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Joan Baez

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Joan Baez is an American singer, singer-songwriter and activist, born on Staten Island in 1941. Her father was originally from Mexico, worked for UNESCO and had the family move often, including to Europe and the Middle East. The family became Quakers, a tradition she still counts herself part of. After high school she moved to Boston, where she performed in the Cambridge folk scene. In 1959 she recorded an album with two others that was released as Folksingers Round Harvard Square.

Music and breakthrough

Her real career began at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959. In 1960 came her first album for Vanguard, Joan Baez, which was recorded in four days. Her first three albums went gold. She also wrote songs herself, but sang mostly traditional songs and the work of others, such as There but for Fortune by Phil Ochs and The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by The Band. She also recorded Farewell, Angelina, Forever Young, Joe Hill, Here's to You and We Shall Overcome. Diamonds and Rust appeared in 1975.

Influence

Her music is protest music and is about social justice, a cause she calls the core of her life. She campaigned for civil rights and non-violence. In 1969 she sang fourteen songs at Woodstock. Later she broadened her style with folk rock, pop, country and gospel. She has been performing for more than sixty years and has made more than thirty albums. Baez gave the folk movement of the 1960s a pure, clear voice.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Diamonds and Rust and notice how her clear soprano and the acoustic guitar tell a personal, almost spoken story.

Discography

Studio albums

See also

Categories: Artists