Holly Near was born in Indiana in 1947. After attending the University of Michigan, she taught English at a high school in Poughkeepsie, New York, where she met her partner Peter Asher. They recorded their first album together in 1975, and when it sold two hundred thousand copies within two months, they decided to form a band. They toured the U.S
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in this guise for three years, opening for acts including Blondie and Talking Heads, before finding fame with another album in 1979. Their single "I Feel Love" became a hit that summer, but the band didn't follow it up with another record until the late '80s. The same year they appeared on Saturday Night Live, they broke up for good.
Near went on to establish herself as a solo artist with albums like I Want You (1982), Don't Make Me Wait (1985), and To Be Loved (1997), the latter two of which featured collaborations with David Byrne and James Rhodes.