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Janis Ian
Background information
Birth name	Janis Eddy Fink
Born	April 7, 1951
Genre(s)	Folk
Years active	1965 to present
Website	http://www.janisian.com/

Janis Ian (born April 7, 1951^[1]) is a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, singer, multi-instrumental musician, columnist, and science fiction author. She had a successful singing career in the 1960s and 1970s, recording into the 21st century.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Childhood 1.2 Music career 1.3 Criticism of the RIAA 1.4 Writing and editing 1.5 Current life 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.1.1 Compilation albums 2.2 Selected Singles 3 Bibliography 4 Trivia 5 Notes 6 External links

Born Janis Eddy Fink in New York City,^[2] 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.^[2] At the age of 15, Ian legally emancipated herself from her parents.

At age fifteen, Ian wrote and sang her first hit single, the song "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)", which tells 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 Pop: The Rock Revolution.^[2]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). "Basically, I didn't do anything from 1982 to 1992."^[3]

Ian finally resurfaced in 1993 with the album Breaking Silence, its title song about incest.^[4] She came out as a lesbian with that release. Also in 1993 was her infamous Howard Stern Show appearance where she performed a "new" version of "At Seventeen" about Jerry Seinfeld. Ian has released five more albums since (including one live album, 2003's Working Without A Net).

Ian's most recent album, Folk Is The New Black, was released jointly by the Rude Girl and Cooking Vinyl labels in 2006. It is the first in over twenty years where she did all the songwriting herself.^[5]

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"^[4] (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 Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)^[6], 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 for free download from her website.^[7] 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.^[8]

"I've been surprised at how few people are willing to get annoyed with me over it," she laughs, "there was a little backlash here and there. I was scheduled to appear on a panel somewhere and somebody from a record company said if I was there they would boycott it. But that's been pretty much it. In general the entire reaction has been favorable. I hear from a lot of people in my industry who don't want to be quoted, but say 'yeah, we're aware of this and we'd like to see a change too'."^[9]

In addition to being an award-winning singer/songwriter, Ian writes science fiction.^[10] Her works have been published in an assortment of anthologies, and she co-edited, with Mike Resnick, the anthology Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs Janis Ian, published in 2003 (ISBN 978-0756401771). When her schedule permits, she occasionally attends science fiction conventions^[11].

Ian has been a regular columnist for, and still contributes to the LGBT news magazine, The Advocate.^[12] She has a selection of her columns available on her website.^[13]

Ian has said she plans to spend 2007 writing her autobiography.^[1][5]

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

• Janis Ian (1967) #29 US
• For All the Seasons of Your Mind (1968) #179 US
• The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink (1968)
• Who Really Cares (1969)
• Present Company (1971)
• Stars (1974) #83 US, #63 Japan (1976 release)
• Between the Lines (1975) #1 US, #22 Japan
• Aftertones (1976) #12 US, #1 Japan
• Miracle Row (1977) #45 US, #26 Japan
• Best of Janis Ian (collection) 1977 #5 Japan
• Janis Ian II (1978) #120 US, #79 Japan
• Remember (1978) #72 Japan
• Night Rains (1979)
• Restless Eyes (1981) #156 US
• Uncle Wonderful (1983)
• At Seventeen 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)

• Being Out Rocks (2002) includes "Society's Child"

• 1966: "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" #14 US Billboard, #13 US Cash Box (1967 release)
• 1967: "Younger Generation Blues"
• 1967: "Insanity Comes Quietly to the Structured Mind"
• 1967: "Lonely One"
• 1967: "Janey's Blues"
• 1968: "Friends Again"
• 1974: "The Man You Are In Me" #104 US Billboard, #33 US AC
• 1975: "When the Party's Over" #20 US AC
• 1975: "At Seventeen" #3 US Billboard, #1 US Cash Box, #1 US AC
• 1975: "In the Winter" #97 US Cash Box, #21 US AC
• 1976: "Boy I Really Tied One On" #43 US AC
• 1976: "I Would Like to Dance" #28 US AC
• 1976: "Roses" #37 US AC
• 1976: "Love Is Blind" #3 Japan
• 1976: "Between the Lines" #90 Japan
• 1977: "Will You Dance?" #40 Japan
• 1978: "That Grand Illusion" #43 US AC
• 1979: "Fly Too High" #44 UK
• 1980: "You Are Love" #10 Japan
• 1980: "The Other Side of the Sun" #47 US AC, #44 UK
• 1981: "Under the Covers" #71 US Billboard

• Who Really Cares: Poems From Childhood and Early Youth 1969 (2002 re-release) ISBN 978-1930709379
• Songbook 1999 ISBN 978-0769201481
• Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian 2003 ISBN 978-0756401771 (ed., with Mike Resnick)
• "Prayerville" 2003 (in Women Writing Science Fiction As Men, ed. Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg ISBN 978-0756401481)

• The hit 2004 movie Mean Girls features a character named "Janis Ian" who was called lesbian by some of her classmates. Unlike the real Janis Ian, the character, played by actress Lizzy Caplan, is not lesbian. Janis Ian's hit single "At Seventeen" can also be heard playing in the background in one scene (starting at 46:38 on the Mean Girls DVD). The movie and the song both address the topic of teenage cruelty and alienation.
• Janis Ian and Billy Preston were the musical guests on the first episode of Saturday Night Live in October 1975. Reportedly, when Ian performed "At Seventeen" on the show, she was suffering from strep throat and a fever.^{[citation needed]}
• On Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 Valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received any as a teenager. ^[14]

1. ^ ^{a b} Official bio (PDF)
2. ^ ^{a b c} [http://shopping.yahoo.com/p%3AJanis%20Ian%3A1927003878%3Apage=biography Janis Ian: Biography] by Jason Ankeny
3. ^ "Ian, Janis - folk singer/songwriter" interview with Dominick A. Miserandino
4. ^ ^{a b} "At 42: Lesbian Legend Janis Ian Comes Out", interview with Owen Keehnen March 24, 2005
5. ^ ^{a b} "Trying The Patience Of: Janis Ian", interview with David Bertrand Wilson
6. ^ [http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html The Internet Debacle - An Alternative View] by Janis Ian, originally written for Performing Songwriter Magazine, May 2002
7. ^ Free Music Downloadson Janis Ian's official website
8. ^ Prime Palaver #11 - letter by Janis Ian to Baen librarian, Eric Flint, September 16, 2002
9. ^ Janis Ian: Doing It From The Heart interview with Jan Vanderhorst, October 2002
10. ^ Prose and Stories by Janis Ian
11. ^ Janis at Worldcon 2001
12. ^ "Revenge is sweet for Janis Ian" by Jeff Walsh, March 1, 1996
13. ^ Articles from The Advocate
14. ^ VH1 Rock Stars Encyclopedia by Dafydd Rees and Luke Crampton

• Works by Janis Ian at Project Gutenberg

Janis Ian's comments on the music industry:

• Janis Ian interview on Slashdot