10 Things You Didn't Know About Amanda Palmer

Digging a little deeper into the Girl Anachronism.

by Freddie Rochez

Amanda Palmer is many things, including a musician, a performance artist, an avid Tweeter, a controversial internet personality, the wife of writer Neil Gaiman and the mother of his as-yet unborn child. Amanda is known, among other things, for her melodic social commentary, wacky personal style, and creative, not to mention controversial, lyrics. Her songs tackle themes ranging from broken hearts and family life to more taboo topics of date rape and abortions. Her previous bands have included the two-piece punk-rock cabaret act the Dresden Dolls and Evelyn Evelyn, a musical act centred around a fictional pair of conjoined twins.

Over the course of her career, Amanda has done her best to tear down the old order of music publishing. She publicly fell out with her original record label and struck out on her own as an independent artist. Since then, she has begun releasing her music online for nothing, or at least for whatever her fans think it is worth. She personally runs every part of her career, from song-writing and recording to hand-making her own merchandise and answering fan mail. In addition to her properly scheduled performances she frequently performs Ninja Gigs; small, free performances that she puts on with little notice in almost any town she visits.

Far from damaging her career, abandoning her record label has only helped Amanda's cause. Working on her own, she has amassed a large, and loyal, fandom willing to give her time, money, and almost anything else she might ask for. Her latest album, Theatre Is Evil, became one of the few Kickstarter projects to raise over $1 million, making it the highest funded music-based Kickstarter in history.

All of this is pretty common knowledge. One of the things that sets Amanda apart from many musicians is her openness about her life. Between her extremely intimate blog and her recent autobiography there is very little about the singer that her fans don't know about. While we wait to see what she will do next (other than giving birth), here's a rundown of some facts that you may not know about the world's greatest (and only) female punk rock cabaret star.

Contributor
Contributor

With a (nearly) useless degree in English literature and a personal trainer qualification he's never used, Freddie spends his times writing things that he hopes will somehow pay the rent. He's also a former professional singer, and plays the saxophone and ukulele. He's not really used to talking about himself in the third person, and would like to stop now, thanks.