Antony Hegarty was born in Chichester, Sussex. His family moved to Amsterdam in 1977, before settling in California in 1981. As a teenager he was influenced by the British synth pop of the time - in particular emotive singers such as Marc Almond, Alison Moyet and Boy George. In 1990 he moved to Manhattan to attend the Experimental Theatre Wing of NYU and founded the performance collective Blacklips with creative partner Johanna Constantine.
"The first thing I remember about being 14 was being an hour from San Francisco and what was going on. From where I was sitting - from my particular point of perspective, on top of a mountain an hour north of San Francisco in 1984 - it was a strange time to be... it was a lonely time to be a gay kid. You know, gay is a weird word, but for lack of a better word, a gay kid.'
British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Hegarty's music through his Durtro label; the debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released in 1998. In 2001, Hegarty released a follow-up EP, I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy, which, in addition to the title track, included a cover of a David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti song Mysteries of love and a Current 93 song. Antony and the Johnsons' 2005 album I Am a Bird Now won the UK's prestigious Mercury Prize and was called Album of the Year by Mojo magazine. The song Bird Gurhl was featured in the soundtrack for the movie "V for Vendetta".
He has notably worked with Lou Reed live as a second vocalist on Animal Serenade and performed on a number of tracks on The Raven. In 2007, he lent his vocals to the track 'Blind' by Hercules and Love Affair, a New York based dance collective. He provides vocals on the Michael Cashmore EP, The Snow Abides, and guest vocals on The Beautiful Dancing Dust, a track on the Current 93 album, Black Ships Ate The Sky.
He also co-wrote a song on Joan as Police Woman's Real Life album, I Defy, to which he also contributes vocals. He was featured as a performing artist in the film Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man about Leonard Cohen. Hegarty covers If It Be Your Will, in a performance from Hal Willner's Came So Far For Beauty concerts. Antony Hegarty also performed Cohen's The Guests during these concerts, and the song has also featured in Antony & The Johnsons live sets. Hegarty also worked with renowned guitarist Bernard Butler (formerly of Suede) on some acoustic sessions for XFM. The recording of this session can be found here.
Antony and the Johnsons collaborated with experimental film maker Charles Atlas and presented Turning in Nov 2005 in Rome, London, Paris, Madrid, and Braga. The concert featured live video portraits of some of New York City's most enigmatic women. The Guardian called the piece "fragile, life affirming, and truly wonderful (five stars)" Le Monde in Paris hailed Turning as "Concert-manifeste transsexuel".
In 2006 Antony collaborated with Icelandic musician Björk in recording sessions in Jamaica and Iceland. The songs, The Dull Flame of Desire and My Juvenile, feature on her 2007 album Volta. In late 2007 he was voted one of Out.com's 100 gay men and women to "rock" the year as a distinctive "balladeer".
As a side project, Antony Hegarty also worked with DJ Andy Butler in the American dance group Hercules and Love Affair. His vocals can be found on five of the tracks on their self-titled debut album, Hercules and Love Affair, released in March 2008.
