Amanda Palmer

Amanda MacKinnon Palmer was born on April 30, 1976, in New York City and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She pursued a BA in German Studies from Wesleyan University in 1998, also studying theater. Prior to her musical career, Palmer engaged in street performance as a living statue, known as the Eight Foot Bride, in various cities including Cambridge, Edinburgh, Berlin, and Melbourne. This early experience in performance art laid a foundation for her future artistic endeavors and her distinctive stage presence. In 1999, Palmer founded the Shadowbox Collective, a performance group dedicated to street theatre and theatrical shows.

Her musical journey began in 2000 when she co-founded the duo The Dresden Dolls with drummer Brian Viglione. The band quickly gained a cult following and released their debut album, “The Dresden Dolls,” in 2002 after signing with Roadrunner Records. Palmer’s creative input extended to writing a comprehensive history of the band and an autobiography within “The Dresden Dolls Companion,” published in 2006. She also conceived and performed in the musical “The Onion Cellar” in 2006-2007 with the American Repertory Theater. In 2007, she toured with the True Colors Tour 2007, making her New York City debut at Radio City Music Hall.

Palmer launched her solo career with the album “Who Killed Amanda Palmer,” released in 2008, produced by Ben Folds. This album was accompanied by a book of photography and stories co-created with Neil Gaiman and Kyle Cassidy. Her project Evelyn Evelyn, a collaboration with Jason Webley, began in 2007, portraying conjoined twin sisters through music and a graphic novel. In 2012, Palmer achieved significant crowdfunding success, raising over $1.2 million on Kickstarter for her album “Theatre Is Evil.” She released her memoir, “The Art of Asking,” in 2014, based on her TED talk, which became a New York Times Best Seller. In 2015, she began utilizing Patreon for financial support, continuing to release music and collaborate on albums such as “You Got Me Singing” (2016) with her father, and “I Can Spin a Rainbow” (2017) with Edward Ka-Spel. Her third solo album, “There Will Be No Intermission,” was released in 2019, followed by the launch of her podcast, “The Art of Asking Everything,” in 2020.