Juliana Hatfield (born July 27, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter from the Boston area. She was formerly a member of the indie rock bands Blake Babies, Some Girls, and the Lemonheads. Hatfield also fronted her own band, The Juliana Hatfield Three, alongside bassist Dean Fisher and drummer Todd Philips, which was active in the mid-1990s and again in the mid-2010s. With The Juliana Hatfield Three, she achieved her best-charting work, including the critically acclaimed album Become What You Are (1993), which featured the singles "My Sister" (1993) and "Spin the Bottle".
She has performed and recorded as a solo artist and as one-half of Minor Alps with Matthew Caws of Nada Surf. In 2014, she reformed The Juliana Hatfield Three and announced the release of the album Whatever, My Love in 2015.
In 2016, she collaborated with Paul Westerberg under the moniker the I Don't Cares to release the album Wild Stab. She later released an album of original work titled Weird (2019), along with three albums of cover songs: Juliana Hatfield Sings Olivia Newton-John (2018), Juliana Hatfield Sings The Police (2019), and Juliana Hatfield Sings ELO (2023).
Early life Hatfield was born in Wiscasset, Maine, to Phillip M. Hatfield, a radiologist, and Julie Hatfield, a former fashion editor for The Boston Globe. She grew up in Duxbury, Massachusetts, near Boston. Despite recording a song titled "My Sister," Hatfield has no sisters but does have two brothers.
Her father claimed that their family descended from the West Virginia Hatfields of the Hatfield–McCoy feud following the Civil War. He also served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War.
Hatfield attended Duxbury High School in Duxbury, Massachusetts. She first enrolled at Boston University before transferring to Berklee College of Music in Boston. In 2012, she attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, where she completed a year-long post-baccalaureate certificate program in painting.
Music career First bands and solo album Hatfield developed a love for rock music during the 1970s after a babysitter introduced her to the Los Angeles punk rock band X, an experience she described as life-changing. She was also drawn to the music of more mainstream artists, including Olivia Newton-John and The Police.
While still attending Berklee College of Music in 1986, Hatfield formed the band Blake Babies with John Strohm and Freda Love. The band released four albums between 1987 and 1991, gaining critical recognition from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice, as well as local radio airplay and press coverage. They also received label support from Mammoth Records in North Carolina. Blake Babies disbanded in 1992 but briefly reunited in 2001 to release another album.
After Blake Babies disbanded, Hatfield joined the Lemonheads as their bassist, replacing founding member Jesse Peretz. She played on their breakthrough 1992 album, It's a Shame About Ray. After about a year, she left the band but returned in 1993 as a guest vocalist on several tracks of Come on Feel the Lemonheads.
In 1992, Hatfield released her debut solo album, Hey Babe.
Hatfield was profiled in several girls' magazines, most notably Sassy, where she addressed serious issues faced by young women in her songs and interviews. Reflecting on this period, she said, "I was never comfortable with the attention. I thought it had come too soon. I hadn't earned it yet."
The Juliana Hatfield Three Her commercial breakthrough came in 1993 when she formed the band the Juliana Hatfield Three. Along with her high-school friend Dean Fisher on bass and former Bullet LaVolta drummer Todd Philips, she handled lead vocals and lead guitar duties. The band released the album Become What You Are and two hit singles, "My Sister" and "Spin the Bottle."
"My Sister" was inspired by Hatfield's older brother's girlfriend, Maggie Rafferty, who lived with the family while Hatfield was in high school. Hatfield enjoyed Rafferty's eclectic record collection and was also introduced to live music, as Rafferty took her to see the Del Fuegos and the Violent Femmes, which inspired Hatfield to form a band.
"Spin the Bottle" was featured on the soundtrack of the film Reality Bites (1994). Hatfield also made the cover of Spin magazine.
Return to solo career The Juliana Hatfield Three remained together only through 1994. By 1995, Hatfield had returned to solo status and released the album Only Everything, in which she "turned up the volume and the distortion and had a lot of fun." One reviewer described it as "a fun, engaging pop album." The album produced another alternative radio hit for Hatfield with "Universal Heartbeat." In the video, Hatfield portrayed a demanding aerobics instructor. Before the tour for Only Everything, she released Phillips and hired Jason Sutter on drums, Ed Slanker on guitar, and Lisa Mednick on keyboards. However, two weeks into the tour, she canceled it due to depression.
In her memoir, Hatfield writes that she was suffering from depression severe enough to be suicidal. She disagreed with the decision to avoid talking about her depression. The drummer was replaced by Phillips, and touring resumed with Jeff Buckley as the opening act.
In 1996, Hatfield traveled to Woodstock, New York, where she recorded tracks for God's Foot, which was intended to be her fourth solo album (or third, if Become What You Are—recorded with The Juliana Hatfield Three—is not counted). The album was planned for release in 1997. After three unsuccessful attempts to satisfy Atlantic Records' requests for a single, she asked to be released from her contract. The label agreed but retained the rights to the songs recorded during these sessions. "Mountains of Love" and "Fade Away" were later released on a greatest hits collection titled Gold Stars, while "Can't Kill Myself" was made available for download on Hatfield's website. The remaining tracks surfaced on bootlegs, which she disapproved of, and she has rarely performed them live.
In 1997, Hatfield toured with Lilith Fair, an all-female rock festival co-founded by singer Sarah McLachlan.
After the experience of God's Foot and being freed from her label obligations, Hatfield recorded the EP Please Do Not Disturb for the independent label Bar/None. Produced by Hatfield, the album featured drummer Todd Phillips, guitarists Ed Slanker and Mike Leahy, and bassist Mikey Welsh of Weezer. The EP included "Trying Not to Think About It," a tribute to her friend and deceased musician Jeff Buckley.
Almost as a reaction to the seemingly endless studio sessions surrounding God's Foot, Hatfield recorded the album Bed in 1998 in just six days. About the album, she said on her website, "It sounds as raw as I felt. It has no pretty sheen. The mistakes and unattractive parts were left in, not erased. Just like my career. Just like life."
In 2000, Hatfield released Beautiful Creature. However, this album left the rockier side of her musical personality unexpressed, so she simultaneously released Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure with Zephan Courtney and Mikey Welsh. She described the latter album as "a loud release of tension" with "lots of long sloppy guitar solos. And no love songs... a not-at-all attractive reaction to the ugly side of humanity, specifically American culture." Billboard called Beautiful Creature "a collection of plaintive demos" and Juliana's Pony "chock-a-block with punk guitar missives." Juliana's Pony: Total System Failure was panned by some critics who preferred the more acoustic Beautiful Creature. On Beautiful Creature, Hatfield worked with musician Davíd Garza, who co-produced much of the album. Wally Gagel, a producer for Sebadoh and Tanya Donelly, helped Hatfield record her most electronica-influenced songs, "Cool Rock Boy" and "Don't Rush Me," which added texture to the otherwise acoustic album.
In 2002, Hatfield released Gold Stars 1992–2002: The Juliana Hatfield Collection. The compilation included singles from her solo albums, two songs from the unreleased God's Foot, a cover of Neil Young's "Only Love Can Break Your Heart," and new songs.
In 2004, Hatfield released In Exile Deo, an attempt at a more commercial sound with input from producers and engineers who had worked with Pink and Avril Lavigne. Hatfield co-produced the album with David Leonard, receiving co-production credits on "Jamie's in Town" and the bright rocker "Sunshine." Critics praised the album, with some calling it her best work since the start of her solo career.
Ye Olde Records In contrast, the 2005 album Made in China was recorded in Bellows Falls, Vermont, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was released on her own record label, Ye Olde Records. The album had a much rawer feel, with Hatfield playing instruments alongside the band Unbusted and other contributors. For the first time, Hatfield also played drums on at least one track.
John Doe of the band X described the album as "a frighteningly dark and beautiful record filled with stark, angular, truly brutal songs and guitars. This is surely a 'Woman Under the Influence,' though I'm not sure of what." Reviews were mixed, with some appreciating the lo-fi sound while others viewed it as slackness.
The release of Made in China marked the beginning of a trend where Hatfield licensed her music, selling it via her website and through a distribution deal with Red Eye.
In December 2005, Hatfield toured the United States with the band X, whom she had idolized during her teenage years.
In 2006, Hatfield released her first live album, The White Broken Line: Live Recordings. The album featured performances from her tour with X and was her third release on her record label.
Hatfield's ninth studio album, How to Walk Away, was released on August 19, 2008, on Ye Olde Records. The album's heartfelt exploration of the breakup of a relationship resonated with critics, who gave it largely positive reviews, with some hailing it as her best album since In Exile Deo.
Hatfield returned two years later with her tenth studio album, Peace & Love, which was released on Ye Olde Records on February 16, 2010. The album's composition, arrangement, performance, production, engineering, and mixing were all credited solely to Hatfield. The album received mixed reviews, with several critics complaining that its low-key, moody nature worked against the potential of the songs.
In October 2010, Hatfield and Evan Dando played two sold-out acoustic live shows together at The Mercury Lounge in New York. The following month, the duo played sold-out shows in Allston. This tour was followed by five dates on the American East Coast in January 2011.
PledgeMusic In April 2011, Hatfield announced her intention to work on a new album via the fan-funding platform PledgeMusic. Fan response was enthusiastic, exceeding 400% of the original project cost. The album was initially going to be titled Speeches Delivered to Animals and Plants, referencing a passage in the John Irving novel The World According to Garp, but Hatfield later changed it to There's Always Another Girl. The new title referred to a song on the album of the same name, which she had written as a defense of Lindsay Lohan after watching her film I Know Who Killed Me.
There's Always Another Girl was released on August 30, 2011, independently on her Ye Olde Records label. However, a downloadable version was made available to contributors a month earlier, on July 27, which was Juliana's birthday. The album has received mostly positive reviews from critics.
On August 28, 2012, Juliana Hatfield released a covers album titled Juliana Hatfield on her Ye Olde Records label. The album features covers of songs originally performed by the Who, Liz Phair, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ryan Adams, I Blame Coco, and Led Zeppelin.