Multitalented performer Ann Magnuson (born January 4, 1956) was raised in Charleston in a middle-class family that encouraged creativity. Her mother, a writer who worked in radio, nurtured Ann’s early love of the arts. Magnuson studied piano and ballet and sang, danced, and acted in local productions with the Charleston Light Opera Guild and the Kanawha Players. As a young teenager, her musical tastes ranged from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to The Monkees, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, and David Bowie.

After graduating from George Washington High School, Magnuson attended Denison University in Ohio, spending her junior year in London studying theater. She earned a degree in theater and cinema and soon secured an internship at New York’s Ensemble Studio Theater. By the late 1970s, Magnuson had become manager of Club 57 in the basement of the Holy Cross Polish National Church in Manhattan’s East Village. There, she played a key role in shaping the downtown art scene, helping to form the Ladies Auxiliary of the Lower East Side and organizing inventive themed events, such as reggae miniature golf, ladies’ wrestling, and slumber parties. During this period, she also founded the new-wave percussion ensemble Pulsallama, originally created for a raucous rites-of-spring bacchanal.

Over the following decades, Magnuson expanded her career across stage, film, and television. She appeared in off-Broadway productions and acted in films, including Tequila Sunrise and Panic Room, as well as TV sitcoms, such as Anything But Love, opposite Jamie Lee Curtis and comedian Richard Lewis. Her film career brought her into collaborations with artists such as David Bowie, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, and Meryl Streep.

In addition to Pulsallama, Magnuson fronted several eclectic bands. These included the heavy metal project Vulcan Death Grip—known for performances featuring real pig heads—the folk group Bleaker Street Incident, and the psychedelic band Bongwater, which released five albums and retains a devoted cult following. She has also written for a variety of publications.

In the 2000s, Magnuson has released three solo albums and toured internationally with a series of multimedia one-woman shows. In recognition of her influential career, she was inducted into the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2018 and received an honorary doctorate from the West Virginia University College of Arts in 2021.