Mary Ramsey

Mary Ramsey (born December 24, 1963) is a member of folk rock duo John & Mary and former lead singer and violinist for the American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. Ramsey has also worked with other well-known artists such as Jackson Browne, Goo Goo Dolls, Billy Bragg, Warren Zevon, Alex Chilton and Ani DiFranco. Biography Ramsey is a classically trained violinist who has been playing the violin since age five. She studied music at the State University of New York at Fredonia and played viola with the Erie Philharmonic for four years. She was a founder of the Lexington String Trio. She has also performed with the Fresno Philharmonic, the Santa Cruz Symphony and the Monterey Symphony in California and is currently a member of the Western New York Chamber Orchestra. With John Lombardo, former member of 10,000 Maniacs, Ramsey formed the folk rock duo John & Mary in 1989. The pair made two recordings under the name John & Mary, Victory Gardens in 1991 and The Weedkiller's Daughter in 1993. Both albums were released on Rykodisc and are out of print. Mary Ramsey also played violin and viola for 10,000 Maniacs and sang backing vocals on the 1993 album MTV Unplugged. Ramsey returned to the Maniacs as lead singer and songwriter in 1995 after Natalie Merchant's departure, along with Lombardo. The duo released two albums with the Maniacs, 1997's Love Among the Ruins, which contained a cover of the Roxy Music song "More Than This" that became a top 40 hit on the U.S. charts, and The Earth Pressed Flat in 1999. While with 10,000 Maniacs, Ramsey toured throughout the U.S. and in Brazil, Puerto Rico, Panama, England, Portugal, Germany, the Netherlands and Austria. The band also played USO shows in Kuwait and Bahrain. One of the highlights of her career was a performance at the inaugural ball for Bill Clinton's second term as president.