JANIS IAN -- Saturday, April 9, 2011 at 8:00 PM
Who are the great songwriters in America today? Not the most popular. Not the richest. Simply the greatest.
Ask any student of the form and Janis Ian will be counted among them. The writer of "Jesse", a song recorded by so many others that few remember Ian wrote it; "Stars", possibly the best song ever written about the life of a performer, recorded by artists as diverse as Mel Torme and Cher; and the seminal "At Seventeen", a song that brought her five Grammy nominations (the most any solo female artist had ever garnered) in 1975, and which is now reaching its third generation of listeners.
Ian is a formidable talent, a force of nature. Ella Fitzgerald called her "the best young singer in America". Chet Atkins said "Singer? You ought to hear that girl play guitar; she gives me a run for my money!" Reviewers have called her live performances "overwhelming to the spirit and soul", and "drenched with such passion, the audience feels they've been swept up in a hurricane." Not to mention her short stories, her songs form firm and television … and oh, yes, she also runs a foundation, named for her mother, which works with various universities and colleges to supply scholarships for returning students: they've raised over $300,000 to date.
In 2008, Janis reached another pinnacle in her career, releasing her long-awaited book Society's Child: My Autobiography to stellar reviews. In 2009, Janis and Sony released "The Essential Janis Ian", the first "best of" album Janis has ever released in North America.
For more information visit Janis Ian's website
Photos: Peter Cunningham