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Shawn Colvin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Shawn Colvin | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Shawn Colvin |
| Born | January 10, 1956 Vermillion, South Dakota, United States |
| Origin | Carbondale, Illinois, United States |
| Genre(s) | Rock, Contemporary Folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, Guitar |
| Years active | 1970s – present |
| Website | www.shawncolvin.com |
Shawn Colvin (born January 10, 1956 in Vermillion, South Dakota) is a Grammy Award-winning American musician.
Contents |
Colvin's formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age of 10. Her first public concert was at age 15 at the University of Illinois campus. Colvin cites Joni Mitchell as a primary influence on her music, and her initial performances closely mirrored Mitchell's inflections and guitar tunings.
Colvin began working in the music scene in earnest in the late 1970s, first in Austin, Texas and then nationally. She met music partner John Leventhal during this time; Leventhal would go on to be Colvin's producer on several albums. Colvin often lends her talent to contemporaries in the music business - she can be heard singing the backing vocals on the Suzanne Vega hit, "Luka". Vega returned the favor, singing backup on Colvin's, "Diamond In The Rough", from her debut album, "Steady On". Colvin, again can be heard singing backing vocals on Mary Chapin Carpenter's, "The Hard Way" and "Come On Come On" and Mary Chapin returns the favor on Colvin's, "Climb On a Back That's Strong", from Colvin's "Fat City" album. She also contributed in the studio and on-stage to several Bruce Hornsby songs.
Colvin's first several albums were met with critical acclaim, but did not sell in substantial numbers. After several albums of original work, Colvin released "Cover Girl", a collection of cover songs, but the work was a departure for her and was not well received. During this period, she also toured as Richard Thompson's opening act and back-up singer.
Colvin experienced breakthrough success with A Few Small Repairs in October 1996. The single "Sunny Came Home" reached the US Top Ten, and won Grammy Awards for Song and Record of the Year. (During her acceptance speech, however, she was interrupted by Ol' Dirty Bastard.) She has released several subsequent albums that were nominated for Grammys, and has also released a greatest-hits album and a collection of Christmas music.
She was the guest vocal artist on the Lisa Loeb single "'Falling in Love" as well as appearing at various Lilith Fair music festivals. Colvin's song "Nothin' on Me" served as the theme song to the Brooke Shields situation comedy Suddenly Susan. She also has been featured on the live music show Austin City Limits and played at the 2003 Austin City Limits Music Festival. She also appeared in a tribute to her idol Joni Mitchell in 2001 that was broadcast on the cable network TNT.
Shawn made two memorable appearances on The Larry Sanders Show, in the episodes "The Young Intern" (where she performed an acoustic version of "Polaroids") and "The New Writer" (where she performed an acoustic version of "Get Out of This House"). Colvin also ended the final episode of The Larry Sanders Show with an acoustic cover of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow?".
She has made two guest appearances on The Simpsons as Rachel Jordan, lead singer for a Christian rock band. She first appears in "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily", where Rachel wins Ned Flanders' heart after the untimely death of his wife, Maude. Later, in the episode "I'm Goin' to Praiseland", Ned dates Rachel, only to scare her off when he tries to turn her into a version of Maude. The two promptly get back together at the end of the same episode, though she hasn't been mentioned in the series since.
Shawn Colvin appeared on Live from Abbey Road which aired on Channel 4 in the UK and the Sundance Channel in the USA. Her live session recorded at Abbey Road Studios was shown on an episode with Nerina Pallot, The Zutons and Ray LaMontagne.
In 2007, Shawn released a single entitled "Crazy", a cover of the Gnarls Barkley song.
Colvin lives with her daughter, Caledonia, in Austin, Texas, and still participates in the Austin music scene.
She supports liberal causes and has played benefit concerts for candidates of the Democratic Party. She is also a supporter of the Texas Public Interest Research Group.
Her brother Geoff is an editor at large with Fortune, and hosted the post-Louis Rukeyser version of Wall $treet Week until its June 2005 cancellation.
- Grammy Awards
- 1991: Best Contemporary Folk Album — Steady On
- 1998: Record of the Year — "Sunny Came Home"
- 1998: Song of the Year — "Sunny Came Home"
- Grammy Nominations
- 1994: Best Contemporary Folk Recording — Fat City
- 1994: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — "I Don't Know Why"
- 1995: Best Contemporary Folk Album — Cover Girl
- 1997: Best Pop Album — A Few Small Repairs
- 1997: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — "Get Out Of This House"
- 1998: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance — "Sunny Came Home"
- New York Music Award
- 1989: Best Debut Female Vocalist
- Steady On (1989) #111 U.S.Gold
- Fat City (1992) #142 U.S.
- Cover Girl (1994) #48 U.S.
- Live '88 (1995)
- A Few Small Repairs (1996) #39 U.S. RIAA: Platinum
- Holiday Songs and Lullabies (1998) #181 U.S.
- Whole New You (2001) #101 U.S.
- Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection (2004)
- These Four Walls (2006) #109 U.S.
- 1990: "Steady On" — US Modern Rock #23/Adult Contemporary #30
- 1992: "Round Of Blues" — US Adult Contemporary #44
- 1993: "I Don't Know Why" — US Adult Contemporary #16
- 1997: "Sunny Came Home" — US Hot 100 #7/Hot 100 Airplay #1/Adult Contemporary #1
- 2001: "Whole New You" — US Adult Contemporary #24
- 1993: "I Don't Know Why" - #62
- 1994: "Round Of Blues" - #73
- 1994: "Every Little Thing He Does Is Magic" - #65
- 1995: "One Cool Remove" (with Mary Chapin Carpenter) - #40
- 1995: "I Don't Know Why" (Re-issue) - #52
- 1997: "Get Out Of This House" - #70
- 1998: "Sunny Came Home" - #29
- Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours Track 7: "The Chain" — (CD) — Atlantic Records - 1998
- Elmopalooza! Track 6: "I Don't Want To Live on The Moon" (with Ernie) — (CD) — Sony Wonder - 1998
- Runaway Bride Track 8: "Never Saw Blue Like That Before" — (CD) — Sony - 1999
- Serendipity Track 7: "When You Know" — (CD) — Sony - 2001