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The American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Karen O was born Karen Orzolek in South Korea in 1978. She emigrated to America in the 1980s with her Korean mother and Polish father to be brought up in New Jersey. After attending high school she enrolled at New York's Tisch School of the Arts. Orzolek rose to prominence as the lead singer and piano player of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, alongside Brian Chase and Nick Zinner. The band have a distinctive sound, described by one critic as "an art-rock trio who made an edgy post-punk, dancefloor-friendly racket that mixed up Blondie with Siouxsie and the Banshees". One of the key elements of the band's image is Orzolek's outlandish stage costumes and charismatic stage presence and this has helped her in promoting other projects outside the band. She has done a considerable amount of soundtrack work, including a collaboration with Carter Burwell, one of the most successful film score writers of the modern age. In 2014 she released her debut solo album 'Crush Songs' which enjoyed moderate chart success.
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