Kay Hanley provided the vocals for Rachael Leigh Cook's character in 2001's 'Josie and the Pussycats' movie
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NEED TO KNOW
Key Takeaways
- Kay Hanley revealed she is not receiving residuals for her singing work on Josie and the Pussycats
- Hanley says missing paperwork from producers led to the issue and may cause her to lose health insurance
- The singer-songwriter also contributed music to Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and children’s shows like Ada Twist, Scientist
Kay Hanley, the lead singer of the rock band Letters to Cleo, wrote on social media that she recently learned she is not receiving residual payments from her work on the 2001 movie Josie and the Pussycats.
Hanley, 57, provided the singing voice for Rachael Leigh Cook's Josie and the Pussycats lead character Josie throughout the movie. The singer-songwriter took to X on Thursday, June 18, to express frustration with SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents screen actors and voice performers, over the matter. "I'm not being paid residuals for my singing on Josie & the Pussycats bc film producers failed to provide paperwork to @sagaftra for my 20+ vocal sessions in 2000," she wrote. "SAG says I had 2 years (??) to report, but I found out this year. Didn't hit 25 earnings. I lose my health [insurance July 1]."
Representatives for Universal, MGM and SAG-AFTRA did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.
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Josie and the Pussycats was based on the Archie Comics and Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same name. Cook, now 46, costarred in the movie with Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson as the members of the titular fictional band. Gabriel Mann, Alan Cumming, Missi Pyle, Seth Green, Donald Faison, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy and more also starred in the film, which follows the band as they suddenly find themselves catapulted to fame and the subjects of a conspiracy between their record label and the U.S. government to control their fans.
The movie is considered a cult hit that has seen audience appreciation for it rise in the 25 years since its release. Hanley took part in an oral history of the project and its soundtrack for The Fader in 2017, in which she remembered the original singer chosen to sing Josie's vocals was fired, "which left me in a position to take the gig for myself" because she had friends working on the film, as she said at the time.
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"Long story short, I was in the right place at the right time," Hanley added in the oral history. Hanley had been performing with her band Letters to Cleo for roughly 10 years prior to Josie and the Pussycat's production, but she still described receiving payment for performing in the movie as "very freeing." "I think you can hear it in my voice — I'm just like, Waaahhhhh!!!! I was so psyched. I think that comes through," she said.
Hanley also made onscreen appearances in 1999's 10 Things I Hate About You and two episodes of the sitcom Parks and Recreation in 2014. Josie and the Pussycats was the first live-action movie she was credited for working on. In recent years, Hanley has been credited with writing original music for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and children's programming like Ada Twist, Scientist, Vampirina and Harvey Girls Forever!
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