Margret Wander (born May 23, 1981), better known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Dessa, is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, singer, writer, and former record executive. She is a member of the indie hip hop collective Doomtree.

Early life

Dessa was born to Robert Wander Jr. and Sylvia Burgos Toftness, and has a younger brother, Max. Her father is white and her mother Puerto Rican. Dessa went to Southwest High School in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

, graduating from the

IB Diploma Programme The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...

in 1999. She attended the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, where she earned a B.A. in philosophy. Before becoming an artist full-time, she waited tables and worked as a technical writer for a medical manufacturer.

Career

Doomtree

Initially drawn to their raw aesthetics and unique sound, Dessa forged a friendship with Doomtree. Soon after, she was asked to join the crew and did so. Since 2005, Dessa has toured with and appeared on all Doomtree albums, as well as on the other members' solo albums. She was the CEO of Doomtree; however, she relinquished that post to her label mate, Lazerbeak, to focus on her own career.

Solo career

Dessa's debut solo EP, '' False Hopes'', was released in 2005. Despite being only fifteen minutes long, it was listed as one of the top local albums of the year by ''Minneapolis Star Tribune''. Dessa's first solo album, '' A Badly Broken Code'', was released on January 19, 2010. The singles from this album were "Dixon's Girl" and "The Chaconne." The album features production from Paper Tiger, MK Larada, Lazerbeak, Cecil Otter and Big Jess. MK Larada also designed the album art. In 2011, Dessa released '' Castor, the Twin'', a

remix album A remix album is an album consisting of remixes or rerecorded versions of an artist's earlier released material. The first act who employed the format was American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson ('' Aerial Pandemonium Ballet'', 1971). As of 200 ...

featuring new arrangements of songs released on previous projects, primarily ''A Badly Broken Code''. The original production in the remixed tracks was replaced with live instrumentation. In 2013, Dessa released her second full-length album ''Parts of Speech'' that made its debut in Billboard's Top 200. The singles from this album are "Warsaw" and "Call Off Your Ghost." On February 23, 2018, Dessa released her third full-length album Chime, that made its debut in Billboard's Top 200, and at #3 on Billboard's Independent Charts. Chime was listed as one of NPR Music's 40 Favorite Albums of 2018 (so far). On March 26 and 28, 2019, she recorded concerts with the

Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Em ...

; the collaboration lead to a live album released in November 2019. On January 15, 2021, Dessa released "Rome," the first title in her IDES Series. The IDES series is a project to release a new single on each 15th for the first half of 2021.

Writing works

At the fourth annual Doomtree Blowout in 2008, and via Doomtree Press, Dessa released ''Spiral Bound'' a seventy-page collection of fiction and poetry. Following that, in 2013, she released a book of poems called ''A Pound Of Steam'', in partnership with

Rain Taxi ''Rain Taxi'' is a Minneapolis-based book review and literary organization. In addition to publishing its quarterly print edition, ''Rain Taxi'' maintains an online edition with distinct content, sponsors the Twin Cities Book Festival, hosts read ...

. After having been scouted by the Francis Golden Literary Agency, in 2018 Dessa signed a book-publishing deal with Dutton Penguin, which released her collection of creative non-fiction essays entitled ''My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love'' on September 18, 2018. The book is an uncompromising and candid account of her life in motion, in music, and in love, and was listed by NPR in their guide for 2018's Best Reads. Dessa's work has also been published in periodicals, including a 2009 poem in '' Ars Medica'' and a 2017 article about visiting

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

as a tourist in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine supplement included with the Sunday edition of '' The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors ...

''.

Side projects and non-Doomtree collaborations

Dessa is a founding member of The Boy Sopranos, an almost all-female

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

group, with frequent collaborators Jessy Greene, Aby Wolf and others. She also taught at the Institute of Production and Recording and the

McNally Smith College of Music McNally Smith College of Music was a private for-profit music school in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Initially founded in 1984 as the Guitar Center of Minneapolis, it was renamed Musictech College and moved to St. Paul in 2001. The school was renamed ...

. She was also a member of the indie super-group Gayngs founded by Ryan Olson (of Poliça fame), in 2010, along with 22 other musicians including Justin Vernon. On March 2, 2012, Dessa presented "Mic Lines: Art, Ethics, and their Contested Connections" at

Augsburg College Augsburg University is a private university in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It was founded in 1869 as a Norwegian-American Lutheran seminary known as Augsburg Seminarium. Today, ...

in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as part of the three-day Nobel Peace Prize Forum . Dessa was the host of Twin Cities Public Television's The Lowertown Line, a live music series, from 2012 to 2014. In 2012, she partnered with the "artisan cosmetic house" from Minnesota, Elixery, to create her own shade of lipstick, all of the proceeds of which were donated to

CARE (relief agency) CARE (Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, formerly Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe) is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded i ...

. She was a contributing artist on the 2015 Saint Paul-based "Plume Project", a public art installment in which images and colors were projected onto steam rising from a smokestack in downtown Saint Paul and music and spoken-word pieces could be accessed by calling a phone number. Dessa read her poem "Circle Games". She had a flavor of

ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as s ...

named after her on July 27, 2016, by Izzy's Ice Cream, "Dessa’s Existential Crunch". The same year, she contributed to ''

The Hamilton Mixtape ''The Hamilton Mixtape'' is a 2016 mixtape album featuring assorted songs from the 2015 Broadway musical '' Hamilton'' performed by various artists, as well as some deleted songs from the musical. It was widely well-received by critics. Backgrou ...

'' with her cover of the song "Congratulations.". Dessa collaborated with RockFilter Distillery in Spring Grove, MN, to release two bourbons, Dessa's Time and Distance and Dessa's Hand Shadow. Dessa has been involved with the popular fiction podcast

Welcome to Night Vale ''Welcome to Night Vale'' is a podcast presented as a radio show for the fictional town of Night Vale, reporting on the strange events that occur within it. The series was created in 2012 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Published by Night Vale ...

as both a contributing writer and musical guest. Her first appearance was on the "Weather" segment of Episode 27, "First Date," which featured Doomtree's "Team The Best Team." She was the musical guest for Welcome to Night Vale's second anniversary live show, performing "Call Off Your Ghost" for its weather segment. She appeared again as part of Doomtree for episode 61, "Briny Depths", which featured "The Bends" as its Weather; her single "Fire Drills" was the Weather for episode 122, "A Story of Love and Horror, Part 2: 'Spire.'" In 2017, she co-wrote and acted in episode 113, "Niecelet," lending her voice to the character Sabina.

Notable performances

In April 2017, she headlined a show with the

, which featured new arrangements of her songs as well as a story performed in prose. She followed that set of performances with another two sold-out performances in October 2018, this time premiering new material from her album ''Chime''. In December 2018, it was announced that Dessa would return for an additional two performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, on March 26 and 28, 2019; both performances were recorded to be released at a later date in collaboration with Doomtree Records. Dessa sang the National Anthem at the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

home opener on April 5, 2018. And on July 28, 2018, she sang the National Anthem at the 2018 WNBA All-star game held in Minneapolis. In August 2018, Dessa traveled with the Minnesota Orchestra as they went on a two-week, five-stop tour through

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, reportedly the first tour of an American orchestra to the country, and helped document the trip for

Minnesota Public Radio Minnesota Public Radio (MPR), is a public radio network for the state of Minnesota. With its three services, News & Information, YourClassical MPR and The Current, MPR operates a 46-station regional radio network in the upper Midwest. MPR ha ...

alongside MPR journalist and cultural critic Euan Kerr. U.S. Senator

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minnes ...

used Dessa's song "Bullpen" as her

campaign rally A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or refere ...

walk-on song during her 2020 run for the presidency.

Deeply Human

Dessa is the host of the podcast Deeply Human. The show explores questions about the inner self and takes a deep dive into the psychological, biological, and anthropological explanations of our common traits. Episodes are anchored in her experience discovering the details of her own thoughts and actions. Deeply Human launched in March 2021 and is a coproduction of the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

American Public Media American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and o ...

, and

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., formerly CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc.), a company ...

. It is available on

iHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...

, Apple Podcasts and all major podcast platforms.

Discography

Solo studio albums

with Doomtree

*'' Doomtree'' ( Doomtree Records, 2008) *'' No Kings'' (Doomtree Records, 2011) *'' All Hands'' (Doomtree Records, 2015)

EPs

*''Apple S Apple Z'' (2003) (with Medida) *''Medida'' (2004) (with Medida) * '' False Hopes'' ( Doomtree Records, 2005) * ''Parts of Speech, Re-Edited'' (Doomtree Records, 2014) * ''I Already Like You'' (Doomtree Records, 2021) * ''Ides'' (Doomtree Records, 2021)

Live albums

* ''Sound the Bells: Recorded Live at Orchestra Hall'' ( Doomtree Records, 2019) (with the

)

Singles

* "Matches to Paper Dolls ('Castor, the Twin' Mix)" (2013) * "Warsaw" (2013) * "Call Off Your Ghost" (2013) * "Quinine" (2016) * "Good Grief" (2017) * "Fire Drills" (2017) * "5 Out of 6" (2018) * "Grade School Games" (2019) * "Good For You" (2019) * "Tyranny" (2020) * "Rome" (2021) * "Who's Yellen Now?" (2021) * "Bombs Away" (2021) * "Life on Land" (2021) * "Terry Gross" (2021) * "Talking Business" (2021) *"I Already Like You" (2021) *"Blush" (2022)

Guest appearances

Sims Sims, sims or SIMS may refer to: Games * '' The Sims'', a life simulation video game series ** ''The Sims'' (video game), the first installment, released in 2000 ** ''The Sims 2'', the second installment, released in 2004 ** '' The Sims 3'', t ...

– "No Homeowners" from '' Lights Out Paris'' (2005) * Kanser – "No D in Erogenous" from ''Kanser'' (2005) *

Paper Tiger "Paper tiger" is a literal English translation of the Chinese phrase ''zhǐlǎohǔ'' ( zh, s=纸老虎, t=紙老虎). The term refers to something or someone that claims or appears to be powerful or threatening, but is actually ineffectual and ...

– "Speedmetal" from ''False Hopes'' (2007) * Mel Gibson and the Pants – "Bit of a Buzz" from ''Sea vs. Shining Sea'' (2007) * Heiruspecs – "Change Is Coming" from '' Heiruspecs'' (2008) * P.O.S – "Low Light Low Life" from '' Never Better'' (2008) * Paper Tiger – "Palace" and "And the Camera" from ''Made Like Us'' (2010) * Lazerbeak – "Bound" from ''Legend Recognize Legend'' (2010) * Gayngs – "No Sweat" "Faded High" from ''Relayted'' (2010) * p-teK – "This Bridge Is Burning for You" from ''Oh! What a Miracle!'' (2011) * Hamilton Mixtape – "Congratulations" from ''Hamilton Mixtape (2016)'' *

Lin-Manuel Miranda Lin-Manuel Miranda (; born January 16, 1980) is an American songwriter, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is known for creating the Broadway musicals '' Hamilton'' (2015) and ''In the Heights'' (2005), and the soundtracks for the Disney animat ...

– "Almost Like Praying" – Benefit single for

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affect ...

Relief (2017) * Joey Van Phillips – "Broken Arrow" (with P.O.S.) from ''Punch Bowl'' (2017) * Cover version of

the Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite th ...

' song "Balance" for I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats (2018) *

X Air Credits X Icetep – "Hologramme" from ''Artería Verité'' (2018)

Bibliography

* ''Spiral Bound'' (2009) * ''Sleeping with Nikki'' (2011) * ''Are You Handsome'' (2013) * ''A Pound of Steam'' (2013) * ''My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love'' (Dutton, 2018) ) * ''Tits on the Moon'' (2022)

References

External links

*
Dessa
on Doomtree * *
Deeply Human podcast site
{{Authority control Doomtree members Alternative hip hop musicians American women singers American women rappers Underground rappers Rappers from Minnesota Midwest hip hop musicians Living people 1981 births American hip hop singers Songwriters from Minnesota American spoken word artists Musicians from Minneapolis American people of Puerto Rican descent 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American women musicians Gayngs members 21st-century women rappers