Judy Collins Biography

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Judy Collins
Folk Music | 3 CD Set
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Judy Collins was making music of a different sort a decade before the '60s erupted in America. She would by the end of that decade be highly recognized for her work in the folk music revival that helped fuel the antiwar attitudes in coffeehouses and college dorms. But her musical beginnings were a bit away from social statement. She was born May 1, 1939 in Seattle, the daughter of a singer/composer who was also a broadcast host in the golden age of radio in the '30s. At ten, she was studying classical piano and by 13, had made her debut in public performing Mozart. Barely a few years later, Collins was playing guitar and beginning to listen to the folk revivalists like Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, her love of lyrics a focus. Moving to Colorado, she was to sing in folk clubs in Denver, Boulder and Central City and follow that with a journey east to Chicago and then New York. Singing in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village, Collins was heard by Jac Holzman, who signed her to Elektra Records. That was the start of a long association with the label, one that produced many hits while introducing other artists destined for stardom. Her 1968 album "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" included such musical stalwarts as Van Dyke Parks and Stephen Stills, the latter celebrating his relationship with the singer by writing his song, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes," a later staple of the Crosby, Stills and Nash repertoire. In her 40-plus years of music, Judy Collins has produced 37 albums, many Top 10 hits, Grammy nominations, and gold and platinum status for album sales. She began her own label, Wildflower Records, and plans on using it to bring new talent to the fore while donating a portion of the label's income to charity and nonprofit organizations. Plus, she is still involved with social causes such as UNICEF and landmine awareness. Judy Collins was one of the major interpretive folk singers of the '60s. A child prodigy at classical piano, she turned to folk music at the age of 15 and released her first album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, in 1961 when she was 22. That album and its follow-up, The Golden Apples of the Sun, consisted of traditional folk material, with Collins's pure, sweet soprano accompanied by her acoustic guitar playing. By the time of Judy Collins #3, she had begun to turn to contemporary material and to add other musicians. (Jim, later Roger, McGuinn tried out his first arrangements of "The Bells of Rhymney" and "Turn, Turn, Turn" on this album, before using them with The Byrds.) Collins's musical horizons were expanded further by 1966 and the release of In My Life, which added theater music to her repertoire and introduced her audience to the writing of Leonard Cohen; it was one of her six albums to go gold. Her first gold-seller, however, was 1967's Wildflowers, which contained her hit version of "Both Sides Now" by the then-little-known songwriter Joni Mitchell. By the '70s, Collins had come to be identified as much as an art song singer as a folk singer and had also begun to make a mark with her original compositions. Her best-known performances cover a wide stylistic range: the traditional gospel song "Amazing Grace," the Stephen Sondheim Broadway ballad "Send in the Clowns," and such songs of her own as "My Father" and "Born to the Breed." Collins recorded less frequently after the end of her 23-year association with Elektra Records in 1984, though she made two albums for Gold Castle. In 1990, she signed to Columbia Records and released Fires of Eden, her 23rd album. A move to Geffen preceded the 1993 release of Judy Sings Dylan... Just Like a Woman; Shameless followed on Atlantic in 1994. Six years later, Collins released All on a Wintry Night.

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