Antony’s Influences: Keeping Up With the Johnsons

(Photo: Lichfield/Getty Images)

1. Kate Bush
The Kick Inside is the first album Antony bought, when he was 7 years old. He still listens to it.

(Photo: Patrick McMullan )

2. Boy George
One of his earliest heroes, when he was a child; Boy George later sang on Antony’s “You Are My Sister.”

3. Mondo New York
A 1988 documentary tour of underground New York in which Joey Arias, dressed as Billie Holiday, sings “A Hard Day’s Night.”

(Photo: Fayette Hauser)

4. Cockettes
San Francisco–based gender-bending hippie performance group that inspired some of Antony’s performances.

(Photo: Express Newspapers/Getty Images)

5. Marc Almond
Gay Soft Cell crooner who later appeared on the BBC with Antony singing “River of Sorrow.”

(Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

6. Nina Simone
“Things would shine out of her, sometimes in a very brutal way,” Antony says admiringly of the singer, who died in 2003.

(Photo: Tim Boxer/Getty Images)

7. Candy Darling
Transsexual Warhol acolyte whose picture, as she was dying, graces the cover of I Am a Bird Now.

(Photo: Patrick McMullan )

8. Lou Reed
Antony was featured on his 2003 album, The Raven, and tour, where he sang “Candy Says,” Reed’s Darling tribute.

9. Andy Butler
Old friend who went on to form Hercules and Love Affair. Their album features Antony singing, giving him disco cred at last.

10. Nico Muhly
Worked with Muhly on a symphony project, plus two songs on Antony’s new album, and “a few other flourishes.”

Related:

• Archive: “Music Features”
• Articles by Carl Swanson
• Table of Contents: Jan 19, 2009 issue of New York | Subscribe!