Polly Jean Harvey was born on 9 October 1969 in Bridport, Dorset, the second child of Ray and Eva Harvey, who owned a stone quarrying business, and grew up on the family's farm in Corscombe. During her childhood, she attended school in nearby Beaminster, where she received guitar lessons from folk singer-songwriter Steve Knightley, and her parents introduced her to music that would later influence her work, including blues music, Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan. Her parents were avid music fans and regularly arranged get-togethers and small gigs; among their oldest friends was Ian Stewart. As a teenager, Harvey began learning saxophone and joined an eight-piece instrumental group Bologne, based in Dorset.

Outside her better-known music career, Harvey is also an occasional artist and actress. In 1998 she appeared in Hal Hartley's film The Book of Life as Magdalena -- a modern-day character based on the Biblical Mary Magdalene -- and had a cameo role as a Playboy Bunny in A Bunny Girl's Tale, a short film directed by Sarah Miles, in which she also performs "Nina in Ecstasy", an outtake from Is This Desire? (1998). Harvey also collaborated with Miles on another film, Amaeru Fallout 1972, which includes Harvey performing a cover of "When Will I See You Again." Harvey is also an accomplished sculptor who has had several pieces exhibited at the Lamont Gallery and the Bridport Arts Centre. In 2010, she was invited to be the guest designer for the summer issue of Francis Ford Coppola's literary magazine Zoetrope: All-Story. The issue featured Harvey's paintings and drawings alongside short stories by Woody Allen. Speaking of her artistic contributions to the magazine in 2011, Harvey said: "the first opportunity I ever had to show any work was in this magazine. They were drawn while I was writing and recording the record (Let England Shake). It does relate to the record in the way the cycle keeps happening." In December 2013, Harvey gave her debut public poetry reading at the British Library. On 2 January 2014 PJ Harvey guest-edited BBC Radio 4's Today programme. In October 2015, PJ Harvey published her first collection of poetry, a collaboration with photographer Seamus Murphy, entitled The Hollow of The Hand. To create the book, PJ Harvey and Seamus Murphy made several journeys to Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Washington DC. Seamus Murphy had previously worked with PJ Harvey to create 12 Short Films for Let England Shake.

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