“Buy anything with my name on it.” There’s a small list of artists that can sing, rap, write sophisticated pop songs and perform everything with irresistible charisma. The list of female performers that can do all of that is even smaller and Amanda Blank is skyrocketing to the top of that list. Amanda Blank is a woman making listeners take notice of her unique voice, while using various genres and styles as vehicles toward unhindered self-expression. Philadelphia born and bred, Amanda and her older sisters were raised in a row house in Germantown by artist ex-hippie parents. She quickly learned the value of individuality and the need for outspokenness. A quick glimpse at her interests conveys the dynamic nature of Amanda’s character, ranging from the radically raw to the sentimentally sweet. From her tastes in music (My Bloody Valentine, Man Man, Santigold, Antony and the Johnsons) to visual art (Jayson Musson, Aubrey Beardsley) to fashion (Ny Chorm), she gravitates from the sensual and shocking to the fun and absurdist. Blank is a member of a loose collective of musicians that includes Spank Rock, Santigold, and Diplo. She takes the influences of 90’s R&B, 80’s dance, indie, new wave and brit pop and weaves them into her own double dutch, defiantly taking the rope out of the hands of haters and then hanging them with it. Whether set against a pastiche of club beats or with her stadium rock group Sweatheart, her voice is undeniably her own. Amanda took the world by storm with her contribution to the track “Bump” from Spank Rock’s 2006 breakout album (and Radiohead favorite) YoYoYoYoYo. Her verse is a serious exercise in lyrical acrobatics as she effortlessly runs circles around the beat. She’s just as at home collaborating with Ghostface Killah and M.I.A. as she is with Britney Spears on Eli Escobar and Doug Grayson’s remix of the hit single “Gimme More”. Her songs have appeared on the HBO series Life Support and Entourage as well as CBS television’s CSI:NY. Blank signed to Downtown Records in 2007 and is releasing her debut, I Love You, on July 14, 2009. Amanda Blank is poised to take the pretty-people party national. –URB Magazine