Amanda Palmer


Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who was the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo The Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist, and was also one-half of the duo Evelyn Evelyn, and the lead singer and songwriter of Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra.

Early life

Palmer was born Amanda MacKinnon Palmer in New York City's Mount Sinai Hospital, and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. Her parents divorced when she was one year old, and as a child she rarely saw her father.
She attended Lexington High School, where she was involved in the drama department, and attended Wesleyan University where she was a member of the Eclectic Society. She staged performances based on work by the Legendary Pink Dots, an early influence, and was involved in the Legendary Pink Dots electronic mailing list, Cloud Zero. She then formed the Shadowbox Collective, devoted to street theatre and putting on theatrical shows. Another early influence is Judy Blume, an author of children's books.
With an interest in the performing arts, both in music and in theatre, Palmer spent time busking as a living statue called "The Eight Foot Bride" in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts; Edinburgh, Scotland; Australia ; as well as many other locations. She refers to this line of work on The Dresden Dolls' self-titled CD, with the song "The Perfect Fit":
I can paint my face
And stand very, very still
It's not very practical
But it still pays the bills

as well as on the A is for Accident track "Glass Slipper":
I give out flowers
To curious strangers
who throw dollars at my feet.

Career

The Dresden Dolls

At a Halloween party in 2000, Palmer met drummer Brian Viglione and afterwards they formed The Dresden Dolls. In an effort to expand the performance experience and interactivity, Palmer began inviting Lexington High School students to perform drama pieces at the Dresden Dolls' live shows. This evolved to The Dirty Business Brigade, a troupe of seasoned and new artists, performing at many gigs.
In 2002, after developing a cult following, the band recorded their eponymous debut album, The Dresden Dolls, with producer Martin Bisi. They produced the album before signing with the label Roadrunner Records.
In 2006, The Dresden Dolls Companion was published, with words, music and artwork by Amanda Palmer. In it she has written a history of the album The Dresden Dolls and of the duo, as well as a partial autobiography. The book also contains the lyrics, sheet music, and notes on each song in the album, all written by Palmer, as well as a DVD with a 20-minute interview of Amanda about making the book.
In June 2007, as part of the Dresden Dolls, she toured with the True Colors Tour 2007, including her debut in New York City's Radio City Music Hall, and her first review in The New York Times.
In July 2008, the Dresden Dolls released a second book, the Virginia Companion, a follow-up to The Dresden Dolls Companion, featuring the music and lyrics from the Yes, Virginia... and No, Virginia... albums, produced by Sean Slade and Paul Kolderie.

The Onion Cellar and Cabaret

Palmer conceived the musical/production The Onion Cellar, based on a short story from The Tin Drum by Günter Grass. From December 9, 2006, through January 13, 2007, The Dresden Dolls performed the piece in conjunction with the American Repertory Theater at the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. While Palmer was openly frustrated with the direction of the show, fan and critical reviews were very positive.
Palmer, as part of her solo career, returned to the A.R.T. in fall 2010 for a two-month run of Cabaret, starring as the Emcee.

Dresden Dolls reunions

The Dresden Dolls reunited for a tour in the United States in 2010, starting on Halloween in New York City and ending in San Francisco on New Year's Eve. They performed two shows in 2011, in Australia and Mexico, and seven shows, in Australia and New Zealand, in 2012. They performed shows in Kingston, New York, Boston, and Brooklyn in August 2016. In 2017, they performed a Halloween show in Washington, DC and 3 shows in November at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston. They have recently announced two reunion shows for Halloween 2018 in the UK

Evelyn Evelyn

In September 2007, Palmer collaborated with Jason Webley to release Evelyn Evelyn's debut EP Elephant Elephant via Jason's Eleven Records. Their full-length album, Evelyn Evelyn was released March 30, 2010, followed by a worldwide tour.

Solo career

In July 2007, Palmer played three sold-out shows in a new "with band" format. Her backing band was Boston alternative rock group Aberdeen City, who also opened along with Dixie Dirt. In August 2007, Palmer traveled to perform in the Spiegeltent and other venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, and also performed on BBC Two's The Edinburgh Show. She collaborated with Australian theater company, The Danger Ensemble; both again appeared at the Spiegeltent in Melbourne and at other venues around Australia in December 2007.
In June 2008, Palmer established her solo career with two well-received performances with the Boston Pops.

Her first solo studio album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, was released on September 16, 2008. Ben Folds produced and also played on the album. The title is a play on an expression used by fans during Twin Peaks original run, "Who killed Laura Palmer?" A companion book of photos of Palmer looking as if she were murdered was released in July 2009. Titled Who Killed Amanda Palmer a Collection of Photographic Evidence, it featured photography by Kyle Cassidy and stories by Neil Gaiman, as well as lyrics from the album.
"Strength Through Music," a track from Who Killed Amanda Palmer, indirectly references August Strindberg. The song contains an audio clip of a web cartoon called Strindberg and Helium; the cartoon almost exclusively quotes Strindberg's work.
In late 2008, she toured Europe with Jason Webley, Zoë Keating and The Danger Ensemble, performing songs mostly from her debut solo album. She did most of the shows with a broken foot she had sustained in Belfast, Northern Ireland when a car ran over her foot as she stepped out into a street. In April 2009, she played at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
In 2009, Palmer went back to her alma mater, Lexington High School in Massachusetts, to collaborate with her old director and mentor Steven Bogart on a workshop piece for the department's spring production. The play, With The Needle That Sings In Her Heart was inspired by Neutral Milk Hotel's album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and The Diary of Anne Frank.
NPR's Avishay Artsy interviewed the cast on All Things Considered.
Palmer began using the ukulele during a concert as a goof, but soon it became a regular part of her repertoire. Later, she recorded a full album with ukulele accompaniment: Amanda Palmer Performs the Popular Hits of Radiohead on Her Magical Ukulele.
On April 20, 2012, Palmer announced on her blog that she launched a new album pre-order on Kickstarter. The Kickstarter project was ultimately supported by 24,883 backers for a grand total of $1,192,793 — at the time, the most funds ever raised for a musical project on Kickstarter. A widely reported and commented upon controversy emerged from the related tour when she asked for local musicians to volunteer to play with her for exposure, fun, beer, and hugs instead of money. She responded in the press and changed her policy to one of paying local musicians who volunteered to play with her on this tour.
The album, Theatre Is Evil, was recorded with The Grand Theft Orchestra, produced by John Congleton, and released in September 2012.
On November 9, 2012, Palmer launched the first music video from Theatre is Evil for "Do it With a Rockstar" on The Flaming Lips' website. The video was co-created and directed by Wayne Coyne, lead singer of The Flaming Lips. Subsequent videos were released for "The Killing Type" and "The Bed Song".
On August 9, 2013, Palmer made her Lincoln Center debut.
In November 2014, Palmer released her memoir, The Art of Asking, which expands on a Ted talk she gave in February 2013. The book made the NY Times bestsellers list. The book also received several critical reviews, most notably from NPR.
On March 3, 2015, Amanda began soliciting financial support on the crowdfunding platform Patreon.
Palmer spoke at the 2015 Hay Festival about the prospect of reconciling art and motherhood. The talk was recorded for the BBC Radio 4 series Four Thought and broadcast on June 21, 2015. Also in 2015, she served as a judge for The 14th Annual Independent Music Awards.
During the first months of 2016, she released the completely Patreon-funded song "Machete", and a David Bowie tribute EP, entitled Strung Out In Heaven: A Bowie String Quartet Tribute.
On February 20, 2019, Palmer released her new single "Voicemail for Jill''," the latest track from her forthcoming solo release There Will Be No Intermission.

Duo with Jack Palmer

Amanda Palmer collaborated with her father, Jack Palmer, to record an album, "You Got Me Singing". The duo performed several concerts in July 2016 in support of the album.

Duo with Edward Ka-Spel

Amanda Palmer collaborated with Legendary Pink Dots frontman Edward Ka-Spel to record an album, I Can Spin a Rainbow. The duo toured in May and June 2017 in support of the album, backed by Legendary Pink Dots' former violin player Patrick Q. Wright.

Personal life

Palmer used to reside in Boston, Massachusetts, with other artists in a cooperative named the Cloud Club.
She has identified as bisexual, telling afterellen.com in 2007: "I'm bisexual, but it's not the sort of thing I spent a lot of time thinking about," Palmer said. "I've slept with girls; I've slept with guys, so I guess that's what they call it! I'm not anti trying to use language to simplify our lives." Palmer has spoken out on feminist issues and about her open relationships, stating in one interview that "I've never been comfortable in a monogamous relationship in my life. I feel like I was built for open relationships just because of the way I function," Palmer explained. "It's not a reactive decision like, 'Hey I'm on the road, you're on the road, let's just find other people.' It was a fundamental building block of our relationship. We both like things this way."
Palmer has said that she once worked as a stripper under the name Berlin. She has stated that the song "Berlin" was written about this experience.
Palmer has had three abortions, and her song Voicemail for Jill is about these experiences.
Neil Gaiman and Palmer confirmed their engagement in 2010 and Palmer hosted a flash mob wedding for Gaiman's birthday in New Orleans later the same year. The couple legally married in a private ceremony in 2011. The wedding took place in the parlor of writers Ayelet Waldman and Michael Chabon. Palmer gave birth to the couple's son, Anthony "Ash", on September 16, 2015.
During the global pandemic of COVID-19 that struck at the tail end of 2019, Amanda Palmer was on an international tour of her latest album "There Will Be No Intermission," when countries started grounding flights and locking down borders. Palmer found herself in Havelock North, New Zealand, the last stop on her tour schedule, and on 25 March 2020, New Zealand's government announced that the whole country would move to COVID-19 Alert Level 4: complete lockdown and quarantining of people within their own homes. Before that, Palmer had quickly brought her husband Neil Gaiman and son Ash to join her in New Zealand, searching for a suitable AirBnB place to stay in, in anticipation that they, like the rest of the world, would be under lockdown for several months. Both the musician and the author confirmed that their upcoming shows in June 2020 would have to be cancelled and audiences refunded.
At some publicly unknown point during the couple's stay in Havelock North, New Zealand, their marriage underwent difficulties. When New Zealand loosened its flight restrictions, Neil Gaiman took a flight back to the United Kingdom while Amanda Palmer and their son stayed on in New Zealand. On 3 May 2020, Gaiman responded to an individual on Twitter asking where he was with the following response: "When NZ went from Stage 4 to Stage 3, I headed to the UK, fearing that commercial flights might go away entirely. The family are still in New Zealand, where it is safe and sensible." On the same day, Palmer announced on her personal Patreon that she and Gaiman had separated and were indeed no longer together in New Zealand. Palmer explained that she could not fully elaborate on the cause of their separation, for the sake of their son and requested privacy.. The couple later released a joint statement clarifying that they were not, however, getting divorced.
Palmer practices meditation and wrote an article titled "Melody vs. Meditation" for the Buddhist publication Shambhala Sun, that described the struggle between songwriting and being able to clear the mind to meditate.

Awards and honors

See also: The Dresden Dolls discography, Evelyn Evelyn#discography, and 8in8

Solo studio albums

Podcasts