JOAN BAEZ Biography - Musicians

 
 

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JOAN BAEZ

Name: Joan Baez                                                                       
Birth name: Joan Chandos Baez                                                         
Born: 9 January 1941 Staten Island, New York                                         
                                                                                     
Joan Chandos Baez (born in Staten Island, NYC, USA, on January 9, 1941), to           
Mexican and British parents) is an American folk singer and songwriter known for     
her highly individual vocal style. She is a soprano with a three-octave vocal         
range and a distinctively rapid vibrato. Many of her songs are topical and           
deal with social issues.                                                             
                                                                                     
She is best known for her hits "There But For Fortune", "Diamonds & Rust" and "The   
Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", and to a lesser extent,"We Shall Overcome," "Love   
Is Just A Four-Letter Word" and "Farewell Angelina". Also, "Sweet Sir Galahad,"       
and "Joe Hill" (songs she performed at the 1969 Woodstock festival). She is also     
well known due to her early and long-lasting relationship with Bob Dylan and her     
even longer-lasting passion for activism, notably in the areas of nonviolence,       
civil and human rights and, in more recent years, the environment. She has           
performed publicly for nearly 50 years, released over 30 albums and recorded         
songs in at least eight languages. She is considered a folksinger although her       
music has strayed from folk considerably after the 1960s, encompassing               
everything from rock and pop to country and gospel. Although a songwriter             
herself, especially in the mid-1970s, Baez is most often regarded as an               
interpreter of other people's work, covering songs by Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan,       
The Beatles, Jackson Browne, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder and       
myriad others. In more recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of     
diverse songwriters such as Steve Earle, Natalie Merchant and Ryan Adams.