76 Facts About Aimee Mann

1.

Aimee Mann released her first solo album, Whatever, in 1993, followed by I'm With Stupid in 1995.

2.

Aimee Mann achieved wider recognition for her contributions to the soundtrack for the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia, earning nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal.

3.

Aimee Mann has appeared in films and television series including The Big Lebowski, Steven Universe, The West Wing and Portlandia.

4.

Aimee Mann's awards include two Grammy Awards, including Best Folk Album for Mental Illness, and she was named one of the ten greatest living songwriters by NPR in 2006.

5.

Aimee Mann was born at the Medical College of Virginia, Richmond, on September 8,1960.

6.

Aimee Mann was kidnapped by her mother and her new boyfriend and taken to Europe, where they traveled.

7.

Aimee Mann said her father seemed "like a stranger" when they were reunited.

8.

Aimee Mann did not see her mother again until she was 14.

9.

Aimee Mann forgave her decades later, saying she had been "trapped on every side".

10.

Aimee Mann grew up in Bon Air, Virginia, and attended Midlothian High School in Chesterfield County.

11.

Aimee Mann was unhappy in the band, saying the other members objected to her writing love songs or music they considered too melodic.

12.

Aimee Mann joined the band Ministry, which she said helped her learn to write songs efficiently.

13.

Aimee Mann sang vocals with Geddy Lee on the 1987 single "Time Stand Still" by Rush, and appeared in the music video.

14.

Aimee Mann said it had been abandoned by Epic following a change of staff.

15.

Aimee Mann said later that she had become more interested in "acoustic guitar music" rather than the "post-new-wave dance-pop stuff" of 'Til Tuesday.

16.

Aimee Mann developed her first solo albums with the producer Jon Brion, who had been a member of the 'Til Tuesday touring band.

17.

Aimee Mann found working with Brion exciting and felt her songwriting improved with him.

18.

Aimee Mann toured as part of the British band Squeeze, playing her own songs and songs by Squeeze.

19.

Aimee Mann began to be seen as "an 80s pop casualty" who was approaching "has-been status".

20.

Later in the decade, Aimee Mann became a regular act at Largo, a Los Angeles nightclub that hosted performances from alternative songwriters including Brion, Elliott Smith, Fiona Apple and Rufus Wainwright.

21.

In 1997, Aimee Mann recorded a cover of "Nobody Does It Better", the theme song of the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, for the album Shaken and Stirred: The David Arnold James Bond Project.

22.

Aimee Mann made a cameo in the 1998 film The Big Lebowski as a German nihilist.

23.

Aimee Mann received wider recognition after she contributed songs to the 1999 film Magnolia.

24.

Aimee Mann's music had inspired the film; the director, Paul Thomas Anderson, another Largo regular, said he "sat down to write an adaptation of Aimee Mann songs".

25.

The song "Save Me" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal and an Academy Award for Best Original Song; Aimee Mann performed it at the 72nd Academy Awards.

26.

Aimee Mann took more control over the production of her third album, Bachelor No 2.

27.

Aimee Mann accepted an offer from Geffen to leave her contract, feeling she wanted to be "in charge of her own destiny".

28.

Aimee Mann sold 25,000 copies via mail order from her website, a large amount for an independent artist.

29.

In 2000, Aimee Mann formed the Acoustic Vaudeville project, a mixture of music and comedy, with her husband, the songwriter Michael Penn.

30.

In 2001, Aimee Mann sued Universal Music over the release of a greatest-hits compilation, The Ultimate Collection, which she had not authorized and considered "substandard and misleading".

31.

Aimee Mann was a judge at the inaugural Annual Independent Music Awards, an award for promoting independent musicians.

32.

Aimee Mann referenced the experience obliquely in her fourth album, Lost in Space, released in August 2002.

33.

Aimee Mann sang on "That's Me Trying" from William Shatner's 2004 album Has Been, cowritten and produced by Ben Folds.

34.

In May 2005, Aimee Mann released her fifth album, The Forgotten Arm, a concept album set in the 1970s about two lovers who meet at the Virginia State Fair and go on the run.

35.

In October 2006, Aimee Mann released One More Drifter in the Snow, a Christmas album featuring covers and new songs.

36.

Aimee Mann said she did not enjoy music that combines Christmas songs with modern genres, and instead drew inspiration from Christmas records by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and the Vince Guaraldi Trio.

37.

In 2007, Aimee Mann contributed two original songs, "The Great Beyond" and "At the Edge of the World", to the soundtrack to the film Arctic Tale.

38.

Aimee Mann contributed vocals to "Unforgiven" on John Doe's album A Year in the Wilderness.

39.

In May 2011, Aimee Mann performed for President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama at a poetry seminar at the White House.

40.

Aimee Mann appeared in a sketch for the Independent Film Channel series Portlandia.

41.

Aimee Mann played herself as a cleaner, explaining that she needs the second job to support herself.

42.

In 2012, Aimee Mann released her eighth solo album, Charmer, comprising songs based on the theme that personal charm should not always be trusted.

43.

In February 2013, Aimee Mann and Ted Leo formed a duo, the Both, and performed shows in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

44.

In February 2014, Aimee Mann appeared in an episode of the animated series Steven Universe as the voice of the Gem fusion Opal.

45.

Aimee Mann reprised her role for Steven Universe: The Movie ; with Leo, she performed the song "Independent Together".

46.

Aimee Mann contributed a version of Styx's "Come Sail Away" to the 2014 Community episode "Geothermal Escapism".

47.

Aimee Mann covered the Carpenters' 1973 single "Yesterday Once More" for a 2016 episode of the HBO drama Vinyl.

48.

In October 2016, Aimee Mann released a new song, "Can't You Tell", as part of the 30 Days 30 Songs campaign protesting the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.

49.

In March 2017, Aimee Mann released her ninth solo album, Mental Illness, featuring collaborations with the songwriters Jonathan Coulton and John Roderick.

50.

In January 2018, Aimee Mann appeared in an episode of the FX series The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story as a bar singer, performing the 1984 Cars song "Drive".

51.

Aimee Mann appeared in the sitcom Corporate in the episode "The Pain of Being Alive".

52.

In 2019, Aimee Mann released an expanded 20th-anniversary reissue of Bachelor No 2 for Record Store Day.

53.

Aimee Mann hosted a podcast with Leo, The Art of Process, interviewing celebrities including Wyatt Cenac and Rebecca Sugar.

54.

In 2020, Aimee Mann wrote a song, "Big Deal", for the animated series Central Park, performed by Stanley Tucci.

55.

On November 5,2021, Aimee Mann released her tenth album, Queens of the Summer Hotel.

56.

Aimee Mann developed the songs for a musical based on the memoir with the producers Barbara Broccoli and Frederick Zollo, which was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

57.

In January 2022, Aimee Mann began posting autobiographical comics on Instagram.

58.

Aimee Mann contrasted cartooning with the communal activity of performing and recording music, describing it as a" weird, lonely, insular drive-yourself-crazy activity".

59.

Aimee Mann created them after promising her friend, the politician Antony Blinken, a painting for his White House office.

60.

Aimee Mann said that Blinken "declined to have a portrait of Millard Fillmore on his wall, and I can't say I blame him".

61.

Aimee Mann was scheduled to open for Steely Dan on their 2022 tour, but was dropped.

62.

Aimee Mann said she had heard that Steely Dan did not think a female singer-songwriter would suit their audience.

63.

Donald Fagen, the co-founder of Steely Dan, denied this and instead said that Aimee Mann was not a good musical fit.

64.

Aimee Mann apologized, saying he respected Mann and did not realize any commitment had been made.

65.

Aimee Mann accepted the apology and said it was plausible that Fagen did not know she had been announced for the tour.

66.

Aimee Mann covered the Steely Dan song "Brooklyn " on tour that year.

67.

On May 22,2022, Aimee Mann led a lineup of women performers raising funds for the Magee Women's Institute at Novo, Los Angeles.

68.

Aimee Mann generally plays acoustic guitar for her solo shows, finding it "more convenient", with her producer Paul Bryan on bass.

69.

The Washington Post journalist Michael Cavna said that Aimee Mann often writes about "underdogs, misfits and lonely, lost outsiders".

70.

Aimee Mann felt this was sadder than simply stating the feelings directly.

71.

Aimee Mann dated the 'Til Tuesday drummer Michael Hausman; after they separated, they remained friends and Hausman became her manager.

72.

In 1993, while Aimee Mann was recording her first solo album, Whatever, she met the songwriter Michael Penn, the brother of the actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn.

73.

Aimee Mann experienced intrusive thoughts resulting from an accident when the car of a drunk driver flipped her tour bus.

74.

In 2008, Aimee Mann said she had attended Al-Anon, a support group for the families and friends of alcoholics, to deal with the exhaustion she felt from trying to help addicts she knew.

75.

In 2020, Aimee Mann developed a nervous system disorder that gave her tinnitus, migraines, nausea and dizziness and prevented her from listening to music for a year.

76.

Aimee Mann believed the disorder was triggered by a combination of childhood trauma and the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.