Amanda Kramer

Last updated

Amanda Kramer
Amanda Kramer Wikipedia Picture.jpg
Kramer in 2020
Background information
Born (1961-12-26) December 26, 1961 (age 62)
New York City, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • singer
  • songwriter
  • composer
Instruments
Years active1986–present
Member of The Psychedelic Furs
Website amanda-kramer.com

Amanda Kramer (born December 26, 1961) is a United Kingdom-based American composer and touring musician. Kramer first gained prominence as a member of the techno-pop band Information Society and later performed with other alternative rock and new wave groups such as 10,000 Maniacs, World Party, and the Golden Palominos. She has been the keyboardist for the Psychedelic Furs since 2002.

Contents

Background and family

Amanda Kramer was born on December 26, 1961, in New York City. Her parents were Beverly Dennis and Russell Dennis, both of whom were actors throughout the 1950s. Beverly Dennis was cast in supporting roles in several Hollywood features, including William A. Wellman's classic 1951 proto-feminist western Westward the Women and Jean Negulesco's drama Take Care of My Little Girl (1951), and appeared regularly on the CBS (and later NBC) variety hour The Red Buttons Show (1952–1955). Russell Dennis gained minor roles in William Castle's mystery drama Hollywood Story (1951) and Mark Robson's romantic war picture Bright Victory (1951). In the 1950s both Beverly and Russell were blacklisted from mainstream Hollywood productions due to suspected Communist or Soviet affiliations. In response they soon sought out alternative careers in psychiatry and medicine, respectively. [1]

Beverly Dennis would become a therapist while retaining a keen interest in social advocacy, particularly for Second-wave feminism, in which she worked in furthering female empowerment in theatre, literature, film, and journalism. Russell Dennis died suddenly on March 29, 1964, aged 48, not long after receiving his medical degree. Beverly later remarried to World War II veteran and advertising executive Jerry Kramer. The family lived on New York's Upper West Side, during which time young Amanda Kramer attended Manhattan's progressive Little Red School House (LREI). The family later relocated to Beverly Hills, California.

Early life

While growing up in New York City of the 1960s and 1970s, Kramer expressed interest in music from a young age and soon began to train in classical piano. Kramer took inspiration from the emerging art and cultural movements of the times. Inspired by the raw energy and spirit of punk rock and the dexterity and freedom of jazz, Kramer's interests would be piqued by the emerging musical technologies of the 1980s.

As a teenager, Kramer began her academic study of music at the Manhattan School of Music Preparatory Division, studying piano with Sonia Vargas. She would continue her studies at University of California at Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. While studying electronic music and video production at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, Kramer encountered fellow student James Cassidy, which resulted in Cassidy inviting her to join his Minneapolis-based dance-pop group, Information Society.

Music career

In 1988, Information Society released their self-titled major label debut on Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records, which was certified Gold. After departing from the band, Kramer returned to New York City to further a career that would include classical, pop, rock, and scoring for film and television. Kramer began a string of collaborations, first with Anton Fier as a core member of the Golden Palominos, recording several albums, including A Dead Horse (1989) and Drunk with Passion (1991). As part of the Golden Palominos, Kramer would write and record with Michael Stipe, Bob Mould, Bill Laswell, and Richard Thompson, amongst others.

Kramer then became a member of 10,000 Maniacs, recording and touring the platinum-selling releases Our Time in Eden (1992) and MTV Unplugged (1993), before joining the British group World Party. Her first live performance as a member of the latter would be a Pyramid Stage appearance at the 1994 Glastonbury Festival.

In the succeeding years, Kramer would be engaged in much studio and road work, playing on albums by artists such as Lloyd Cole (The Negatives, 2000), the Church ( Man Woman Life Death Infinity , 2018), and, most recently, the Psychedelic Furs' first studio record in three decades, Made of Rain (2020). Kramer has been a member of the band since 2002, completing many international headlining tours.

Kramer has provided further keyboard duties for television performances, tours, and festival appearances with a variety of artists, including Eurythmics, Julee Cruise, David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir, Steve Kilbey, and Tom Bailey. From 2007 to 2008, she toured with Siouxsie Sioux and performed on the Finale: The Last Mantaray & More Show live DVD.

Solo career

Kramer has released four solo albums, incorporating the genres of world music, classical, experimental, jazz, and ambient: Wintermass (with Blake Leyh, 1994), Samsara (1998), Fallen Light Renew (2004) and Under the Sea (2011). The latter two albums were inspired by the poetry of William Blake and T.S. Eliot, respectively, and feature contributions from Karl Wallinger and Julee Cruise, amongst others. [2]

Film and television composition

Kramer has also composed for film and television. Her work can be heard on the Discovery Channel series Globe Trekker (later Pilot Guides ), and has been featured on various television programs, including the PBS documentary Cayutaville (1998) and ABC's 20/20 (1997), as well as in the feature film True Crime (1996). [3]

Education

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natalie Merchant</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1963)

Natalie Anne Merchant is an American singer-songwriter. She joined the band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981 and was lead vocalist and primary lyricist for the group. She remained with the group for their first seven albums before leaving to begin her solo career in 1993. She has since released nine studio albums as a solo artist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddy Duchin</span> American jazz pianist and bandleader (1909–1951)

Edwin Frank Duchin, commonly known as Eddy Duchin or alternatively Eddie Duchin, was an American popular music pianist and bandleader during the 1930s and 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julee Cruise</span> American singer (1956–2022)

Julee Ann Cruise was an American singer and actress, known for her collaborations with composer Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She released four albums beginning with 1989's Floating into the Night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diana Lynn</span> American actress (1926–1971)

Diana Marie Lynn was an American actress. She built her career by starring in Paramount Pictures films and various television series during the 1940s and 1950s. Two stars on Hollywood Walk of Fame are dedicated to her name.

<i>Campfire Songs</i> (10,000 Maniacs album) 2004 compilation album by 10,000 Maniacs

Campfire Songs: The Popular, Obscure and Unknown Recordings of 10,000 Maniacs is a compilation album by American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs, released in 2004. It includes their biggest hits, B-sides and unreleased recordings from the Natalie Merchant era. Despite the album's title, the collection does not include "A Campfire Song" from In My Tribe (1987).

Anthony Francis Keigwin Monkman was an English rock, classical and film score composer, and a founding member of both the progressive rock band Curved Air and the classical/rock fusion band Sky.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eileen Joyce</span> Australian classical pianist

Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paula Robison</span> Musical artist

Paula Robison is a flute soloist and teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alec Wilder</span> American composer (1907–1980)

Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder was an American composer and author.

Igor Kipnis was a German-born American harpsichordist, pianist and conductor.

Fredell Lack was an American violinist. Noted as a concert soloist, recording artist, chamber musician, and teacher, she was the C. W. Moores Distinguished Professor of Violin at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis James (musician)</span> American musician (born 1950)

Dennis James is an American musician and historic preservationist. Beginning in 1969, he presented historically informed live accompaniments for silent films, with piano, theatre organ, chamber ensemble and full symphony orchestras, throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and overseas. He is now primarily active as a noted multi-instrumentalist, specializing on Franklin glass armonica and the theremin, prominently performing in New York at the Metropolitan Opera, for Hollywood film scorings, and repeat performances at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival plus performing at the Tanglewood Festival with the Boston Symphony Orchestra performing the intricate glass armonica complete part in the U.S. debut of George Benjamin's opera "Written on Skin".

Stanley Freeman was an American composer, pianist, lyricist, musical arranger, conductor, and studio musician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contemporary harpsichord</span>

The harpsichord was largely obsolete, and seldom played, during a period lasting from the late 18th century to the early 20th. The instrument was successfully revived during the 20th century, first in an ahistorical form strongly influenced by the piano, then with historically more faithful instruments. The revival was the joint work of performers, builders, and composers who wrote new harpsichord pieces. However the harpsichord never completely disappeared from the public eye as it was used through the mid-19th century for basso continuo because despite its low volume, it had considerable power to "cut through" the orchestra. The earliest revival efforts began in the mid-19th century due to its increasingly infrequent usage and there was concern that the instrument could become a forgotten relic of the past.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jana Kramer</span> American country singer and actress

Jana Rae Kramer is an American country singer and actress. She is known for her role as Alex Dupre on the television series One Tree Hill.

Sunny Bak is an American photographer. She shot the gatefold image of the Beastie Boys on the Licensed to Ill album, and the infamous Lesbian cover for Newsweek in June 1993, which still ranks among their top ten selling issues.

Ory Shihor is an Israeli-American pianist, pedagogue, and co-founder of the California based Ory Shihor Institute. Shihor performs, lectures, holds masterclasses and serves on the juries of international piano competitions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monica Lewis</span> American actress and singer (1922–2015)

Monica Lewis was an American jazz singer and film actress. Lewis was the longtime voice of Chiquita Banana in that company's animated ad campaign, beginning in 1947.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">José Iturbi</span> Spanish musician (1895–1980)

José Iturbi Báguena was a conductor, pianist, harpsichordist and actor from Valencia, Spain. He also appeared in several Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical films including Thousands Cheer (1943), Music for Millions (1944), Anchors Aweigh (1945), That Midnight Kiss (1949), and Three Daring Daughters (1948), his only leading role.

<i>The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra</i> 2018 remix album by The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a 2018 album of remixed Beach Boys recordings with new orchestral arrangements performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It was produced by Nick Patrick and Don Reedman, who conducted similar projects for Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.

References

  1. "Beverly Dennis, 79, Actress Who Became Psychotherapist, Is Dead". The New York Times. February 13, 2005.
  2. "Amanda Kramer". Amanda-kramer.com. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
  3. "Amanda Kramer". IMDb.com. Retrieved December 2, 2021.