Mary Ann Sims (born August 28, 1960), known professionally as Dinah Cancer, is an American singer. She is the lead vocalist of 45 Grave, which helped found the

deathrock Death rock (or deathrock) is a rock music subgenre incorporating horror elements and gothic theatrics. It emerged from punk rock on the West Coast of the United States in the early 1980s and overlaps with the gothic rock and horror punk gen ...

music genre.

Biography

Cancer's first band was Castration Squad, an all-female

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band formed by

Alice Bag Alicia "Alice" Armendariz (born November 7, 1958) is an American punk rock singer better known as Alice Bag. She is the lead vocalist and co-founder of the Bags, one of the first punk bands to form in Los Angeles in the mid-1970s. Her first bo ...

of Bags. While a member of this band, Cancer used the moniker "Mary Bat-Thing". In 1979, 45 Grave was formed. The band also featured guitarist Paul Cutler (formerly of

the Consumers The Consumers were the first American punk rock band from Phoenix, Arizona, United States, but their members quickly relocated to Los Angeles, and became involved with the then-burgeoning L.A. punk scene. History The Consumers formed in Phoeni ...

), bassist

Rob Graves Robert Douglas "Rob" Graves (born May 18, 1973) is an American songwriter, musician, and producer. He is most well known for his work with the band Red. Graves has produced for bands such as, Red, Pillar, Wavorly, Kerrie Roberts and Head. ...

(previously of Bags), drummer Don Bolles (previously of Germs and

Nervous Gender Nervous Gender is an American punk rock electronic band formed in Los Angeles in 1978 by Gerardo Velazquez, Edward Stapleton, Phranc and Michael Ochoa. Their use of heavily distorted keyboards and synthesizers made them, along with The Scr ...

) and keyboardist

Paul Roessler Paul Roessler (born August 27, 1958) is an American musician and record producer. Roessler was a prominent member of the L.A. punk scene during the late 1970s and 1980s. He played keyboards in bands such as The Screamers, Twisted Roots, 45 Gra ...

(previously of

the Screamers The Screamers were an American electropunk group founded in 1975. They were among the first wave of the L.A. punk rock scene. The Los Angeles Times applied the label "techno-punk" to the band in 1978. In the documentary '' Punk: Attitude'' ( ...

and Nervous Gender). In 1981, 45 Grave released their first single, "Black Cross", and contributed several songs to the compilation ''

Hell Comes to Your House ''Hell Comes to Your House'' is an American deathrock and punk compilation of Southern California bands. It is notable for releasing the first ever Christian Death song "Dogs", as well as including the first studio recordings of Social Distortio ...

''. Cancer was also a member of the 45 Grave-related band Vox Pop, and sang backup for Nervous Gender. Cancer dated

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, best known as the co-founder, bassist, and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. Prior to forming Mötley Crüe, Sixx was a me ...

Mötley Crüe Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums ...

for a period in the early 1980s, before marrying Cutler while both were members of 45 Grave. The band broke up in 1985, the same year that their song "Partytime" was featured on the soundtrack to the film ''

Return of the Living Dead ''The Return of the Living Dead'' is a 1985 American comedy horror film written and directed by Dan O'Bannon in his directorial debut, and starring Clu Gulager, James Karen, Thom Matthews and Don Calfa. The film tells the story of how a wa ...

''. They reformed in 1988 and released the live album ''Only the Good Die Young'' in 1989. The band came to a permanent halt with the 1990 death of Graves from a heroin overdose. Cancer remarried briefly and had two daughters named Ilse and Eirika before separating from her second husband. She returned to using her birth name, Mary Sims, becoming a preschool teacher and running the Ragnarok occult bookstore. In 1997, she formed the band Penis Flytrap, who released the

mini album A mini-LP or mini-album is a short vinyl record album or LP, usually retailing at a lower price than an album that would be considered full-length. It is distinct from an EP due to containing more tracks and a slightly longer running length. A ...

''Tales of Terror '' (1998, Bloody Daggre Records) and the album ''Dismemberment'' (2001, Black Plague Records). Cancer and drummer Hal Satan left Penis Flytrap to form Dinah Cancer and the Grave Robbers. In 2004, 45 Grave reformed for their 25th anniversary, with Cancer as the only original member. Cancer said via her MySpace page: "I'm building this to keep the spirit of 45 Grave alive, introduce its magic to new fans, and as a personal commemorative of my best memories being the driving force and front person of 45 Grave". The reformed 45 Grave (featuring

Rikk Agnew Richard Francis "Rikk" Agnew Jr. (born December 9, 1958) is an American musician with a career spanning more than 40 years. He has previously been a member of some of the most influential bands of the Orange County hardcore punk genre, as we ...

and later

Frank Agnew Francis Thomas "Frank" Agnew (born August 18, 1964) is an American guitarist and songwriter, best known for being a member of punk rock band the Adolescents. Frank's brothers Rikk Agnew and Alfie Agnew, as well as his son Frank Agnew Jr., are als ...

) performed the title track to the 2009 horror film '' Night of the Demons'', and released their second studio album, ''Pick Your Poison'', in 2012 on

Frontier Records Frontier Records is an independent record label, started in 1980 in Sun Valley, Los Angeles by Lisa Fancher, a former employee of Bomp! Records and writer of the liner notes for the first album by The Runaways. History Frontier Records first ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cancer, Dinah 1960 births Living people American women singers American punk rock singers Singers from California Death rock musicians Women punk rock singers Gothic rock musicians Horror punk musicians 21st-century American women