# Poe (singer)
**Poe** is the stage name of Anne Decatur Danielewski (born 1968), an American singer, songwriter, and producer known for the alternative albums *Hello* (1995) and *Haunted* (2000), which incorporated hip-hop sampling and electronic elements, and for her music in the *Alan Wake* video game series, including the original song "This Road" in *Alan Wake 2* (2023)[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) • [2](https://poestuff.com/pages/poe-the-singer-songwriter-writer-producer). She took her nickname from [Edgar Allan Poe](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgar-allan-poe)[3](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/02/09/kravitzs-ambition/324622ec-7089-4d95-8a98-9cf69419e241/).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Anne Decatur Danielewski, born 1968 in New York City; performs as Poe[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) |
| Studio albums | *Hello* (1995) and *Haunted* (2000), both on Atlantic-affiliated labels[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) • [4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/72ae540c-514f-4c05-b05d-e6297e0ce4da) |
| Signature hit | "Angry Johnny" (1996), which pushed *Hello* into the Billboard 200; the album was certified gold[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) |
| *Haunted* concept | A companion work to her brother Mark Z. Danielewski's novel *House of Leaves* (2000), built on tape recordings of their late father, filmmaker Tad Danielewski[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) • [5](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/) |
| Career interruption | Dropped from Atlantic's roster after a corporate merger, followed by roughly a decade of legal battles over her recordings[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) • [6](https://www.concerttour.net/whatever-happened-poe-haunted.php) |
| Return | "This Road," written with Sam Lake for *Alan Wake 2* (2023), and "6 Deep Breaths" for the game's *Lake House* expansion; both issued on limited edition vinyl in late 2024[5](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/) • [1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) |
## Early life
Poe was born Anne Decatur Danielewski in New York City and was raised around the world, absorbing cultures and music in locales as far-ranging as Africa, Asia, and Europe, with her brother and her parents, a director and an actress. When she was a teenager her parents divorced and she returned to New York by herself, later enrolling at Princeton with a full scholarship, where she formed her first band[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). Her influences included [J Dilla](https://www.edgepedia.org/j-dilla), A Tribe Called Quest, Black Flag, and [Bob Dylan](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-dylan), and she began incorporating hip-hop samples into guitar-based songs, a trademark of her later output[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883).
## Hello (1995)
In 1994 Poe signed with [Atlantic Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/atlantic-records), joining a generation of outspoken female artists that included [Liz Phair](https://www.edgepedia.org/liz-phair), Tracy Bonham, and [Alanis Morissette](https://www.edgepedia.org/alanis-morissette). Her debut, *Hello*, arrived in late 1995 with jazzy, electronic trip-hop layers and intimate lyrical content[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). The fiery radio hit "Angry Johnny" pushed the album into the Billboard 200, and *Hello* was certified gold; a remix of the title track later topped the Billboard dance chart[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). The *New York Times* proclaimed Poe and her peers "articulate, sexually explicit, both lover and fighter," women who "reject self pity and refuse to define themselves purely in terms of their connection to men"[6](https://www.concerttour.net/whatever-happened-poe-haunted.php).
Critics noted the album's range. Trouser Press described a singer running "through a garish wardrobe of styles," from atmospheric club pop to guitar funk-rock, piano balladry, and acoustic simplicity, with the album using "a disconnected modem as a human metaphor"[7](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/poe/). Her first chart single was "Trigger Happy Jack (Drive by a Go-Go)" in 1995[6](https://www.concerttour.net/whatever-happened-poe-haunted.php).
## Haunted and House of Leaves (2000)
*Haunted* was released on [Halloween](https://www.edgepedia.org/halloween) in 2000[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). It is a loose companion to the postmodern horror novel *House of Leaves*, the debut of her brother, author [Mark Z. Danielewski](https://www.edgepedia.org/mark-z-danielewski), and it played like the book's soundtrack, including eerie samples of their late father Tad Danielewski's home recordings and interludes of dialogue based on characters from the novel[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) • [5](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/). After their father's death, the siblings found a box of cassette tapes of him speaking, and Poe uses samples of these tapes throughout the album[8](https://occultclassics.com/2015/10/28/house-of-leaves-and-poe-dominykasbytautas-and-shanemichaelgordon/). Songs such as "5½ Minute Hallway," "Dear Johnny," "Exploration B," and "House of Leaves" reference the novel directly[5](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/).
Poe herself resisted the "soundtrack" label. She said the book and the record held a "similar sensibility based on a shared history, but they are independent works"[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-29-wk-baltin29-story.html). The album peaked outside the Top 100 of the Billboard 200 and produced a moderate hit with "Hey Pretty," which charted in the [Top 40](https://www.edgepedia.org/top-40) of the Billboard Adult Top 40 and Modern Rock Tracks charts; she promoted it with a book tour alongside her brother[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). A Los Angeles Times review described "modern pop built on a mix of electronic beats, electric guitars, acoustic warmth, and lyrics that explore the complexities of life and loss," sometimes reminiscent of [Aimee Mann](https://www.edgepedia.org/aimee-mann)[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-29-ca-43755-story.html).
## Label disputes and disappearance
After *Haunted*, Poe renewed her contract with Modern/Atlantic for three additional albums. Months later, a corporate merger resulted in her drop from Atlantic's artist roster, along with artists such as [Tori Amos](https://www.edgepedia.org/tori-amos) and [Collective Soul](https://www.edgepedia.org/collective-soul), and a decade of legal battles halted her career at its peak[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). According to one account, Atlantic was absorbed by AOL Time Warner within six weeks of her signing; when the third-party label Modern Records proved unprofitable it was scrapped along with her deal, and Modern, still holding rights to her past, present, and future music, sold its interest to a wealthy businessman and longtime Poe fan, who owned the rights to her future recordings. The resulting legal fight, beginning in 2001, lasted a full decade and stopped her from performing live or producing new music[6](https://www.concerttour.net/whatever-happened-poe-haunted.php).
During this period she continued to record as a guest, notably with Conjure One on their 2002 self-titled debut and 2005 follow-up *Extraordinary Ways*, and she was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador in 2014[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). With her legal troubles behind her, she released the short song "September 30, 1955" in 2012 and made her live return in Los Angeles in 2014[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883).
## Return through Alan Wake
[Sam Lake](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-lake), the creative director of [Remedy Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/remedy-entertainment), had found Poe's music through *House of Leaves* and *Haunted*, and the title track from *Haunted* appeared on the original *Alan Wake* soundtrack in 2010[5](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/). In May 2023, Poe and Lake began work on "This Road," a new song for *Alan Wake 2*, built from the vocal samples of "September 30, 1955"; its refrain, "And some say that it loops forever / This road that I lose you on every time," recurs at the end of the game's chapters set in the Dark Place[5](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/). The game's soundtrack won Best Score at [The Game Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-game-awards)[11](https://tollbit.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2024/10/14/qa-poe-returns-in-award-winning-soundtrack-for-alan-wake-2-game/).
She followed with "6 Deep Breaths," featured in *The Lake House*, a downloadable expansion of the *Alan Wake 2* universe[12](https://wrct.org/2025/11/26/poe-finds-a-musical-home-in-the-gaming-world/). A limited edition 12-inch single of "This Road" backed with "6 Deep Breaths" was released in late 2024 through her own label, Repoezessed[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883) • [2](https://poestuff.com/pages/poe-the-singer-songwriter-writer-producer). In interviews she has described finding more creative freedom in the *Alan Wake* virtual world than she had in the commercial streaming world[12](https://wrct.org/2025/11/26/poe-finds-a-musical-home-in-the-gaming-world/).
## Reception and standing
Both of her studio albums have endured as cult favorites. AllMusic characterizes *Hello* and *Haunted* as "a pair of genre-expanding alternative albums that incorporated hip-hop sampling and electronic elements" and notes that her two releases "went on to become beloved cult favorites"[1](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883). MusicBrainz lists her studio catalog as *Hello* (1995), *Haunted* (2000), and *Last Fair Deal* (2016)[4](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/72ae540c-514f-4c05-b05d-e6297e0ce4da).
## References
1. [Poe Biography, AllMusic (Neil Z. Yeung)](https://www.allmusic.com/artist/poe-mn0000354883)
2. [About Poe, POE Stuff (official)](https://poestuff.com/pages/poe-the-singer-songwriter-writer-producer)
3. [Kravitz's Ambition, The Washington Post (February 9, 1996)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1996/02/09/kravitzs-ambition/324622ec-7089-4d95-8a98-9cf69419e241/)
4. [Poe (US singer/songwriter Anne Danielewski), MusicBrainz](https://musicbrainz.org/artist/72ae540c-514f-4c05-b05d-e6297e0ce4da)
5. [Alan Wake 2 and Poe's "This Road" collab, explained by Sam Lake and Poe, Destructoid](https://www.destructoid.com/alan-wake-2-poe-this-road-interview-sam-lake-remedy/)
6. [Whatever Happened to Poe After 'Haunted?', ConcertTour.net](https://www.concerttour.net/whatever-happened-poe-haunted.php)
7. [Poe, Trouser Press](https://trouserpress.com/reviews/poe/)
8. [House of Leaves and Poe, (Oc)Cult Classics](https://occultclassics.com/2015/10/28/house-of-leaves-and-poe-dominykasbytautas-and-shanemichaelgordon/)
9. [Memories That Matter, Los Angeles Times (November 29, 2001)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-29-wk-baltin29-story.html)
10. [In Brief, Los Angeles Times (October 29, 2000)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-oct-29-ca-43755-story.html)
11. [Q&A: Poe Returns In Award-Winning Soundtrack For 'Alan Wake 2', Forbes](https://tollbit.forbes.com/sites/stevebaltin/2024/10/14/qa-poe-returns-in-award-winning-soundtrack-for-alan-wake-2-game/)
12. [Poe finds a musical home in the Gaming World, WRCT (November 26, 2025)](https://wrct.org/2025/11/26/poe-finds-a-musical-home-in-the-gaming-world/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musicians and ensembles › Individual musical biographies › Pop and R&B singer-songwriters › Indie and alternative pop, 1990s and 2000s*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license