Janis Ian
(born Janis Eddy Fink
, April 7, 1951) is an American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumental musician, columnist, and science fiction fan-turned-author. [1] She had a highly successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, and has continued recording into the 21st century. In 1975, Ian won a Grammy Award for her song, "At Seventeen".
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JANIS IAN TICKETS
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Biography
Childhood
Born to a
Jewish family in
New York City,
[2] she was primarily raised in
New Jersey, initially on a farm, and attended
East Orange High School [3] and the
New York City High School of Music & Art. Her parents, Victor (a music teacher) and Pearl, ran a summer camp in upstate New York, and, in that
Cold War era, were frequently under government surveillance because of their left-wing politics. (Ian would allude to these years later in her song "God and the FBI"). Young Janis admired the work of folk pioneers such as
Joan Baez and
Odetta. At the age of twelve, Ian wrote her first song, "Hair of Spun Gold," which was subsequently published in the folk publication
Broadside
and was later recorded for her debut album. At age thirteen, she legally changed her name to Janis Ian, her new last name being her brother Eric's middle name.
At the age of fourteen, Ian met producer
George "Shadow" Morton, at the time best-known for his work with
The Shangri-Las, and was signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records. Two years later she had a national hit single with "Society's Child" (see below), but she recalled in her autobiography that her growing fame made her time in high school difficult, as her teachers frequently made comments about her budding career and, despite her achieving good grades on exams, failed her in every subject due to her frequent absences to perform. She later dropped out of the High School of Music and Art with her teachers' blessing.
Music career
At the age of thirteen, Ian wrote and sang her first hit single, "
Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)," about an interracial romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers: the girl ultimately decides to end the relationship, claiming the societal norms of the day have left her no other choice. Produced by melodrama specialist
George "Shadow" Morton and released three times between 1965 and 1967, "Society's Child" finally became a national hit the third time it was released, after
Leonard Bernstein featured it in a TV special titled
Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution
.
The song's lyrical content was too taboo for some radio stations, and they withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly; in her 2008 autobiography
Society's Child
, Ian recalls receiving hate mail and death threats as a response to the song, and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down. In the summer of 1967, "Society's Child" reached #14 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
Apparently "Society's Child" was too hot for
Atlantic Records as well at the time. Ian relates on her website that although the song was originally intended for Atlantic and the label paid for her recording session, the label subsequently returned the
master to her and quietly refused to release it. Years later, Ian says, Atlantic's president at the time,
Jerry Wexler, publicly apologized to her for this. The single and Ian's 1967 eponymous debut album were finally released on
Verve Forecast; her album was also a hit, reaching #12. In 2001, "Society's Child" was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame, which honors recordings considered timeless and important to
music history.
Her early music was compiled onto a double
CD entitled
Society's Child: The Verve Recordings
in 1995. Many of these songs are extremely sad; a common theme is feeling badly treated by one's parents.
Her most successful single in the United States was "
At Seventeen," released in 1975, a bittersweet commentary on adolescent
cruelty, the illusion of
popularity, and teenage
angst, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood. "At Seventeen" was a smash, receiving tremendous acclaim from critics and record buyers alike — it charted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. It even won the 1975
Grammy Award for
Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female beating out the likes of
Linda Ronstadt, who was nominated for the classic
Heart Like a Wheel
album;
Olivia Newton-John; and
Helen Reddy. Ian performed "At Seventeen" as a musical guest on the very first episode of
Saturday Night Live
on October 11, 1975. The song's album,
Between the Lines,
was also a smash and hit #1 on Billboard's Album chart. It was quickly certified Gold and later earned a 'Platinum' certification for sales of over one million copies sold in the US. Another measure of her success is anecdotal: on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 Valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received any as a teenager.
[4] "At Seventeen" can also be heard playing in the background in one scene in the 2004 movie
Mean Girls
. The movie, like the song, addresses the topic of teenage cruelty and alienation; the film features a character named "Janis Ian" (portrayed by actress
Lizzy Caplan) who was not a
lesbian but was called one nonetheless by some of her classmates in an attempt to demean her (the song starts at 46:38 on the
Mean Girls
DVD). "At Seventeen" is also mentioned in
Jeffrey Eugenides's 1993 novel
The Virgin Suicides,
in which four girls, imprisoned in their own home and essentially cut off from normal adolescent experiences, use the song to communicate with the narrator and his friends.
"Fly Too High" (1979), produced by
disco producer
Giorgio Moroder, was her contribution to the soundtrack of the
Jodie Foster film
Foxes
, also featured on Ian's 1979 album
Night Rains
. It earned her a
Grammy nomination and became a hit single in many countries, including
South Africa,
Belgium.
Australia,
Israel, and
the Netherlands.
Another country where Ian has achieved a surprising level of popularity is
Japan. She had two top 10 singles on the Japanese
Oricon charts, "
Love Is Blind" in 1976, and "
You Are Love" in 1980; and her album
Aftertones
topped Oricon's album chart in October 1976. "
You Are Love (Toujours Gai Mon Cher)" is the theme song of
Kinji Fukasaku's 1980 movie
Virus, which was the most expensive Japanese film ever made at the time. Ian has cut several other singles specifically for the Japanese market, including 1998's "
The Last Great Place." Even now, she's still regarded as the Godmother of Japanese singer-songwriters, and has a thriving career there and in Europe.
By contrast, in the U.S., Ian made the pop charts only once more after "At Seventeen" ("
Under the Covers," #71 in 1981), though she had several more songs reach the
Adult Contemporary singles chart through 1980 (all failing to make the Top 20, however). She walked away from her CBS contract in 1982, while it still had three albums worth close to a million dollars in her pocket to go. Ian deliberately spent much of the 1980s and early 1990s without a record deal. During the 1982–1992 period she continued to write songs, which were covered by the likes of Amy Grant and Bette Midler. She also studied under legendary acting coach
Stella Adler and struck up a close friendship with Adler, which continued until the latter's death in 1992.
Ian finally became one of the first "indie artists," resurfacing in 1993, with the worldwide release of
Breaking Silence
and its title song about incest.
[5]
She also at the same time came out as a
lesbian with that release. Also in 1993 was her infamous
Howard Stern Show appearance, where she performed a "new" version of "At Seventeen" about
Jerry Seinfeld. Ian has released five albums since (including one live album, 2003's
Working Without A Net
).
Ian's most recent album,
Folk Is The New Black,
was released jointly by the Rude Girl and Cooking Vinyl labels in 2006. It is the first in over twenty years where she did all the songwriting herself.
[6]
She still tours and has a devoted fan base. Her autobiography, "
Society's Child," was released by Penguin in mid-2008 to critical acclaim.
Other artists have recorded Ian's compositions, most notably
Roberta Flack, who had a hit in 1973 with Ian's song "Jesse"
, also recorded by
Joan Baez and
Dottie West; Ian's own version is featured on her 1974 album
Stars
(the title song of which has also been oft-covered, including versions by
Cher, and
Barbara Cook). Other artists who have recorded or performed songs written or co-written by Janis Ian include
Amy Grant,
Sheena Easton,
Mel Torme,
Michelle Wright,
Bette Midler ("Some People's Lives," a song written by Ian and her then-partner
Kye Fleming, became the title song of her
1990 album),
Jann Arden, and Japanese singer
Shiina Ringo (covered Ian's breakthrough Japanese hit, "Love Is Blind").
Criticism of the RIAA
She is an outspoken critic of the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
[7], a
record industry organization which she sees as acting against the interests of musicians and
consumers. As such, she has willingly released several of her songs for free download from her website.
[8] She was not only one of the first artists to do this but also was one of the first, along with author
Eric Flint, to show conclusive evidence that free downloads dramatically increased hard-copy sales, contrary to the claims of RIAA and
NARAS.
[9]. Ian's signature tune "
At Seventeen" sold over two million singles in the United States alone yet was never certified.
"I've been surprised at how few people are willing to get annoyed with me over it," she laughs. "There was a little backlash here and there. I was scheduled to appear on a panel somewhere and somebody from a record company said if I was there they would boycott it. But that's been pretty much it. In general the entire reaction has been favorable. I hear from a lot of people in my industry who don't want to be quoted, but say 'yeah, we're aware of this and we'd like to see a change too.'"
[10]
Writing and editing
In addition to being an award-winning
singer-songwriter, Ian writes
science fiction. A long-time reader of the genre, she got into
science fiction fandom in 2001, attending the
Millennium Philcon.
[11] Her works have been published in an assortment of anthologies, and she co-edited, with
Mike Resnick, the anthology
Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian
, published in 2003 (ISBN 978-0756401771). When her schedule permits, she occasionally attends
science fiction conventions.
[12]
Ian has been a regular columnist for, and still contributes to the
LGBT news magazine,
The Advocate
.
[13] She has a selection of her columns available on her website.
[14]
On July 24, 2008, Janis Ian released her Autobiography:
Society's Child
(published by Penguin Tarcher) to much critical acclaim. An accompanying double CD
The Autobiography Collection
has also been released with all Ian's best loved songs.
Personal life
Ian married Portuguese filmmaker Tino Sargo in 1978; they divorced in 1983.
Ian currently lives in
Nashville, Tennessee, with attorney Patricia Snyder, whom she married in
Toronto,
Canada on August 27, 2003. As of December 4, 2008, they have been together for 19 years.
Discography
Albums
- Janis Ian
(1967) #29 US (Verve)
- For All the Seasons of Your Mind
(1967) #179 US (Verve)
- The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink
(1968) (Verve)
- Who Really Cares
(1969) (Verve)
- Present Company
(1971) (One Way)
- Stars
(1974) #83 US, #63 (One Way)
- Between the Lines
(1975) #1 US, #22 Japan (Festival)
- Aftertones
(1976) #12 US, #1 Japan (Festival)
- Miracle Row
(1978) #45 US, #26 Japan (Festival)
- Janis Ian
(1978) (1978) (Columbia)
- Night Rains
(1979) (Columbia)
- Restless Eyes
(1981) #156 US (Columbia)
- Uncle Wonderful
(1983) (Grapevine) (Australia only)
- Breaking Silence
(1993) (Morgan Creek)
- Simon Renshaw Presents: Janis Ian Shares Your Pain
(1994)( Morgan Creek)
- Revenge
(1995) (Beacon)
- Hunger
(1997) (Windham Hill)
- god & the fbi
(2000) (Windham Hill)
- god & the fbi
(3 Bonus Tracks) (2000) (JVC Japan)
- Lost Cuts 1
(2001) (Rude Girl)
- Billie's Bones
(2004) (Oh Boy)
- Breaking Silence
(Bonus Track) (2003) (Rude Girl)
- Hunger
(Bonus Track) (2003) (Victor)
- Stars
(Bonus Track) (2004) (Festival)
- Between the Lines
(Bonus Track) (2004) (Festival)
- Aftertones
(Bonus Track) (2004) (Festival)
- Miracle Row
(Bonus Track) (2004) (Festival)
- Janis Ian (1978)
(Bonus Track) (2004) (Festival)
- Night Rains
(Bonus Track) (2004) (Festival)
- Billie's Bones
(Bonus Track) (2004) (JVC Japan)
- Folk is the New Black
(2006) (Rude Girl)
- Folk is the New Black
(With DVD) (2006) (Evasound)
- Revenge
(Bonus Track) (2006) (WEA)
Compilation albums
- Remember
(1978) (JVC Japan)
- The Best of Janis Ian
(1980) (CBS)
- My Favourites
(1980) (CBS)
- Stars/Night Rains
(Double Album) (1987) (CBS)
- At Seventeen
(1990) (CBS)
- Up 'Til Now
(1992) (Sony)
- Society's Child: The Verve Recordings
(1995) (Polydor) (This double CD contains most of the songs from the first four albums, with the exception of the song, "Snowbird.")
- Live on the Test 1976
(1995) (BBC World Wide)
- Unreleased 1: Mary's Eyes
(1998) (Rude Girl)
- The Bottom Line Encore Collection
(1999) (Velvet)
- The Best of Janis Ian
(2002) (Festival) (Contains some of the songs on the 1980 release but has many different ones and four more tracks)
- Live: Working Without a Net
(2003) (Rude Girl)
- Souvenirs: Best of 1972-1981 (US CD)
(2004) (Rude Girl)
- Souvenirs: Best of 1972-1981 (Japan CD)
(2004) (JVC Japan)
- Souvenirs: Best of 1972-1981 (CD/DVD)
(2006) (Evasound)
- Unreleased 2: Take No Prisoners
(2006) (Rude Girl)
- Unreleased 3: Society's Child
(2006) (Rude Girl)
- Ultimate Best
(2007) (JVC Victory)
- Best of Janis Ian: Autobiography Collection
(2008) (Rude Girl)
Various artists
Singles
Year
| Title
| U.S.
| U.S.
| U.S. A/C
| UK
| JAP
|
1967
| "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)"
| 14
| 13
| –
| –
| –
|
"Insanity Comes Quietly to the Structured Mind"
| 109
| –
| –
| –
| –
|
1974
| "The Man You Are in Me"
| 104
| –
| 33
| –
| –
|
1975
| "When the Party's Over"
| –
| –
| 20
| –
| –
|
"At Seventeen"
| 3
| 1
| 1
| –
| –
|
"In the Winter"
| –
| 97
| 21
| –
| –
|
1976
| "Boy I Really Tied One On"
| –
| –
| 43
| –
| –
|
"I Would Like to Dance"
| –
| –
| 28
| –
| –
|
"Roses"
| –
| –
| 37
| –
| –
|
"Love Is Blind"
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 3
|
"Between the Lines"
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 90
|
1977
| "Will You Dance?"
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 40
|
1978
| "That Grand Illusion"
| –
| –
| 43
| –
| –
|
1979
| "Fly Too High"
| –
| –
| –
| 44
| –
|
1980
| "You Are Love"
| –
| –
| –
| –
| 10
|
"The Other Side of the Sun"
| –
| –
| 47
| 44
| –
|
1981
| "Under the Covers"
| 71
| –
| –
| –
| –
|
DVDs
- Live at Club Cafe
(2005) (Rude Girl)
- Janismania
(2005) (Rude Girl)
- Through the Years: A Retrospective
(2007) (Rude Girl)
- Janis Ian '79: Live in Japan & Australia
(2008) (Rude Girl)
Bibliography
- Who Really Cares: Poems From Childhood and Early Youth
1969 (2002 re-release) ISBN 978-1930709379
- Songbook
1999 ISBN 978-0769201481
- Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian
2003 ISBN 978-0756401771 (ed., with Mike Resnick)
- "Prayerville" 2003 (in Women Writing Science Fiction As Men
, ed. Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg ISBN 978-0756401481)
- Society's Child: My Autobiography
, 2008, Tarcher/Penguin; ISBN 1-58542-675-X; ISBN 978-1-58542-675-1
References
- Janis Ian: A Life in Song
- All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues
- Nash, Margo. "JERSEY FOOTLIGHTS", ''The New York Times'', March 16, 2003. Accessed December 19, 2007. "Yet when Janis Ian went to East Orange High School, she was kicked out of the chorus."
- Encyclopedia of Rock Stars
- "At 42: Lesbian Legend Janis Ian Comes Out", interview with Owen Keehnen March 24, 2005
- "Trying The Patience Of: Janis Ian", interview with David Bertrand Wilson
- The Internet Debacle — An Alternative View
- Free Music Downloads on Janis Ian's official website
- Prime Palaver #11 — letter by Janis Ian to Baen librarian, Eric Flint, September 16, 2002
- Janis Ian: Doing It From The Heart
- Prose and Stories by Janis Ian
- Janis at Worldcon 2001
- is sweet for Janis Ian" by Jeff Walsh, March 1, 1996
- Articles from ''The Advocate''