ANOHNI

Anohni (styled as ANOHNI; born Antony Hegarty, October 24, 1971) is an English-born singer, composer, and visual artist. She was formerly known as Antony, the lead singer of the band Antony and the Johnsons. Anohni was born in Chichester, England. Her family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1981. In 1990, she moved to Manhattan, New York to study at the Experimental Theater Wing at New York University, and in 1992 she founded the performance art collective Blacklips with Johanna Constantine. She started her musical career performing with an ensemble of NYC musicians as Antony and the Johnsons. Their first album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released in 2000 on David Tibet's label Durtro. Their second album, I Am a Bird Now (2005), was a commercial and critical success, earning her the Mercury Music Prize. In 2016, Anohni became the second openly transgender person nominated for an Academy Award; she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, along with J. Ralph, for the song "Manta Ray" in the film Racing Extinction. Her debut solo album, Hopelessness, was released in May 2016 to wide critical acclaim, including another nomination for the Mercury Music Prize and a Brit Award.