Shirley Simms is an American singer and songwriter known for her work as a member of

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band

the Magnetic Fields The Magnetic Fields (named after the André Breton/Philippe Soupault novel ''Les Champs Magnétiques'') are an American Band (rock and pop), band founded and led by Stephin Merritt. Merritt is the group's primary songwriter, producer, and vocali ...

. She has been singing on the band's albums since her first appearance on 2008's ''

Distortion In signal processing, distortion is the alteration of the original shape (or other characteristic) of a signal. In communications and electronics it means the alteration of the waveform of an information-bearing signal, such as an audio signal ...

'', with her and

Stephin Merritt Stephin Raymond Merritt (born February 9, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, best known as the songwriter and principal singer of the bands the Magnetic Fields, the Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. He is ...

alternating between singing lead vocals throughout the album. Previously, she sang on several tracks on the Magnetic Fields' 1999 album ''

69 Love Songs ''69 Love Songs'' is the sixth studio album by American indie pop band the Magnetic Fields, released on September 7, 1999 by Merge Records. As its title indicates, ''69 Love Songs'' is a three-volume concept album composed of 69 love songs, all w ...

''. In addition to her vocal work with the Magnetic Fields, she also sometimes plays

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

for them. In the late 1980s, before he started the Magnetic Fields, Merritt and Simms started the short-lived musical project Buffalo Rome; the group self-released a cassette during their existence. Also during the 1980s, she was also a member of the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

-based band Lazy Susan, along with

Claudia Gonson Claudia Miriam Gonson (born April 5, 1968) is an American musician best known for her work with The Magnetic Fields. She often provides the band lead vocals as well as performing the piano or drums. She is also the band's manager. Gonson met S ...

and Therese Bellino. As members of Lazy Susan, Simms and Gonson wrote the song "Plant White Roses", which was later included on Merritt's 2011 album '' Obscurities''. In a 1999 interview, Merritt described Simms as "the best living female vocalist other than

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

References

Living people 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers The Magnetic Fields members American women pop singers American women songwriters Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers {{US-singer-stub