Alan Sparhawk, Mimi Parker’s husband and bandmate, confirmed her passing. Mimi Parker was the drummer, singer, and songwriter for the Minnesota indie band Low. Parker received a December 2020 ovarian cancer diagnosis. The management of the band acknowledged that she was 55 years old.
On social media, the band posted the information. “Friends, it’s challenging to express the entire universe in a few words, but She went away last night surrounded by love from her family and friends, including yours. Protect and revere her name. Share this moment with someone who needs you. Love is indeed the most important thing.”
The announcement comes after a number of live performances were postponed owing to worries over Parker’s health. Parker was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in late 2020, started treatment in 2021, and made a public announcement about her condition in a podcast interview at the beginning of 2022.
Many of the band’s peers paid tribute online. “I heard the news in the most base circumstances, surrounded by degenerates, stuck and cursing, in a conference room in Deerfield,” wrote producer Steve Albini, who worked with the band on the 1996 Transmission EP and the albums Secret Name (1999) and Things We Lost in the Fire (2001). “I was momentarily overwhelmed, the sound of her voice resonant in my memory, beautiful and heartbreaking. Godspeed Mimi Parker. Requiescat.”
The Portishead member Geoff Barrow-led Bristol group Beak> remarked, “We can’t convey how saddened we are by this news. The opportunity to spend time with Mimi & Alan, who have produced some of the finest music of our time, was really humbling for us. a lovely couple. Alan and his family are in our prayers.
Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai expressed his “complete heartbreak” at the news. Tracey Thorn and Cosey Fanni Tutti were also among those who paid tribute to Parker.
Parker was born in 1967 and raised in a small Minnesotan hamlet near Bemidji. She started playing around with music at a young age, creating harmonies to go with her sister’s guitar and lead vocals. The two joined in on an old song.
Parker later admitted to Stereogum that she used music as “a consolation, a place of escape” throughout this time. In high school, she participated in both a marching band and a concert band as a percussionist.
Prior to the formation of Low in 1993 with bassist John Nichols, Parker first met her future husband Alan Sparhawk while they were both in elementary school. She began by using brushes rather than drumsticks and a basic drum set that only included a floor tom, a snare, and a cymbal. I Could Live in Hope, the group’s 1994 debut album, was later listed among the top albums of the 1990s by Pitchfork in 1999.
Throughout Low’s nearly 30-year existence, Parker and Sparhawk held the reins while additional band members came and went.
Throughout Low’s nearly 30-year existence, Parker and Sparhawk held the reins while additional band members came and went.
One of the most innovative and accomplished names in indie rock, Low are known for their sluggish, minimalist arrangements and frequently quiet delivery. The band, which created a softer alternative to the heavier, grunge-oriented sounds of the 1990s, has been referred to as slowcore, despite the fact that its members have explicitly disapproved of the name.
