Growing up in California,
Antony felt himself to be the consummate outsider until he came face to face with the image of
Boy George on the cover of
the Culture Club's 1982 debut album,
Kissing to Be Clever. He relocated to New York City in 1990, where he found a world more accepting of his avant-garde sensibilities and sexually ambiguous nature. He created the cabaret ensemble Blacklips and modeled himself after Blue Velvet-era
Isabella Rossellini and the drag queen that graced the cover of
Soft Cell's 1982 single "Torch." He formed
Antony and the Johnsons and released their self-titled debut on
David Tibet's Durtro label in 2000, followed by an appearance on the
Lou Reed albums
The Raven and
Animal Serenade -- he toured with
Reed as well throughout 2003. He has also appeared in the
Steve Buscemi film Animal Factory as an androgynous convict.
Antony and the Johnsons released a series of EPs in 2004, followed by the band's second full-length, the Mercury Prize-winning
I Am a Bird Now, in February of 2005.
Antony spent the next two years on the road, as well as appearing on
Björk's
Volta and in the
Leonard Cohen documentary I'm Your Man before returning to the studio for the 2008 EP
Another World, which preceded 2009's full-length The Crying Light. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide