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Mary Hansen (1 November 1966 - 9 December 2002) was a guitarist and singer with Stereolab. Born in Maryborough north of Brisbane in Queensland Australia, Hansen moved to London in the late 1980s and became a backing singer with the Essex-based indie band, The Wolfhounds.
She met Stereolab founder Tim Gane when the Wolfhounds played with his band McCarthy, and joined Stereolab as second vocalist in 1992. She also played guitar, as well as percussion and keyboards, and occasionally sang lead vocals.
In 2000 Hansen teamed up with Seattle space rock group, Hovercraft to form Schema. Schema featured vocals and instrumentals in approximately equal measure, adding some synthesizer. An eponymous maxi-EP/mini-album [1] was released in 2000 on avant-garde Kill Rock Stars imprint, 5 Rue Christine. Hansen was struck by a truck and killed while riding her bicycle in London on 9 December 2002. She was 36 years old.[2]. Mary Hansen remained a member of Stereolab until her death. A second album and a tour with Schema were planned, but the group was dissolved with her death.
She also sang on records by Brokeback, The High Llamas, Moonshake and Mouse on Mars among others, and was also producer of the London group Chicano. In 2004, Hybird, an EP of some of Hansen's music, was released posthumously. This EP, which also featured her artwork, contained three tracks which had been released in limited editions before her death, and a final track which was finished by Andy Ramsay of Stereolab.
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