Kirby was born in Youngstown, Ohio and raised in Pittsburgh. She spent time in Virginia Beach, where she graduated high school, and Washington, D.C., before finally settling in New York City in 1982, at the age of 19. It was there she met Dmitry Brill, a Ukrainian expatriate and amateur D.J. The two started dating, and moved in together in an apartment in the East Village from 1984 to 1989. During that time, the two with third member Chung Dong-hwa formed the band Deee-lite and soon broke onto the world-wide music scene. Following almost 10 years of touring and performing, the band officially disbanded in 1994, following the end of Kirby and Brill's tumultuous romantic relationship.
Kirby had long been interested in art and design. In fact, she even began studying at an art institute, but later dropped out to pursue her musical aspirations. Despite a lack of formal training, her artistic and design talents have been widely recognized, and she has lectured at several programs, including Princeton University and Cooper Union Art Institute. However, she is more well known for her writing skills, one of the major reasons behind the success of Deee-lite's music. Besides her lyrical works, her poetry has been included in such publications as the spoken word collection "Verbal Abuse."
Throughout her career, Kirby has been a vocal activist on the political front, specifically protesting against the Iraq War, social inequality and evironmental issues. In addition, she has been very involved in the gay rights movement, which has garnered her a loyal following in the gay community.
Soon after meeting in New York City, Kirby and her partner Dmitry Brill began writing and performing music together. Later Brill was introduced to local D.J. Chung Dong-hwa, originally from Japan. Combining Kirby's vocal and lyric talents with Brill's sampling skills and Dong-hwa's techno mixing, the three together formed the band Deee-lite in 1986. The band's sound was a unique mix of house, techno and dance elements. Deee-Lite shot to stardom in 1990 with the release of the first album "World Clique," and in particular with the smash hit "Groove is in the Heart". Kirby was very involved in the band's output: writing, producing, and performing the bulk of the band's songs. Kirby's sultry, feminine, and soulful voice backed up by the funky, catchy beats was truly unique for its time, and came to personify the club culture of New York City.
Known as much for their outrageous personas and costumes as for their music, the three took on larger-than-life alter-egoes: Super DJ Dmitri, Jungle DJ Towa Tei, and Lady Miss Kier. Kirby is credited with designing and creating the look of the band, as well as much of the artwork featured on the band's CDs and marketing material. Her look relied on retro '60s fashions revamped and exaggerated, and were completely revolutionary at the time. Her signature look was a zip-up catsuit, platform shoes and flipped hair-do. At the height of the band's success, her style had a major influence on fashion trends, showing up in a variety of retail venues.
Deee-lite followed their successful first album with a politically-charged second album in 1992. Although not as commercially successful as their premiere, the record recouped its cost and went on to Gold certification. Their third album in 1994 returned to house roots with a new, more naturalistic tone, and had respectable mass-play success, going on to sell a million copies. The second and third albums were hampered by difficulties with the label, which refused to promote, support touring, or fund contractual videos. The band functionally broke up during the writing of their third album in 1993, but Kirby and Brill decided to finish the project and tour together to promote the album before going their separate ways, and officially disbanding in 1994. In 1996, a remix album was released, and a greatest hits album was released in 2001.
After the disbanding of the group, Kirby moved to London and built a respected career as a solo artist, well known for her D.J.ing and club performances, for which she has gained a cult following internationally. She has collaborated on the albums of such diverse artists as Bootsy Collins, I Kamanchi and A Guy Called Gerald. Following the solo releases of the other two former bandmembers, Kirby's solo debut has been long anticipated. In 2005, she began performing new material, appearing in club performances internationally in Australia, New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, Brussels, Zurich, San Francisco and Amsterdam. She also made television appearances on the OUTtv/Pink TV television series the House of Venus Show and has been featured in the New York City festival Wigstock. In 2005 Kier was the featured artist on the podcast Ron-Kat-Delic Show, where she premiered her solo work for the first time, namely a song entitled "Hot Wax." In 2006, she toured Australia with the Good Vibrations Festival.
She has since moved back to New York City, and is rumored to be putting together the long-anticipated solo album for release. Kirby occasionally releases snippets from her body of work on Myspace and her personal website. There are also several clips of her group and solo performances on YouTube. Most recently, Kirby has relseased a soundbite of "I Surrender" on Myspace.com, hinting that a solo album effort is still ongoing. On April 28, 2007 she performed at Coachella.
(from wikipedia)
