Joan Wasser
| Joan As Police Woman | |
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Joan performing at the Summer Sundae festival, 2006
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joan Wasser |
| Born | July 26, 1970 |
| Origin |
Norwalk, Connecticut United States |
| Genres | Jazz, rock, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, violin, guitar, piano |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Labels | Reveal Records |
| Associated acts | The Dambuilders, Antony and the Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright, Joseph Arthur, 2001 |
| Website | joanaspolicewoman |
Joan Wasser (born July 26, 1970), known by her stage name Joan As Police Woman, is an American musician, singer-songwriter and producer. She began her career playing violin with the Dambuilders and played with Black Beetle, Anthony and the Johnsons, and Those Bastard Souls. Since 2004 she has released her solo material as Joan As Police Woman. She has released five regular studio albums, one EP, a number of singles and a collection of covers. Throughout her career, she has regularly collaborated with other artists as a writer, performer and arranger.
Born at the Saint Andre Home in Biddeford, Maine, to an unmarried teenage mother, Wasser was given up for adoption at infancy. She was raised in Norwalk, Connecticut, with her adoptive younger brother Dan, who is a visual artist. She credits her background as an adoptive child with her "very extroverted" personality and dressing up a lot. She explained that "when you are in a situation where you're not blood-related to your family, it does become extremely obvious that you're born with your personality".
Wasser began piano lessons at age six and had her first violin lessons at age eight. She played violin in school and community orchestras before leaving Norwalk for her college studies. At the age of 18, Wasser began her music career during her studies at the College of Fine Arts, Boston University, where she was an early admittance student. She studied music under, among others, Yuri Mazurkevich and played with the Boston University Symphony Orchestra. Wasser soon grew disillusioned and found that she "didn't want to make classical music my life, the Beethoven symphonies have already been played a million times and I am not going to do it any better." Instead she joined a number of local punk bands trying "to bridge the gap between the guitar and the bass and play the violin really loud."
In 1991, Wasser joined the Dambuilders who were signed to Elektra Records in 1994. Wasser featured on three albums as a violinist . The band played a number of shows on the East Coast, and found admirers in Colin Greenwood of Radiohead. On stage, Wasser managed to stand out with "bright costumes and dyed, often dreadlocked hair". In 1995, the band appeared on Lollapalooza followed by the release of the album Ruby Red. Wasser augmented her role within the band, adding guitar and keyboard parts, singing vocals, as well as co-writing several songs as found on the album Against the Stars.
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