"The ghetto boys are cat-calling me as I pull my keys from my pocket- I wonder if this method of courtship has ever been effective. Has any girl in history said, 'Sure, you seem so nice. Let's get it on.' Still, I always shock them when I answer, 'Hi, my name's Amanda.'" Ampersand, Amanda Palmer
A piano and vocal-based musician whose work is self-described as 'Brechtian Punk Cabaret', this Massachusetts-born artist was one half of musical pairing The Dresden Dolls, in which she was the lyricist/composer as well as pianist and lead singer. She has since split from the other member of the duo, Brian Viglione, to pursue a solo career, starting with the release of her 2008 album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer? An accompanying book of the same title was written featuring photography by Kyle Cassidy and prose by Palmer's fiancé, Neil Gaiman. Recently she has started another musical duo called Evelyn Evelyn where she along with Jason Webley play a pair of Siamese twins.
Amanda Palmer has never shied away from courting controversy. She began a long battle with her record company, Roadrunner Records, after they insisted on pulling shots from her Leeds United video that 'made her look fat.' Her song Oasis was also banned from UK radio and television play because they had trouble with the song's upbeat pop melody mixed with its lyrics featuring an Oasis fan who is raped and has an abortion. She wrote on her blog about the issue: "i suggested that i might be allowed to play it if i just slowed it way down and played it in a minor key. think about it. if they heard the same lyrics against the backdrop of a very sad and lilting piano, maybe with some tear-jerking strings thrown in for good measure, would they take issue?"
In her personal life, Palmer has revealed that she had an abortion at age 17 and was date-raped at age 20, which accounts for the discussion of these issues in many of her works. On January 15 2010, she announced her engagement to writer Neil Gaiman. They were married in New Orleans on November 10, 2010, which was Neil's 50th birthday.
On Twitter, where she has a very large following, Amanda is commonly known as Amanda Fucking Palmer or AFP.