27. Antony Hegarty (Antony & the Johnsons)
English-born singer/songwriter, composer and visual artist, Antony Hegarty is best known for his androgynous voice as the lead singer of the bandAntony & the Johnsons. In 1996 Hegarty utilized college grant money to solicit musicians to record some of his songs; thus began Antony & the Johnsons. By 2005 the group was performing regularly around New York City and solicited the likes of Boy George, Rufus Wainwright and Lou Reed to collaborate on their album I Am a Bird Now. The album received considerable praise and garnered Antony UK’s most prestigious award – the Mercury Prize. With lyrics like “One day I’ll grow up and be a beautiful woman,” Antony has never masked his sexual identity, and considers Boy George and Marc Almond two of his greatest idols. Antony’s follow-up album The Crying Light peaked No. 1 on the European Billboard charts. In 2008, Antony leant his vocals to a side project entitled Hercules and Love Affair. Their track “Blind” ranked No. 2 on Entertainment Weekly’s “10 Best Singles of 2008.” Antony’s fame is still growing and as a relatively new artist, he has quite a fan in Boy George. George once stated he envisions Antony “outstripping Norah Jones and selling millions of records if anyone had the balls to give him a huge record contract.”
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