Holly Miranda

Although initially known for her work with the Jealous Girlfriends, Holly Miranda launched her own career several years before the band’s formation. Raised in the suburbs of Detroit, she dropped out of high school at the age of 16 and moved to New York, where she finished her degree through correspondence courses and landed a record deal with BMG. Her debut album for the label was never released, however, and Miranda eventually left BMG’s roster. Now an independent musician, she made her proper debut with the release of 2001’s High Above the City, a 20-track solo album that was sold during her tours of the east coast and Midwest. Two years later, Miranda crossed paths with producer Alex Lipsen and formed the Jealous Girlfriends.

The Jealous Girlfriends released two albums and toured through the end of 2008, at which point the bandmates took a break to pursue different projects. Miranda used the opportunity to return to her solo career. Wasting little time, she released the Sleep on Fire EP in mid-2009 and began working on a full-length project with producers Dave Sitek — a co-founder of TV on the Radio, not to mention the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' most frequent producer — and Celebration's Katrina Ford. The resulting album, The Magician’s Private Library, was released in February 2010.