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Janis Ian

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This article is about the singer-songwriter. For the character from the movie Mean Girls, see Janis Ian (Mean Girls).

Janis Ian (born on April 7, 1951) is a Grammy-winning American songwriter, singer and multi-instrumental musician.

Biography

Born Janis Eddy Fink in a Bronx hospital (she was raised in New Jersey), she changed her name while still a child. She had a successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, recording into the 21st century.

At the age of 15, Ian legally emancipated herself from her parents and also wrote and sang her first hit single, the song "Society's Child", which told the story of an interracial romance forbidden by the narrator's parents. 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 the Rock Revolution. The song's lyrical content was too taboo for some radio stations which banned it - it has also been reported that at least one radio station that played it was burned to the ground in protest - but that didn't stop it from becoming a hit, reaching #27 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 self-titled 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 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. Its parent album, Between the Lines, also hit #1.

"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.

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. By contrast, in the U.S., Ian managed only one additional Hot 100 entry after "At Seventeen," in 1981 with "Under The Covers" (#71), although "The Man You Are In Me" "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100 in 1974 and "In The Winter," the follow-up to "At Seventeen," brushed the bottom of the Cash Box chart (#97) in 1975. Nevertheless, she has a loyal fan following to this day, and continue to record and perform.

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; 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.

She is an outspoken critic of the RIAA, 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, including the popular "Walking in the Rain," for free download from her website (see below for a link). She was not only one of the first artists to do this but also was one of the first to show that free downloads dramatically increased hard-copy sales, contrary to the claims of RIAA and NARAS.

Besides being an award winning singer/songwriter, Ian writes science fiction. Her works have been published in an assortment of anthologies, and she is co-editor, with Mike Resnick, of Stars: original stories based on the songs of Janis Ian, published in 2003.

Ian married her long-time domestic partner, Patricia Snyder, in Toronto, Canada on August 27, 2003.

Discography

Albums

  • Janis Ian (1967)
  • For All the Seasons of Your Mind (1968)
  • The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink (1968)
  • Who Really Cares (1969)
  • Present Company (1971)
  • Stars (1974)
  • Between The Lines (1975)
  • Aftertones (1976)
  • Miracle Row (1977)
  • Best of Janis Ian (collection) 1977
  • Janis Ian II (1978)
  • Night Rains (1979)
  • Restless Eyes (1981)
  • Uncle Wonderful (1983)
  • At Seventeen (collection) 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)

Trivia

  • The hit 2004 movie Mean Girls features a character named "Janis Ian" who was called a lesbian by some of her classmates. Unlike the real Janis Ian, the character, played by actress Lizzy Caplan, is not a lesbian.

Janis Ian's comments on the music industry:

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