Dinah Cancer (born August 28, 1960) is the stage name of vocalist Mary Ann Sims, best known for her band 45 Grave, which helped found the deathrock music genre.
Cancer's first band was Castration Squad, an all-female punk band formed by Alice Bag of Bags. While a member of this band, Cancer used the moniker "Mary Bat-Thing". In 1979, 45 Grave was formed. The band also featured guitarist Paul Cutler (formerly of the Consumers), bassist Rob Graves (previously of Bags), drummer Don Bolles (previously of Germs and Nervous Gender) and keyboardist Paul Roessler (previously of the Screamers and Nervous Gender). In 1981, 45 Grave released their first single, "Black Cross", and contributed several songs to the compilation Hell Comes to Your House.
The band broke up in 1985, the same year that their song "Partytime" was featured on the soundtrack to the film Return of the Living Dead. They reformed in 1988 and released the live album Only the Good Die Young in 1989. Cancer was also a member of the 45 Grave-related band Vox Pop, and sang backup for Nervous Gender.
In 1997, she formed the band Penis Flytrap, who released the mini album Tales of Terror (1998, Bloody Daggre Records) and the album Dismemberment (2001, Black Plague Records). Cancer and drummer Hal Satan left Penis Flytrap to form Dinah Cancer and the Grave Robbers. In 2004, 45 Grave reformed for their 25th anniversary, with Rikk Agnew and later Frank Agnew, performed the title track to the 2009 horror film Night of the Demons, and released their second studio album, Pick Your Poison, in 2012 on Frontier Records.
