Melissa Auf Der Maur

Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian musician and photographer with a career spanning more than three decades. Born on March 17, 1972, she grew up in Montreal, Quebec, and began performing in 1993 after forming the indie rock band Tinker while studying at Concordia University. She was recruited as the bassist for Hole in 1994 and appeared on the album Celebrity Skin (1998). After leaving Hole in 1999, she toured with The Smashing Pumpkins in 2000. Her solo debut, Auf der Maur, was released in 2004 on Capitol Records; her second album, Out of Our Minds, came out in 2010 on her own label, PHI–MAdM Music. She has also collaborated with Indochine, Rufus Wainwright, Ric Ocasek, and Neverending White Lights.

As a photographer, her work has been featured in National Geographic and exhibited at Sotheby's. She has taken on acting roles in films like How to Make the Cruelest Month (1998), Beyond Borders (2003), and Collaborator (2011). Her 2009 multidisciplinary project Out of Our Minds produced an album, a single, a film, and a comic book, with Auf Der Maur serving as producer alongside her husband, filmmaker Tony Stone. Together they own and direct Basilica Hudson, an arts and performance center in Hudson, New York. In 2007, VH1 ranked her 68th on its list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll, and her solo work has received positive reviews. Her long and varied career continues to reflect her creative range.