Miranda Lee Richards (born April 4, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter. Her 2001 release ''The Herethereafter'' included original compositions such as "The Beginner", and a cover of

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

' 1967 single "

Dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

". Her single "The Long Goodbye" reached the top five in Japan, and its

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

was in heavy rotation on

MTV Japan MTV Japan (Music Television Japan) is the Japanese version of the cable television network based in Japan. It is a subsidiary of Paramount Networks Japan K.K., and was launched on November 15, 1993. It can be viewed on cable television, SKY Perfe ...

. Richards grew up in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, the daughter of comic book artists

Ted TED may refer to: Economics and finance * TED spread between U.S. Treasuries and Eurodollar Education * ''Türk Eğitim Derneği'', the Turkish Education Association ** TED Ankara College Foundation Schools, Turkey ** Transvaal Education Depa ...

and Teresa Richards. She attended San Francisco's Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, and then took up modeling after graduation. She moved to Paris to continue her modeling career, but "hated" it and moved back to San Francisco. She met

Kirk Hammett Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist and a contributing songwriter for heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Before joining Metallica, he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, ...

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through a friend, and he gave her guitar lessons and taught her to play

Mazzy Star Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in 1988 in Santa Monica, California, from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal. Mazzy Star ...

songs. She recorded some demos in her basement, which reached the ears of

Anton Newcombe Anton Alfred Newcombe (born August 29, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of the music group The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Newcombe was the subject of the 2004 documentary film '' Dig!'', along ...

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, which she joined briefly. After leaving them, she moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, living in a tent in a friend's backyard, while she met the many musicians who would contribute to her debut. She has also worked with

Joe Firstman Joe Firstman (born December 12, 1979) is an American multi-genre singer, songwriter, and late-night bandleader. He was the bandleader from 2005 to 2009 on American late night television program ''Last Call with Carson Daly'' broadcast on NBC. Fir ...

, and was reported to appear on several tracks on an upcoming Tricky release. She has also performed with The Good Listeners and

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. Her "musical heroes" include

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, Blondie,

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

, and

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American musician. She is a founding member and the lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter of the rock band the Pretenders, and one of the band's two remaining original members alon ...

. She also enjoys trip-hop bands including

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

and the DJ culture of beat-making, the influence of which is apparent on ''The Herethereafter''. Her studio album ''Echoes of the Dreamtime'' was released on 29 January 2016 on London-based record label

Invisible Hands Music Invisible Hands Music is a UK-based independent record label. The label is owned and run entirely by Charles Kennedy who started out by self-releasing cassettes sold at gigs by his first band 'Night World' in 1987. The first CD release was ''Fr ...

. ''Existential Beast'' was released on June 16, 2017, also on Invisible Hands.

Discography

* ''The Herethereafter'' (

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

, 2001) * ''Early November'' EP (2008) * ''Light of X'' (

Nettwerk Records Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing. Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...

, 2009) * ''Echoes of the Dreamtime'' (

, 2016) * ''Existential Beast'' (

, 2017)

References

External links

Miranda Lee Richards' official website
* Miranda Lee Richards at Allmusic.com

Alexander Laurence interview on ''Free Williamsburg''
Miranda Lee Richards and Nikka Costa
1975 births American women singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from California American indie rock musicians Living people The Brian Jonestown Massacre members 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers {{US-singer-songwriter-stub