About Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is a performer most noted for being the lead singer, pianist, and lyricist/composer of the “Brechtian punk cabaret” duo The Dresden Dolls.
Palmer grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. She attended Lexington High School, where she was heavily involved in the drama department, and received her B.A. from Wesleyan University. 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 putting on theatrical shows (such as the 2002 play, Hotel Blanc, which she directed) and street theatre, and busked as a living statue called “The Eight Foot Bride” in Harvard Square as well as in many other locations. She references 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.”

A group of white-painted living statues appears in the music video to the single “Sing” from the Dresden Dolls’ album Yes, Virginia….

Despite the fact that Palmer never learned to read music (though she briefly took lessons at two different times), she formed a band called “Amanda Palmer and the Void”.

She identifies as bisexual, saying, “I actually tend to like really femmey girls…I like girls about my body type and about my mix of masculine and feminine. I really don’t dig high-maintenance girls who are really into hair and nails and waxing and coifing, but I also really love girls who aren’t afraid to be sexy.”

Amanda Palmer Photo Archive