Janis Ian

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

Born Janis Eddy Fink in a Bronx hospital, she was primarily raised in New Jersey and briefly attended the New York City High School of Music & Art. At thirteen years old, she legally changed her name from Janis Eddy Fink to Janis Ian, the last name coming from her brother's middle name. 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 (Baby I've Been Thinking)", which told the story of an interracial romance forbidden by the narrator'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 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 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]

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 early music was compiled onto a double C.D. 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 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.

"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 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). Ian finally resurfaced in 1993 with the album Breaking Silence, its title a reference to having "come out" as a lesbian and acknowledged the rumors about her sexuality that had been circulating for nearly two decades. Also in 1993 was her infamous Howard Stern Show appearance where she performed a "new" version of "At Seventeen" about Jerry Sienfeld. Ian has released five more albums since (including one live album, 2003's Working Without A Net). Her most recent album, Folk Is The New Black, was released jointly by the Rude Girl and Cooking Vinyl labels in 2006. She also 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" (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, 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.

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 currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee, with attorney Patricia Snyder, whom she married in Toronto, Canada on August 27, 2003.