Ana Kirby (; born August 14, 1974), known by her stage name Ana Matronic, is an American singer, best known as the female co-lead vocalist for the pop rock band

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters were an American pop rock band formed in 2001. Its members include Jake Shears and Ana Matronic as vocalists, Babydaddy as multi-instrumentalist, Del Marquis as lead guitar/bassist, and Randy Real (who replaced Paddy Boom) ...

Career

She joined Scissor Sisters, founded by Jake Shears and Babydaddy, after they played their first live gig at club Knockoff on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five Boroughs of New York City, boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the List of co ...

. She has stated that, in her eyes, the objective of the band is "about people displaying their fantasies on the outside, trying to break out of the everyday, and look like their dreams." In The Scissorhood, the fan community for Scissor Sisters, those fans who hold a special affinity for Ana are known as "nuns". Fans who are attracted to Ana, even if they might not usually be attracted to women, term themselves "Anasexual". In 2005, she was featured on the New Order single " Jetstream", taken from the band's album ''

Waiting for the Sirens' Call ''Waiting for the Sirens' Call'' is the eighth studio album by English rock band New Order. The album was released on 28 March 2005 in the United Kingdom and 26 April 2005 in the United States, and was preceded by the single "Krafty" in Februar ...

''. In 2009, Matronic performed on the glass harmonica at the New Museum in NYC in ''Auroville'', a multimedia ritual tribute to an experimental community dedicated to the guru

Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined t ...

. Ana appears as a guest vocalist on the Mark Ronson-produced track "Safe (In the Heat of the Moment)" from the December 21, 2010, release ''

All You Need Is Now ''All You Need Is Now'' is the thirteenth studio album by English new wave band Duran Duran. Produced by Mark Ronson, a truncated version of the album was released digitally on 21 December 2010. A physical package was released on 21 March 2011 ...

'' from the band

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year the band wen ...

. In 2012, Matronic appeared as an advisor on ''

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing Reality competition, competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and p ...

'', pairing up to assist

Jessie J Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), known professionally as Jessie J, is an English singer. Born and raised in London, she began her career on stage, aged 11, with a role in the West End musical '' Whistle Down the Wind''. She studied ...

. The following year, she served as commentator of the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, cov ...

broadcast of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2013 The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union ...

semi-finals in

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...

, Sweden, for the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, replacing

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

. Matronic returned in 2014 as radio commentator on Radio 2 Eurovision, a pop-up DAB station, for the second semi-final of the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

in Copenhagen, Denmark. Ana Matronic

Matronic appeared on '' Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two'' on November 15, 2013, alongside Jason Donovan and Jodie Prenger. She presented a weekly show on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

from 00:00 to 02:00 on Sunday overnights. The show was titled ''Disco Devotion'' from April 2017, before changing its name to ''Dance Devotion''. In 2022, she announced she will be leaving the station due to changes of the weekend schedule; the final edition of ''Dance Devotion'' aired on June 19. The final show contained 'anything with a repetitive beat', songs of which include Deep Inside by Hardrive, You Got The Love by Candi Staton, and Professional Widow by Tori Amos and Armand van Helden. From July 24–27, 2017, she covered for Jo Whiley and presented a special programme alongside

Scott Mills Scott Robert Mills (born 28 March 1973) is an English radio DJ, television presenter and occasional actor. He is best known for presenting the '' Scott Mills'' show on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 2022 and since then, on BBC Radio 2. Mills has also ...

on July 29 celebrating the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of male homosexual activity in the UK. She performed a live DJ set at

Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park Radio 2 Live (formally known as Radio 2 Live in Hyde Park and Radio 2's Festival in a Day) is a British music festival that took place from 2011 to 2019 in Hyde Park in London, and is due to be held in Leeds in September 2022. The idea behind th ...

on September 10, 2018, and has hosted a New Year's Eve 2018 show for the channel. Matronic covers when

regular presenters are on holiday.

Personal life

Her punning stage name is said to be due to "a deep and abiding love of robots". In 2015, she penned a book entitled ''Robot Universe: Legendary Automatons and Androids from the Ancient World to the Distant Future''; published by Sterling New York. She has a large tattoo on her right shoulder of bionic circuitry. She has a second tattoo on her ankle of a

Celtic knot Celtic knots ( ga, snaidhm Cheilteach, cy, cwlwm Celtaidd, kw, kolm Keltek, gd, snaidhm Ceilteach) are a variety of knots and stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the Celtic style of Insular ...

to signify her Irish roots. Matronic married her long-time boyfriend and fiancé Seth Kirby in April 2010 at

New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building is ...

after they had been together for seven years. She has had relations with women, but stated in a 2013 interview with ''

Diva Diva (; ) is the Latin word for a goddess. It has often been used to refer to a celebrated woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, theatre, cinema, fashion and popular music. If referring to an actress, the meaning of ''diva'' is cl ...

'' she " oesn'tlike identifying as gay or straight or even

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, wh ...

" but rather as "a human being", saying "I believe in human rights. We should treat each other exactly the same whoever we are. The rigid constructs put into place to define us don't really work." Matronic is patron of UK charity Beyond Reflections, which supports

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

people. In January 2019 she appeared on the BBC TV show '' Mastermind'' with Beyond Reflections (then known as Chrysalis) as her chosen charity.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matronic, Ana 1974 births Living people 21st-century American women singers American expatriates in the United Kingdom American people of Irish descent American women pop singers American women rock singers American women in electronic music BBC Radio 2 presenters Musicians from Portland, Oregon Scissor Sisters members American women radio presenters 21st-century American singers LGBT singers from the United States