Nellie McKay to Animal Abusers: 'Get Away From Me'

While other jazz-influenced pop artists tend to deliver syrupy lyrics with an aim to please, Nellie McKay prefers to deliver lyrics with a sharp bite and a jagged edge. Nellie has a lot on her mind, and she’s not about to bow down to frightened suits who play by the rules. Suffice it to say, Nellie’s musical integrity is admirable, but it’s her vocal support of animal rights that’s truly impressive.

Nellie recently scored an award at PETA’s Fashion Week bash, held at Stella McCartney’s boutique in New York—the only haute couture shop in the city that’s entirely free of animal skins. At the packed affair, Stacked star Pamela Anderson joined PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk and Dan Mathews at the podium to recognize some of the latest movers and shakers to support PETA’s campaigns against cruelty to animals. Actor Alan Cumming presented the award to Nellie, his Threepenny Opera costar, for protesting Columbia University’s animal experiments and promoting animal rights at every concert and in every interview she does.

In fact, our relationship with Nellie began after she contacted us and offered to help publicize the cruel animal tests that Columbia University routinely performs. She’s since publicly declared that the tests are “heinous” and an “assault against humanity,” and she most recently called Columbia’s animal laboratories “torture chambers” when she crouched in a cage for a PETA protest in New York in order to draw attention to the mutilation and killing of primates at the university. . To make sure Columbia University officials heard the message loud and clear, Nellie wrote a song just for them, which was slated for release on her new album, Pretty Little Head. Although there is no set date for the album to be released, you can still check out the music video created using the “Columbia Is Bleeding” demo as well as hear the final album cut of the song right now at peta2.com.

The proud PETA member, whose breakout album, Get Away From Me, wowed critics and instantly landed Nellie an impassioned following, has a long history of turning the streets into her soapbox: Nellie has been taking part in PETA protests since she was a child. Her foray into animal protection began shortly after she and her mother moved from London, England, to Harlem, where they rescued nine cats who were living in an alley and a homeless dog who had wandered into their building. Not surprisingly, Nellie’s as nice to cows as she is to cats and primates: She went vegetarian at 8 years old, is now vegan, and was nominated last year as one of the world’s sexiest vegetarians alive. Nellie continues to donate her hard-earned money to PETA and refuses to give to charities that test on animals.

But that’s not all—she recently wrote an op-ed for fashion magazines, called “Why I’ll Never Wear Real Fur.” In the op-ed, she writes: “The fur industry wants us to think that animal skins are flirty and glamorous, but don’t fall for it. Animals killed for fur suffer horribly. They are skinned alive, clubbed to death, crushed in steel-jaw traps, and genitally electrocuted, sometimes just for a little trim. Fortunately, most young women aren’t buying it. We know there’s nothing pretty about senseless cruelty.” Nellie adds, “I think we all have the responsibility to choose on the side of compassion whenever possible, because the animals don’t have a choice.”

We could go on, but we think you’re beginning to grasp the moral of the story: Nellie McKay rocks. Do you want to know the best part? You don’t have to be a superstar to help animals. To help put an end to the abuse and suffering of animals on fur farms, sign the fur-free pledge. See how easy that was?