Janis Ian: Difference between revisions

{{About|the singer|the fictional character|Janis Ian (Mean Girls){{!}}Janis Ian (''Mean Girls'')}}

'''Janis Ian''' (born '''Janis Eddy Fink'''; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit "[[Society's Child|Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)]]"<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Song that Made Janis Ian the Most Notorious Folk Singer in America {{!}} WNYC {{!}} New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/janis-ian-folk-singer/|access-date=2021-12-05|website=WNYC|language=en|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205102423/https://www.wnyc.org/story/janis-ian-folk-singer/|url-status=live}}</ref> and the 1975 Top Ten single "[[At Seventeen]]", from her seventh studio album ''[[Between the Lines (Janis Ian album)|Between the Lines]]'', which in September 1975 reached no. 1 on the ''U.S. [[Billboard (magazine)200|''Billboard]]'' album200]] chart.

Born in [[Farmingdale, New Jersey]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Ian|first=Janis|title=Janis Ian Through the Years|url=https://www.janisian.com/downloads/janisiantimeline.pdf|url-status=live|website=Janis Ian| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220130215803/https://www.janisian.com/downloads/janisiantimeline.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-30}}</ref> Ian was raised on a farm, and attended [[East Orange Campus High School|East Orange High School]] in [[East Orange, New Jersey|East Orange]], New Jersey,<ref>Nash, Margo. [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE1DC1631F935A25750C0A9659C8B63 "JERSEY FOOTLIGHTS"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230708225814/https://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/16/nyregion/jersey-footlights.html |date=July 8, 2023 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', March 16, 2003: "Yet when Janis Ian went to East Orange High School, she was kicked out of the chorus." Retrieved December 19, 2007.</ref> and the [[Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts|New York City High School of Music & Art]]. Both sets of grandparents (from [[Poland]], [[Ukraine]], and [[Tashkent|Tashkent, Uzbekistan]]) lived in the New York-New Jersey area, having emigrated via [[England]] around 1918.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=XI4-VnSrEcAC&dq=%22janis+ian%22+fink+parents+born&pg=PA137|isbn = 9781584653035|title = Stars of David: Rock'n'roll's Jewish Stories|year = 2003|last1 = Benarde|first1 = Scott R.|access-date = March 19, 2023|archive-date = July 8, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230708225837/https://books.google.com/books?id=XI4-VnSrEcAC&dq=%22janis+ian%22+fink+parents+born&pg=PA137|url-status = live}}</ref> Her parents, Victor, a music teacher, and Pearl, a college fundraiser, were Jewish-born liberal atheists who ran several summer camps in upstate [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref>{{Cite news|title='At 60,' Janis Ian is no longer lonely|url=https://www.jpost.com/arts-and-culture/music/at-60-janis-ian-is-no-longer-lonely|access-date=2020-12-09|newspaper=The Jerusalem Post &#124; Jpost.com|language=en-US|archive-date=March 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160310205238/http://www.jpost.com/Arts-and-Culture/Music/At-60-Janis-Ian-is-no-longer-lonely|url-status=live}}</ref>

"Society's Child" stigmatized Ian as a [[one-hit wonder]] until her most successful US single, "[[At Seventeen]]", was released in 1975. "At Seventeen" is a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity and teenage angst, from the perspective of a narrator looking back on her earlier experience. The song was a major hit as it charted at no. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, hit number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and won the 1976 [[Grammy Award]] for [[Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female]], beating out [[Linda Ronstadt]], [[Olivia Newton-John]], [[Judy Collins]] and [[Helen Reddy]]. Ian appeared as the firstsecond musical guest on the series premiere of ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' on October 11, 1975, performing "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter".<ref name="SNL">{{Cite book |last1=Cader |first1=Michael |last2=Baskin |first2=Edie |title=Saturday Night Live: The First Twenty Years |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=1994 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/saturdaynightliv00cade/page/124 124–127] |isbn=0-395-70895-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/saturdaynightliv00cade/page/124 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75a.phtml |title=SNL Transcripts |work=Snltranscripts.jt.org |access-date=February 28, 2016 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093819/http://snltranscripts.jt.org/75/75a.phtml |url-status=live }}</ref> The album ''[[Between the Lines (Janis Ian album)|Between the Lines]]'' was also a smash and reached number one on ''Billboard''′s album chart. The album would be certified [[Platinum record|platinum]] for sales of over one million copies sold in the US. Another measure of her success is anecdotal: on [[Valentine's Day]] 1977, Ian received 461 valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received one as a teenager.<ref name=dafydd>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Rock Stars |first=Dafydd |last=Rees |author2=Luke Crampton |year=1996 |publisher=Dk Pub |isbn=0-7894-1263-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/dkencyclopediaof00dafy}}</ref>

Other artists have recorded Ian's compositions, including [[Roberta Flack]], who had a hit in 1973 with Ian's song "Jesse", which peaked at #1930 on the Billboard[[Hot pop charts100]] on NovemberOctober 327, 1973.<ref name="keehnen"/> Ian's own version is included on her 1974 album ''Stars'' (the title song of which has also been oft-covered, including versions by [[Joan Baez]], [[Shirley Bassey]], [[Cher]], [[Nina Simone]] and [[Barbara Cook]]). "At Seventeen" is Ian's most covered composition with 50 versions by artists including [[Celine Dion]], [[Miki Howard]] and [[Julia Fordham]]. Ian's song "In The Winter" has also been covered many times by singers including [[Dusty Springfield]] and [[Sheena Easton]]. [[Richard Barone]] recorded Ian's song "Sweet Misery" on his album ''Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s'' in 2016. She continues to tour worldwide, though she stated that her 2022 North-American tour, which was cancelled when a laryngitis diagnosis became severe, would be her "last full tour".<ref name="officialwebsite_tour">{{cite web |url=http://www.janisian.com/ontour.php |title=Janis Ian: On Tour |publisher=janisian.com |access-date=January 20, 2014 |archive-date=January 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106004749/http://www.janisian.com/ontour.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

* Janis Ian: Live From Grand Center (2008)<ref>{{Citation|title=Janis Ian Live From Grand Center| date=June 24, 2016 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW87XbfVlck|language=en|access-date=2021-12-05|archive-date=December 5, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211205201742/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GW87XbfVlck&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Category:American poplesbian guitaristsmusicians]]

[[Category:American memoiristspop guitarists]]

[[Category:Jewish Americanfolk musicianssingers]]

[[Category:Jewish Americanwomen writers]]

[[Category:LivingLGBTQ people from New Jersey]]

[[Category:20th-centuryWriters Americanfrom womenEast guitaristsOrange, New Jersey]]