Janis Ian (born April 7, 1951^[1]) is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumental musician, columnist, and science fiction author. She had a successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, recording into the 21st century. April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... “Folk song” redirects here. ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music Musicians can be classified by their role in creating or performing music: A singer (or vocalist) uses his or her voice as an instrument. ... A columnist is a journalist who produces a specific form of writing for publication called a column. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and the Internet. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ...

Biography

Childhood

Born Janis Eddy Fink in New York City,^[2] she was primarily raised in New Jersey and briefly attended the New York City High School of Music & Art. At 13 years old, she legally changed her name to Janis Ian, her new last name being her brother's middle name.^[2] At the age of 15, Ian legally emancipated herself from her parents. New York, NY redirects here. ... It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. ... The Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is located near the Juilliard School in the Lincoln Center district of Manhattan, on Amsterdam Avenue between 65th Street and 64th Street. ... Emancipation of minors is a legal mechanism through which a person below the age of majority gains certain civil rights, generally identical to those of adults. ...

Music career

At age fifteen, 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. 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.^[2] The song's lyrical content was too taboo for some radio stations, and they withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly. In the summer of 1967, "Society's Child" reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also #1 or top 10 in several key cities across America.^{[citation needed]} George Shadow Morton was an American record producer, based in New York City. ... Leonard Bernstein (pronounced BERN-styne)[1] (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, and pianist. ... The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. ...

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. Atlantic Records (Atlantic Recording Corporation) is an American record label, and operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Music Group. ... A master recording is an original recording, from which copies may be made. ... Jerome Jerry Wexler (born 10 January 1917) is a music journalist turned highly influential music producer, and is regarded as one of the major record industry players behind 1960s soul music. ... Verve Records is an American Jazz record label, founded by Norman Granz in 1956, which absorbed the catalogues of his earlier labels: Norgran Records and Clef Records (founded 1953). ... See also: Grammy Grammy Hall of Fame Award List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients A-D List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients E-I List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients J-P Alphabetical Listing by Title: Categories: Grammy Awards | Lists ... A History of Western Music Seventh Edition by J. Peter Burkholder, Donald J. Grout, and Claude V. Palisca (affectioned called Grout) is one of several popular books used to teach Music History in North America. ...

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. A Compact Disc or CD is an optical disc used to store digital data, originally developed for storing digital audio. ...

Her most successful single was "At Seventeen," released in 1975, a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty and teenage angst, as reflected upon from the maturity of adulthood. "At Seventeen" received acclaim from record buyers — it charted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart — and critics, as it won the 1975 Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, beating out the likes of Olivia Newton-John and Helen Reddy. Ian performed "At Seventeen" as a musical guest on the very first episode of Saturday Night Live in October 1975. The song's parent album, Between the Lines, also hit #1 and earned a platinum certification for sales of one million copies. Look up cruelty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Scream (1893) by Edvard Munch. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance has been awarded since 1966. ... Olivia Newton-John AO OBE (born September 26, 1948) is an English-born Australian pop singer and actress. ... 2003 Greatest Hits compilation Helen Reddy (born October 25, 1941 in Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian pop singer and actor. ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. ...

"Fly Too High" (1979) was her contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster film Foxes. It earned her a Grammy nomination and became a hit single in many countries, including South Africa. Jodie Foster (born November 19, 1962) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American actress, director, and producer. ... Foxes is a 1980 dramatic movie directed by Adrian Lyne and written by Gerald Ayres. ... Grammy Award statuette The Grammy Awards, presented by the Recording Academy (an association of Americans professionally involved in the recorded music industry) for outstanding achievements in the recording industry, is one of four major music awards shows held annually in the United States (the Billboard Music Awards, the American Music...

One other 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 was a #1 best-seller there in October 1976. Oricon ), also known as Oricon Style, is a Japanese company which provides music industry-related information. ...

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). Ian spent much of the 1980s and early 1990s without a record deal; her label dropped her in 1981 following the disappointing sales of Miracle Row (1977), Night Rains (1979), and Restless Eyes (1981). "Basically, I didn't do anything from 1982 to 1992."^[3] Adult contemporary music, frequently abbreciated to just AC, is a type of radio format that plays mainstream and pop music, without hip-hop or rap since, as per the name, it is geared more towards adults than teens. ...

Ian finally resurfaced in 1993 with the album Breaking Silence, its title song about incest.^[4] She 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). A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ... This article is about the radio show hosted by Howard Stern, for a biography of his personal life see Howard Stern. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

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.^[5]

She still tours and has a devoted fan base.

Other artists have recorded Ian's compositions, most notably Roberta Flack, who had a hit in 1973 with Ian's song "Jesse"^[4] (also recorded by Joan Baez; Ian's own version is featured on her 1974 album Stars). Ian also co-wrote "What About The Love?", featured on Amy Grant's 1988 album Lead Me On. Roberta Flack Roberta Flack (born February 10, 1937 in Asheville, North Carolina) is an American singer. ... Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for her highly individual vocal style. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Lead Me On was a 1988 (see 1988 in music) album by singer-songwriter Amy Grant. ...

Criticism of the RIAA

She is an outspoken critic of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)^[6], 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.^[7] 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.^[8] The RIAA Logo. ... The record industry is the part of the music industry that earns profit by selling sound recordings of music. ... Consumers refers to individuals or households that purchase and use goods and services generated within the economy. ... Eric Flint (born California, USA, 1947) is an American science fiction, alternate history, and fantasy author and editor. ... Naras stands for The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, or simply The Recording Academy. ...

"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'."^[9]

Writing and editing

In addition to being an award-winning singer/songwriter, Ian writes science fiction.^[10] 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 Janis Ian, published in 2003 (ISBN 978-0756401771). When her schedule permits, she occasionally attends science fiction conventions^[11]. The term singer-songwriter refers to performers who both write and sing their own material. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Science fiction conventions are gatherings of the community of fans (called science fiction fandom) of various forms of science fiction and fantasy. ...

Ian has been a regular columnist for, and still contributes to the LGBT news magazine, The Advocate.^[12] She has a selection of her columns available on her website.^[13] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The Advocate (ISSN 0001-8996) is a US-based LGBT-related biweekly news magazine. ...

Ian has said she plans to spend 2007 writing her autobiography.^[1][5]

Current life

Ian currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with attorney Patricia Snyder, whom she married in Toronto, Canada on August 27, 2003. Nickname: Music City Location in Davidson County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates: Country United States State Tennessee Counties Davidson County Founded: 1779 Incorporated: 1806 Government  - Mayor Bill Purcell (D) Area  - City  526. ... August 27 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (240th in leap years), with 126 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Discography

Albums

• Janis Ian (1967) #29 US
• For All the Seasons of Your Mind (1968) #179 US
• The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink (1968)
• Who Really Cares (1969)
• Present Company (1971)
• Stars (1974) #83 US, #63 Japan (1976 release)
• Between the Lines (1975) #1 US, #22 Japan
• Aftertones (1976) #12 US, #1 Japan
• Miracle Row (1977) #45 US, #26 Japan
• Best of Janis Ian (collection) 1977 #5 Japan
• Janis Ian II (1978) #120 US, #79 Japan
• Remember (1978) #72 Japan
• Night Rains (1979)
• Restless Eyes (1981) #156 US
• Uncle Wonderful (1983)
• At Seventeen 1990
• Up 'Til Now (1992)
• Breaking Silence (1993)
• Simon Renshaw Presents: Janis Ian Shares Your Pain (1994)
• Revenge (1995)
• Live on the Test 1976 (1995)
• Hunger (1997)
• Unreleased 1: Mary's Eyes (1998)
• The Bottom Line Encore collection (Live 1980) (1999)
• Unreleased 2: Take No Prisoners (2000)
• god & the fbi (2000)
• Unreleased 3: Society's Child (2001)
• Lost Cuts 1 (2002)
• Janis Ian Live: Working Without a Net (2003)
• Souvenirs: Best of Janis Ian 1972-1981 (collection) (2004)
• Billie's Bones (2004)
• Folk is the New Black (2006)

Altermative topic: Subtext_programming_language. ...

Compilation albums

• Being Out Rocks (2002) includes "Society's Child"

Being Out Rocks is a compilation album released October 11, 2002 by the Human Rights Campaign, in collaboration with Centaur Entertainment. ...

Selected Singles

• 1966: "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" #14 US Billboard, #13 US Cash Box (1967 release)
• 1967: "Younger Generation Blues"
• 1967: "Insanity Comes Quietly to the Structured Mind"
• 1967: "Lonely One"
• 1967: "Janey's Blues"
• 1968: "Friends Again"
• 1974: "The Man You Are In Me" #104 US Billboard, #33 US AC
• 1975: "When the Party's Over" #20 US AC
• 1975: "At Seventeen" #3 US Billboard, #1 US Cash Box, #1 US AC
• 1975: "In the Winter" #97 US Cash Box, #21 US AC
• 1976: "Boy I Really Tied One On" #43 US AC
• 1976: "I Would Like to Dance" #28 US AC
• 1976: "Roses" #37 US AC
• 1976: "Love Is Blind" #3 Japan
• 1976: "Between the Lines" #90 Japan
• 1977: "Will You Dance?" #40 Japan
• 1978: "That Grand Illusion" #43 US AC
• 1979: "Fly Too High" #44 UK
• 1980: "You Are Love" #10 Japan
• 1980: "The Other Side of the Sun" #47 US AC, #44 UK
• 1981: "Under the Covers" #71 US Billboard

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)

To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Martin H. Greenberg (born 1941) is a prolific American speculative fiction anthologist, not to be confused with anthologist Martin Greenberg (born 1918). ...

Trivia

• The hit 2004 movie Mean Girls features a character named "Janis Ian" who was called lesbian by some of her classmates. Unlike the real Janis Ian, the character, played by actress Lizzy Caplan, is not lesbian. Janis Ian's hit single "At Seventeen" can also be heard playing in the background in one scene (starting at 46:38 on the Mean Girls DVD). The movie and the song both address the topic of teenage cruelty and alienation.
• Janis Ian and Billy Preston were the musical guests on the first episode of Saturday Night Live in October 1975. Reportedly, when Ian performed "At Seventeen" on the show, she was suffering from strep throat and a fever.^{[citation needed]}
• 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. ^[14]

2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mean Girls is a 2004 film written by (and co-starring) Tina Fey. ... A lesbian is a woman who is romantically and sexually attracted only to other women. ... Elizabeth Anne Caplan (born June 30, 1982) is an American actress. ... Mean Girls is a 2004 film written by (and co-starring) Tina Fey. ... William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American soul musician from Houston, Texas, raised mostly in Los Angeles, California. ... Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast live by NBC on Saturday nights since October 11, 1975. ... See also Pharyngitis. ...

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Official bio (PDF)
2. ^ ^{a b c} [http://shopping.yahoo.com/p%3AJanis%20Ian%3A1927003878%3Apage=biography Janis Ian: Biography] by Jason Ankeny
3. ^ "Ian, Janis - folk singer/songwriter" interview with Dominick A. Miserandino
4. ^ ^{a b} "At 42: Lesbian Legend Janis Ian Comes Out", interview with Owen Keehnen March 24, 2005
5. ^ ^{a b} "Trying The Patience Of: Janis Ian", interview with David Bertrand Wilson
6. ^ http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View by Janis Ian, originally written for Performing Songwriter Magazine, May 2002
7. ^ Free Music Downloadson Janis Ian's official website
8. ^ Prime Palaver #11 - letter by Janis Ian to Baen librarian, Eric Flint, September 16, 2002
9. ^ Janis Ian: Doing It From The Heart interview with Jan Vanderhorst, October 2002
10. ^ Prose and Stories by Janis Ian
11. ^ Janis at Worldcon 2001
12. ^ "Revenge is sweet for Janis Ian" by Jeff Walsh, March 1, 1996
13. ^ Articles from The Advocate
14. ^ VH1 Rock Stars Encyclopedia by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton

March 24 is the 83rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (84th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Baen Free Library is a digital library of the science fiction and fantasy publishing house Baen Books where (as of June 2005) 77 full books are available for free download in a number of formats, without copy protection. ... September 16 is the 259th day of the year (260th in leap years). ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... March 1 is the 60th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (61st in leap years). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ...

External links

• Official website
• Works by Janis Ian at Project Gutenberg

Janis Ian's comments on the music industry: Project Gutenberg logo Project Gutenberg (often abbreviated as PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize, archive, and distribute cultural works via book scanning. ...

• Janis Ian interview on Slashdot