Kenneth Stuart Stringfellow (born October 30, 1968) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and producer. Best known for his work with The Posies, R.E.M., and the re-formed Big Star, Stringfellow's discography includes more than 200 albums.
Stringfellow attended college at the University of Washington, where he and Auer remained in touch, trading cassettes of songs.
Failure was well received by the press and put into regular rotation at college and commercial radio stations, prompting Stringfellow and Auer to quickly assemble a full band. Adding Mike Musberger on drums and Rick Roberts on bass, the Posies made their live debut in May 1988, two weeks after the release of Failure. The album was subsequently reissued by the Seattle-based independent label, Pop Llama. An expanded version of Failure with eight bonus tracks was reissued by Omnivore Recordings in 2014.
Following a series of dates with The Replacements, Hoodoo Gurus, and They Might Be Giants, among others, the Posies were signed by DGC Records, a Geffen Records imprint. Dear 23 was released on DGC in September 1990, with the album's lead single "Golden Blunders" appearing in the Top 10 on the college radio charts.
The band's next record, Frosting on the Beater, was released in 1993 and included the song "Dream All Day", which hit No. 4 on the modern rock charts and No. 17 on mainstream radio. In addition to extensively touring the United States, the Posies toured internationally and developed large followings in Europe, Australia, Japan, and elsewhere. Their final record for DGC, Amazing Disgrace, was released in 1996.
The Posies broke up in 1998, but reformed in 2000 for an acoustic tour and have since recorded three more albums, Every Kind of Light in 2005, Blood/Candy in 2010 and Solid States in 2016. Jon Auer and drummer Frankie Siragusa told radio station KUOW that they had left the band in August 2021 as they learned of allegations from 3 former girlfriends (Holly Munoz Nixon, Kristine Chambers, and Kristi Houk) that Stringfellow had been abusive.
Stringfellow performed with the band on world tours in 1999, 2003, 2004, and 2005, and appears on several R.E.M. records, including the Man on the Moon soundtrack, Reveal, and Around the Sun.
Stringfellow co-wrote and recorded several songs with Scott Miller's band The Loud Family in the mid-1990s, appearing as a guest guitarist and vocalist on their albums The Tape of Only Linda (1994) and Interbabe Concern (1996). He would later produce and perform on Miller's posthumous Game Theory album Supercalifragile (2016).
In 2003, Stringfellow and Auer released Private Sides, a six-song split Extended play on Arena Rock Recording Co./Rykodisc. As a sideman, Stringfellow has worked with Brendan Benson, Cali, Snow Patrol, and others. Beyond North America and Europe, Stringfellow has also collaborated with Senegal band Waflash.
In 2007, he formed The Disciplines with members of the Norwegian pop band Briskeby. The Disciplines released two records, Smoking Kills in 2009 and Virgins of Menace in 2011.
In March 2015 he announced a country album with Holly Muñoz.The album was a response to Willie Nelson's 1975 album Red Headed Stranger. The Boston Globe commented that it was a " fascinating left-field listen" noting "the gorgeous back-and-forth dueting of Stringfellow and Munoz". Willie Nelson's daughter Amy Nelson also called the album "amazing" on her Instagram feed and thanked them on behalf of the Nelson family.
In 2016, he produced and performed on the final Game Theory studio album, Supercalifragile (2017), a collaborative project that completed the unfinished album Scott Miller had been working on at the time of his death.
Stringfellow has composed soundtracks for short films such as The Kitchen Party and Bunker.
Ken Stringfellow and his wife Dominique Stringfellow published a joint statement to the station:
Stringfellow added:
Jon Auer from The Posies quit the band in August after speaking for nine hours with Kristine Chambers, who had made allegations, and informed Stringfellow that he no longer planned to work with him. Drummer Frankie Siragusa also resigned from the band via his Facebook page. Following the publication of the allegations, Jody Stephens, lone surviving member of Big Star, published a statement and removed Stringfellow from forthcoming tribute performances.
In January 2025, Dominique Stringfellow appeared on Episode 289 of the Lydian Spin podcast where she presented a series of contradictory facts regarding the allegations.
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