Antony Hegarty

Antony Hegarty
Antony Hegarty in 2007
Background information
Born	1971
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter
Associated acts	Antony and the Johnsons, Hercules and Love Affair

Antony Hegarty (born 1971) is an English-Irish singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons.

Biography

Born in Chichester^[1], West Sussex, UK in 1971, Hegarty moved with his family to Amsterdam in 1977 for a year ^[2], before settling in San Jose, California in 1981. As a teenager he was influenced by the British synth pop of the time – in particular emotive singers such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Boy George. In 1990 he moved to Manhattan to attend the Experimental Theatre Wing of New York University (NYU), and founded the performance collective Blacklips with creative partner Johanna Constantine.

British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Hegarty's music through his Durtro record label; the debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released in 1998. In 2001, Hegarty released a follow-up EP, I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy, which, in addition to the title track, included a cover of a David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti song Mysteries of Love, and a Current 93 song. Antony and the Johnsons' 2005 album I Am a Bird Now won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize and was called Album of the Year by Mojo magazine. The song "Bird Gerhl" was featured in the soundtrack for the movie V for Vendetta.

He has notably worked with Lou Reed live as a second vocalist on Animal Serenade and performed on a number of tracks on The Raven. Hegarty also appears on the song "Lowlands Low" with Bryan Ferry on Hal Willner's Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys album, the song Old Whore's Diet on Rufus Wainwright's album Want Two and on the song Beautiful Boyz on CocoRosie's album Noah's Ark. Hegarty also worked with DJ Andy Butler in the American dance group Hercules and Love Affair. His vocals can be found on five of the tracks on their self-titled debut album, Hercules and Love Affair, released in March 2008. He provides vocals on the Michael Cashmore EP, The Snow Abides, and guest vocals on The Beautiful Dancing Dust, a track on the Current 93 album, Black Ships Ate the Sky. He also co-wrote a song on Joan as Police Woman's Real Life album, I Defy, to which he also contributes vocals. He was featured as a performing artist in the film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man about Leonard Cohen. Hegarty covers If It Be Your Will, in a performance from Hal Willner's Came So Far For Beauty concerts. Antony Hegarty also performed Cohen's The Guests during these concerts, and the song has also featured in Antony and the Johnsons live sets. Hegarty also worked with renowned guitarist Bernard Butler (formerly of Suede) on some acoustic sessions for XFM.^[3]

Antony and the Johnsons collaborated with experimental film maker Charles Atlas and presented TURNING in Nov 2006 in Rome, London, Paris, Madrid, and Braga. The concert featured live video portraits of some of New York City's most enigmatic women. The Guardian called the piece "fragile, life affirming, and truly wonderful (five stars)" Le Monde in Paris hailed TURNING as "Concert-manifeste transsexuel". In 2006 Antony collaborated with Icelandic musician Björk in recording sessions in Jamaica and Iceland. The songs, "The Dull Flame of Desire" and "My Juvenile", feature on her 2007 album Volta. He also sang the song in duet with Bjork at several of her concerts. In late 2007 he was voted one of Out.com's 100 gay men and women to "rock" the year as a distinctive "balladeer". ^[4]

In October 2008, Antony released his first EP in 3 years, the Another World EP, featuring 5 new tracks.

Antony & the Johnsons' third album, The Crying Light, was released on January 21, 2009 and features the track "Another World", which first appeared on the Another World EP.

Discography

Film

Antony has appeared as Toni Johnson in Steve Buscemi's Animal Factory, and as a singer in the cult film Wild Side.

Miscellaneous appearances

Since the release of I Am a Bird Now, Antony has been featured on the soundtrack of the Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There as well as on a number of fashion runways (Including Gucci, Versace, Fendi and Chanel) in the band's cover of Dylan's Knocking on Heaven's Door.^[5]

He also sang back up on the song "I Defy" from Joan As Police Woman's 2006 debut album Real Life and appears on the Cocorosie album Noah's Ark (2005), in the song "Beautiful Boyz".

In 2006-07 Antony sang back up (with Sharon Jones and a children's choir) in Lou Reed's first full performance of his album Berlin. This was performed at St Ann's Warehouse in NYC in December 2006 and at The State Theatre in Sydney, Australia in January 2007.

Antony sings on "The Snow Abides", a mini-album by Michael Cashmore of Current 93. It comprises five songs, two of which are instrumental and three of which are sung by Antony. Antony is featured on two tracks ("The Dull Flame of Desire" and "My Juvenile") on Björk's 2007 album Volta, the first of which was released a single in 2008. In addition, he duets with Marc Almond on the song Ballad of The Sad Young Men for Almond's album Stardom Road released in June 2007.

Antony can be heard on several tracks on Hercules and Love Affair's "euphoric disco" album most notably on the track "Blind" released March 2008^[6].

Antony appeared live with Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band at Ornette Coleman's Meltdown at Royal Festival Hall, London 14th June 2009. Antony sang Yoko's "Toy Boat".

Guest appearances

• Live at St. Olaves (PanDurtro, 2003) - split EP with Current 93
• "Perfect Day" on Lou Reed's The Raven (2003)
• "I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy" in Sébastien Lifshitz's film, Wild Side (2004)
• "I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy" plays in the closing scenes of the film "The Event" (2003)
• "Candy Says" on Lou Reed's Animal Serenade (2004)
• "Old Whore's Diet" on Rufus Wainwright's Want Two (2004)
• "A Little Bit of Time" on Brooks Red Tape (2004)
• Appears on the track "Beautiful Boyz" on CocoRosie's Noah's Ark (2005)
• "Happy Xmas (War is over)" with Boy George on the War Child album, Help!: A Day in the Life (2005)
• "Semen Song for James Bidgood" on Matmos's The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast (2006)
• Appears on the track "Living The Blues" on Jamie Saft Trio's Trouble: The Jamie Saft Trio Plays Bob Dylan (2006)
• "One More Try (Vocals by Antony)" on My Robot Friend's album Dial 0 (2006)
• "Beauty" - duet with Linda Thompson on her album, Versatile Heart (song written by Rufus Wainwright) (2007)
• "The Dull Flame of Desire" and "My Juvenile", duets with Björk on her album, Volta (2007)
• The Snow Abides mini-album by Michael Cashmore
• Calling for vanished faces 1/Virgin Mary (PanDurtro, 2003) Split 7" single with Current 93 limited to 500 copies
• "I Defy" with Joan as Policewoman on her album, Real Life
• "Idumea" and "The Beautiful Dancing Dust" on Current 93's Black Ships Ate the Sky (2006)
• "Lowlands Low" with Bryan Ferry and "Leave Her Johnny" with Lou Reed on Rogue's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006)
• "God With No Tear" on Visionaire 53 Sound (2007)
• "Fistful of Love" used in the Saving Grace episode, "Are You an Indian Princess?" (2008)
• "Keep in Touch" on Nico Muhly's Speaks Volumes
• Appears on "Ooh Baby Baby" on Marianne Faithfull's 2008 album, Easy Come, Easy Go
• "Will I Ever Learn" on Herbert Grönemeyer's 2008 album Was muss muss
• "I Was Young When I Left Home" with Bryce Dessner on the 2009 compilation charity album Dark Was The Night

Media appearances

• Appears in the film, Animal Factory (2002) as the character Toni Johnson
• Performs "I Fell in Love With a Dead Boy" in the film Wild Side

(2004)^[7]

• "If It Be Your Will" in the documentary, Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2005)
• The song "Bird Gerhl" plays on the jukebox while Evey and V dance in V for Vendetta (2006)
• "Hope There's Someone" in the Torchwood episode, "Random Shoes" (2006)

References

External links

• Antony and the Johnsons Official website
• Antony and the Johnsons at MySpace
• Erik Steinskog, "Voice of Hope: Queer Pop Subjectivities" in Trikster – Nordic Queer Journal #1, 2008
• Oct 2008 Interview with L.A. Record
• Feb 2009 Interview with Terry Gross on WHYY's Fresh Air
• Antony Hegarty at the Internet Movie Database