Mimi Parker of rock band Low has died : NPR
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Mimi Parker, known for her cool vocals and sparse drumming in the critically acclaimed rock band Short, died on Saturday. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2020.
“Guys, it’s hard to put the universe into language and into a short message,” the band’s official Twitter account posted on Sunday morning. “She passed away last night surrounded by family and love, including yours. Keep her name close and sacred. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love. It’s really the most important thing.”
Founded in 1993 by Parker and her husband Alan Sparhawk in Duluth, Minn., Low emerged as an important group in what would be defined as the slowcore movement of the decade. Known for simply beautiful, soaring and dark instruments, the band is anchored by the delicate vocals of its center couple, able to cancel out even the harshest noises. “I’ve been aiming for beauty and I know Alan focuses on chaos sometimes,” Parker said of the band’s music in Interview in 2021 with All things Considered.
Born and raised in Minnesota, in an interview with magazine Chickfactor Parker said she grew up in a musical family, with her mother an aspiring country singer. “My job is to always mix and match, because she and my sister often lead vocals,” she told Terry Gross in a 2005 interview with Clean air composing music early with her family. “From the very beginning, I learned to just listen and draw and create harmonies.”
Parker first played the drums in her high school marching band. Both practice Mormons, she and Sparhawk first met in 4th grade and began dating while they were in middle school. Years later, the two married, and eventually formed Low with original bass player John Nichols. “Honestly, if it weren’t for the marriage, for the family… we would never have lasted as long as a band,” Parker, who has two children with Sparhawk, told NPR in 2021.
The debut of the band I can live in hope was released in 1994 to critical acclaim, and Low would go on to release 13 albums after 27 years. The band signed to the influential label Sub Pop in 2004 and its live sound continues to expand with releases like 2018. Dual tone, describe what NPR Music’s Best Albums of 2018 were listed as “a collection of scattered transmissions, hopeful voices rising from the gloom.” The band’s last album with Parker is the anniversary of 2021 WHAT.
In August, the band Canceled a series of concerts in Europe for Parker’s cancer treatment, then notification in October that it had completely canceled a European tour. “There have been tough days, but your love has lifted us and will continue to lift us through this time,” Sparhawk wrote in a statement at the time.
In a 2022 episode of Radio Sheroes audio filesParker revealed that she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in December 2020. “I think it’s important that – when people are diagnosed – some people tend to ask why, why is it? me,” Parker said. “I’ve never had that. It’s always been, why not? We’re all subject to this random whatever and it happens. … So that changed. Totally my opinion.”
“Our time can be cut short and what do we do with it,” she continued. “We try to make every day meaningful.”