For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This was not only the essence of the great physicist Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion, it also seemed to be the governing principle of Aimee Mann’s life. Her breakthrough success with ’Til Tuesday in 1985 eventually became a struggle against a label that wanted to mold her into the new flavor of the month. When she finally went solo, her debut album was critically received but she soon became enmeshed in rather torturous negotiations to extricate herself from her now defunct label. She was signed to a new label and finally got the chance to release her sophomore effort and faced the rather dubious task of re-establishing herself in the minds of her fans. What kept Mann going was her songwriting drive, as she commented on in her DGC website, "at one point before Whatever [her debut solo album] came out, things were looking pretty grim and I was getting really depressed. I was talking to a friend and I said, ’I don’t know how to get out of this hole.’ He said, ’your job is to write songs. So you just keep doing your job.’ You do it because there are people who will get it. You do it for them. And you do it just to say it. Just telling the truth has power and value. Whether or not anyone understands, just tell it. Just say it."

Mann was born on August 9, 1960, in Richmond, Virginia. Her parents divorced when she was about three years old. She continued to live with her father after the divorce. When she was four, her mother absconded with her, as Mann related to Billboard’s Timothy White. "My mother and her new man concocted this plan to kidnap my brother and I and go off to Europe, with his kids from a previous marriage. They couldn’t get my brother, but I went with them. My father, an advertising executive, was searching for me with private detectives for a year!" She was eventually reunited with her father after the ordeal and remained with him while she was growing up.

A bout with mononucleosis when she was about 12 turned young Mann’s attention to music. She began to learn how to play her brother’s guitar and while she was recovering, she struggled to master the songbooks of Neil Young and Elton John. Mann then practiced the guitar through out high school. After graduating from high school, Mann was undecided about what to do with her life. Her father suggested that a summer course at the Berklee School of Music in Boston might help her to sort out her vocational choices. The move to Boston and life in the big city changed Mann’s life. She grew confident in her playing as she progressed from only knowing four Neil Young chords to identifying the structural compositions of songs.

Born on August 9, 1960, in Richmond, VA; married to Michael Penn (a musician).

Education: Attended Berklee School of Music, Boston, MA.

Address: Record company--SuperEgo Records, 511 Avenue of the Americas, #197, New York, NY 10011
Website: http://www.aimeemann.com