaining the rawness of her earlier recordings. Moon Pix followed in 1998. Recorded in Australia with Dirty Three musicians Mick Turner and Jim White, it expanded Cat Power's sound through warmer arrangements and a more spacious, band-oriented approach. The album is widely regarded as one of the central works of her career.
Her interest in interpretation became especially prominent with The Covers Record in 2000, which included versions of songs associated with Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Velvet Underground, Moby Grape, and others. The collection's restrained performances helped broaden her audience. You Are Free, released in 2003, brought a fuller studio sound and featured contributions from Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl.
The Greatest marked a major turning point in 2006. Recorded in Memphis with musicians linked to the Hi Records tradition, the album introduced soul, horns, strings, and Southern rhythm-and-blues textures to Marshall's intimate writing. It became her highest-charting album at the time and won the 2006 Shortlist Music Prize. Jukebox, released in 2008, continued her dialogue with American songwriting through another set of reinterpretations.
Marshall moved into more electronic territory on Sun in 2012, an ambitious self-produced album that reached number 10 on the Billboard 200. After a lengthy gap between albums, she returned with Wanderer in 2018, a comparatively spare collection featuring the song "Woman," a collaboration with Lana Del Rey. Covers followed in 2022.
In 2023, Marshall released Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, a song-for-song recreation of Bob Dylan's famous electric-era performance. The project reflected her ability to approach canonical music as both historian and interpreter. In 2026, she revisited the world of The Greatest with the Redux EP, recorded with members of the Dirty Delta Blues Band. Across her career, Cat Power has remained known for turning vulnerability, musical memory, and unpredictability into a distinctive form of American songwriting.