singer-songwriter | Musicosity

singer-songwriter

Amanda Palmer

Amanda MacKinnon Gaiman Palmer is an American vocalist, pianist and performance artist, best known for her work as one half of The Dresden Dolls. Born in 1976, she grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts and received her B.A. from Wesleyan University. She attended Lexington High School, where she was very involved in the drama department. Amanda sometimes has Lexington High School students perform drama pieces at her shows. Before she was in the Dresden Dolls, she was in a band called "Amanda Palmer and the Void". In October of 2000, she met Brian Viglione, a drummer; together they formed the Dresden Dolls.

In the 2005, WNFX/Boston Phoenix Best Music Poll Amanda Palmer won Best Female Vocalist.

Amanda has performed as a living statue called “The Eight Foot Bride” in Harvard Square as well as in many other locations.

Her solo album entitled “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” was released in September 2008, and was produced by Ben Folds, who also appears on the album. Zoë Keating also appears on several tracks.

In 2009, she pleaded with her label, Roadrunner Records, to drop her from their roster. She has been vocal about this in interviews and in concert, even dedicating a song called "Please Drop Me" that is sung to the tune of "Moon River."

On January 15, 2010, writer Neil Gaiman announced on his official blog that he and Palmer were engaged to be married.

On March 30, 2010, the album "Evelyn Evelyn" was released, as a collaborative work with Jason Webley.

On July 20, 2010, Palmer released a solo EP of Radiohead covers, entitled "Amanda Palmer Performs The Popular Hits of Radiohead On Her Magical Ukulele".

In January of 2011, Palmer and Gaiman announced that they were now legally married. Palmer also released a new studio album, Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under.

On January 21, 2011, Palmer released "Amanda Palmer Goes Down Under, an album with an Antipodean theme featuring songs that Palmer wrote about, or while in, Australia and New Zealand. Artists the album features include The Young Punx, Brian Viglione of The Dresden Dolls, The Jane Austen Argument, Mikelangelo and the Black Sea Gentlemen, and Lance Horne.

In March of 2012, Palmer announced a formation of a new band called "Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra." They first released a cover of Nirvana's song "Polly." In May 2012, she raised over 1 million dollars to fund the release of the band's new album, "Theatre is Evil," via Kickstarter. The album was released in September of 2012. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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Ruthie Foster

Ruthie Foster is an American singer/songwriter of blues and folk music. She is from Gause, Texas and from a family of gospel singers. She studied music at McLennan Community College and then worked in the US Navy, where she started performing. Her debut was released in 1997 and she has performed in North America, Europe and Australia. She has often been compared to Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin.

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Matt Wertz

Matt Wertz is a singer/songwriter from Liberty, Missouri. Wertz gained a considerable fan base by performing at Young Life camps, after releasing "Somedays", his first album. He has released three studio albums, and one EP, which have all been produced by himself and Ed Cash with an exception on the EP where his best friend Dave Barnes helped produce the album. Aside from touring with such acts as Jamie, Gavin Degraw, Matt Nathanson and Jars of Clay, he has headlined several tours nationally in the early to mid-2000s.

Dan Webb

Dan Webb (born August 13, 1989) is an Australian singer, keyboardist and songwriter. His debut EP ‘Capitulation’ was released in March 2009 and his sophomore EP 'Hyperspace Clearance' will be released through MGM Distribution in September 2010. Armed with a handful of new songs, Dan returned to Melbourne’s Sing Sing Recording Studios to self-produce the four-track ‘Hyperspace Clearance’ in April 2010.

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Jason Lytle

Jason Lytle (b. March 26, 1969) fronted Modesto, California based indie rock outfit Grandaddy, which split up in 2006. He was the sole songwriter in the band, and he sang and played most of the instruments on the albums. Live he handled vocals, guitars and keyboards and synths. He has continued as a solo artist after the end of Grandaddy, so far only playing Grandaddy material at a handful of solo shows.

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Sierra

1) Sierra was an American Contemporary Christian music vocal trio, founded in 1992 and quickly signed to Star Song, who released their debut self-titled album in 1994. The group released four albums before breaking up in 2002. 2) Sierra is a Japanese R&B singer who has frequently worked with Volta Masters. She released her first album Heavenly U in 2008. 3) Sierra Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Sierra On-Line) was a Worldwide American video game developer and publisher founded in 1979 as On-Line Systems by Ken and Roberta Williams.

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Sting

Sting (b. Gordon Matthew Sumner, 2 Oct 1951, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), is a distinguished English solo musician & former lead-singer / principal-composer / bassist of, 1970s/80s rock band, The Police. Sumner was born in Wallsend, near Newcastle, to Audrey Cowell and her husband, Ernest Sumner. He is the eldest of four children and has a brother, Philip, and two sisters, Angela and Anita. His father managed a dairy, and as a boy Sumner would often assist him with the early morning milk delivery rounds.

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Chris Cornell

Chris Cornell (1964, Seattle, WA, United States) is an American singer/songwriter and guitarist. In 1984 he formed the band Soundgarden with bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Throughout the late 1980s and 90s, Soundgarden experienced major success as one of the major grunge bands (along with groups such as Alice in Chains, Nirvana, and Pearl Jam). In 1990, Chris Cornell worked together with the (then) Soundgarden drummer Matt Cameron, and Stone Gossard, Jeff Ament and Mike McCready (who would later form Pearl Jam) in a project named Temple of the Dog.

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Chris Isaak

Chris Isaak (born June 26, 1956 in Stockton, California as Christopher Joseph Isaak) is an American Rock'n'Roll singer, songwriter, and occasional actor.
Isaak's music can be described as a blend of country, blues, rock'n'roll, pop and surf rock.

He signed a contract to Warner Brothers Records in 1984 for his first album "Silvertone". Isaak's contract was renewed in 1988 when Warner moved him to their Reprise Records label.

His best-known song is "Wicked Game". Though released on the 1989 album "Heart Shaped World", an instrumental version of the song was later featured in the David Lynch film 'Wild at Heart' (and also years later in the 2000 film The Family Man). An Atlanta radio station DJ began playing the full version and it quickly became a nation-wide top ten hit. The music video for the song was directed by Herb Ritts and was a big MTV and VH1 hit; shot in black and white, it starred Isaak and model Helena Christensen rolling on the beach, embracing and whispering in each others' ears.

In 1999, Isaak's "Baby Did A Bad, Bad Thing" was featured in Stanley Kubrick's final film 'Eyes Wide Shut', starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

In 2001, Chris Isaak starred in his own television show, 'The Chris Isaak Show'. It aired from March 2001 to March 2004 in the United States on the cable television network Showtime. This adult comedy show featured Chris Isaak and his band playing themselves with the episode plots based on fictional accounts of the backstage world of Chris Isaak - the rock star next door.

In 2004, his track "Life Will Go On" was featured on the 'Chasing Liberty' soundtrack, which starred Mandy Moore and Matthew Goode.

He hosted a talk show on the Biography cable channel in the United States in 2009 that offered a unique twist - each guest was a musical artist, and both Chris and the artist performed various songs throughout each show. Eight episodes aired in early 2009, featuring guests Trisha Yearwood, Stevie Nicks, Glen Campbell, Michael Buble, Chicago, The Smashing Pumpkins, Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens), and Jewel.

Isaak has also appeared in numerous films, mostly playing minor cameo roles, though he starred with Keanu Reeves and Bridget Fonda in the 1993 Bernardo Bertolucci-directed 'Little Buddha', and also played a major role in David Lynch's 'Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me' (1992). Other motion pictures include 'Married to the Mob' (1988), 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991), 'That Thing You Do!' (1996), and 'A Dirty Shame' (2004). He also guest-starred on the Super Bowl Sunday (1996) edition of the television sitcom Friends and on the HBO miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon (HBO).

Chris is also an amateur boxer, avid surfer and a former Golden Gloves champion. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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