Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls.

[5] Amanda MacKinnon Palmer was born in the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City,[6] and grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts.

[13] In 1999, Palmer founded the Shadowbox Collective, a performance group devoted to street theatre and putting on theatrical shows (such as the 2002 play, Hotel Blanc,[14] which she directed).

Palmer spent several years busking as a living statue called the Eight Foot Bride in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Edinburgh; Berlin; Melbourne (where she met her future collaborator Jason Webley);[15] and many other locations.

She refers to her street performance work in the Dresden Dolls song "The Perfect Fit", as well as on the A is for Accident track "Glass Slipper".

[citation needed] At a Halloween party in 2000, Palmer met the drummer Brian Viglione and afterwards they formed the Dresden Dolls.

[16] In 2002, after developing a cult following, the band recorded their debut album, The Dresden Dolls, with producer Martin Bisi.

[citation needed] Palmer conceived the musical/production The Onion Cellar, based on a short story from The Tin Drum by Günter Grass.

From December 9, 2006, through January 13, 2007, the Dresden Dolls performed the piece in conjunction with the American Repertory Theater at the Zero Arrow Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

[20] Though the Dresden Dolls broke up in 2008, Palmer and Viglione have continued to collaborate, and have had several minor reunions under the band name in 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

She collaborated with Australian theater company the Danger Ensemble; both again appeared at the Spiegeltent in Melbourne and at other venues around Australia in December 2007.

In the project, the duo play conjoined twin sisters named Eva and Lyn, and through their music tell their fictional backstory.

Titled Who Killed Amanda Palmer a Collection of Photographic Evidence, it featured photography by Kyle Cassidy and stories by Neil Gaiman, as well as lyrics from the album.

[29] In late 2008, she toured Europe with Jason Webley, Zoë Keating and The Danger Ensemble, performing songs mostly from her debut solo album.

[31] In 2009, Palmer went back to her alma mater, Lexington High School in Massachusetts, to collaborate with her old director and mentor Steven Bogart on a workshop piece for the department's spring production.

The play, With The Needle That Sings In Her Heart, was inspired by Neutral Milk Hotel's album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and The Diary of Anne Frank.

A widely reported and commented upon controversy emerged from the related tour when Palmer blogged asking for "semi-professional" local musicians (fans who were already planning on attending various stops on the tour) to volunteer to play a couple of songs with her and her band, the Grand Theft Orchestra, during their live shows for "exposure, fun, beer and hugs" instead of money.

[47][48] The album, Theatre Is Evil, was recorded with the Grand Theft Orchestra, produced by John Congleton, and released in September 2012.

[59] Amanda Palmer collaborated with Legendary Pink Dots frontman Edward Ka-Spel to record an album, I Can Spin a Rainbow.

The duo toured in May and June 2017 in support of the album, backed by Legendary Pink Dots' former violin player Patrick Q.