Gitane Demone

Gitane DeMone
DeMone performing live in 2014
Background information
Born	May 16, 1958 San Francisco, California, U.S.
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Deathrock gothic rock experimental dark cabaret jazz
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter musician visual artist
Instruments	Vocals piano guitar
Years active	1981–present
Labels	Torso Dance Cleopatra Cult Music Hypnobeat Triple X Apollyon Hollows Hill Sound Recordings EFA Andromeda Alone Prod. Manic Depression Mystic Moon
Associated acts	Ledger Pompeii 99 Christian Death Rozz Williams Demonix Dreadful Shadows The Crystelles +DOG+ Hedone Tears
Website	gitanedemone.net

Gitane DeMone is an American singer, songwriter, musician and visual artist.

DeMone's music career spans more than 30 years. She came to prominence in the mid 1980s as keyboardist and backing vocalist of the influential deathrock band Christian Death.

In addition to her work with Christian Death, Demone has previously been a member of Pompeii 99, worked with Dreadful Shadows, and has had a solo career which has included three studio albums: Am I Wrong?, Stars of Trash and The Reflecting Shadow.

In high school, she discovered the works of Billie Holiday, and played and sang with local bands at parties, including Ledger from Downey, California. After high school, she became a writer and illustrator.

Around 1980, DeMone became interested in songwriting and singing. She wrote songs with the aid of a small Casio keyboard and started her singing career with a heavy metal band. After one performance without amplification, she found that she had damaged her voice and went in search of singing lessons. During lessons with a teacher whose favorite singer was Barbra Streisand, DeMone found a few useful techniques and changed her singing style.

In 1981, DeMone placed an ad in the The Recycler newspaper, reading "female vocalist available". The ad was answered by Australian-born guitarist and singer Valor Kand, who had just left high school, and the two formed Pompeii 99. Kand was fascinated by Nostradamus and took the band name from a prophecy. Kand and DeMone found drummer David Glass through auditions, also working with members Marc Doten and Polly Klemmer.

Pompeii 99 gained an audience in the Los Angeles club scene, and in 1981, formed a record label, Nostradamus, to release their debut album Look at Yourself, which was financed in part by their parents. In 1982, they followed this with an EP, Ignorance Is the Control. Pompeii 99 were scheduled to open for Christian Death on a European tour, but when that band's lineup collapsed, lead singer Rozz Williams decided along with Kand, DeMone and Glass to combine the two bands into a new version of Christian Death.