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Kris DiLorenzo

Kris DiLorenzo

As a teenager, Kris hung around Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory, witnessed the recording of the Velvet Underground’s first LP, and survived Woodstock. She was the first female DJ on WRCU-FM radio, known as "The Killer Queen." She also had own talk show. One of the first few female rock journalists, she started writing about rock in 1972 for NY area publications; by now, she has been published in more than 60 worldwide, as columnist, feature writer, interviewer, reviewer, staff writer and regular contributor. She was probably the second American rock critic to write about Syd Barrett - still quoted (or plagiarized) in nearly every book and web site on Pink Floyd. Her work also appears under the name Kris Dean.

Kris started working in the music business in 1975 as publicist for International Management Associates, the first rock PR firm. She also did stints at Aucoin Management, MCA Records, Hologram Records, ICM, and more. She worked with Cab Calloway, Robert Palmer, Kiss, Record Plant Studios, and many others. She is co-founder of National Association of Women in Music. She was "adopted" by The Black Queen, blues singer Victoria Spivey, the first black woman to own her own record label and the first person to record Bob Dylan.

She became a professional actress, a member of SAG and AFTRA, and trained at Royal National Theatre of Great Britain,. She has performed in NY, Boston, Provincetown, Toronto, including Nuyorican Poets Café inaugural production, WBAI Radio, Brecht Forum, and underground film screened at The Kitchen. She also sang occasionally with an r&b band. She wrote and performed one-woman show that won two grant awards. She has taught acting in NYC, LA, Provincetown, Westchester County. Her alter ego Miss Clawdy did the performance poetry circuit in NYC to much positive response; and was featured on "Poet-To-Poet" TV show, Women on the Edge (PBS), & more.

Kris is now working on the inevitable novel, seeking book publisher and more writing gigs. And she can still dance.

Kris DiLorenzo's Rock's Backpages blog

List of articles in the library by artist

Syd Barrett, Pink Floyd: Syd Barrett: Careening Through Life...

Retrospective by Kris DiLorenzo, Trouser Press, February 1978

THE COLOR black is not a solitary real color. Nor is it the total absence of color. A black hole in space, in fact, is ...

Bonnie Bramlett: Kicking Out The Jams

Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Aquarian Weekly, The, October 1976

Lunching with Bonnie Bramlett (a.k.a. "Holler Mouth") is no ordinary trip to the coffeeshop. In fact, an afternoon with Bonnie Bramlett is more like a ...

Kinks, The: The Kinks: The Preservation of Ray Davies

Live Review by Kris DiLorenzo, Good Times, January 1975

It's Only Showbiz, But He Likes It ...

Kiss: An Interview With Ace Frehley

Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Grooves, October 1978

Grooves: As a kid, were you tough? Were you a street kid? Were you a quiet kid or...class clown or what? ...

Kiss: Speak For Yourself, Gene

Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Grooves, 1978

Grooves: So what kind of kid would you characterize yourself as? ...

Delbert McClinton: Tarrytown Music Hall, New York

Live Review by Kris DiLorenzo, Rock's Backpages, May 2010

IT'S BEEN A WAAAY too long time, but I'd be stupidly remiss if I didn't rave about Delbert McClinton's show at the Tarrytown Music Hall ...

No Dice: No Dice Are a Good Bet

Profile and Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Trouser Press, July 1979

IT'S JUST the luck of No Dice that they first surfaced during the punk-to-new wave transition. Judging from the tacky photos that keep appearing, you'd ...

Pink Floyd: But Is It Art?

Essay by Kris DiLorenzo, Trouser Press, May 1978

Pink Floyd.(pink floid), n., a highly-developed rock band with no mind-body split; played rock'n'roll in the 60s writing from a "psychedelic" viewpoint; still playing rock'n'roll ...

Rolling Stones, The: The Rolling Stones

Profile by Kris DiLorenzo, Grooves, January 1979

FOR THE past fifteen years the Rolling Stones have been known as the "world's greatest rock and roll band." That's why it's hard for most ...

Slade: Not As Crazee As Wee Thought

Interview by Kris DiLorenzo, Good Times, August 1975

WHATEVER HAPPENED to Slade, you Lawn Guyland boogie freaks may have asked yourselves lately. The answer is: Nothing – more gold records, more #1 songs ...

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Izod Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey

Live Review by Kris DiLorenzo, Rock's Backpages, May 2009

A SPRINGSTEEN HOMECOMING is always a big deal, and this time there were only two shows, in a smaller arena than last summer’s Giants Stadium ...

Who, The: The Who

Profile by Kris DiLorenzo, Grooves, February 1979

SOME PEOPLE call the Rolling Stones the world's greatest rock & roll band, but there are probably just as many fans who think that title ...

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