Suzanne Vega
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox musical artist
Suzanne Nadine Vega (Template:Née Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of folk-inspired music.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the UK, "Marlene on the Wall", "Left of Center", "Luka" and "No Cheap Thrill".
"Tom's Diner", which was originally released as an a cappella recording on Vega's second studio album, Solitude Standing (1987), was remixed in 1990 as a dance track by English electronic duo DNA with her vocals, and it became a Top 10 hit in five countries. The original a cappella recording of the song was used as a test during the creation of the MP3 format.<ref>Sveriges Television, Hitlåtens historia: Tom's Diner – Suzanne Vega. Aired February 6, 2010. {{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Template:AnchorThe role of her song in the development of the MP3 compression prompted Vega to be given the title of "The Mother of the MP3".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Vega has released ten studio albums; her most recent release is the studio album Flying With Angels, released in 2025.
Early lifeEdit
Suzanne Nadine Vega was born on July 11, 1959, in Santa Monica, California.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Her parents divorced soon after her birth.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her mother, Pat Vega (née Schumacher), is a computer systems analyst of German-Swedish heritage. Her father, Richard Peck, is of English, Irish and Scottish origin.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her stepfather, Edgardo Vega Yunqué, also known as Ed Vega, was a writer and teacher from Puerto Rico.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> When Vega was two and a half, her family moved to New York City. She grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side.<ref name=bio>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was not aware that Peck was her biological father until she was nine years old. Vega and Peck met for the first time in her late 20s, and they remain in contact.<ref name="theguardian"/>
She attended the High School of Performing Arts<ref name="Larkin">Template:Cite book</ref> (since renamed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School) where she studied modern dance and graduated in 1977.
CareerEdit
1980sEdit
While majoring in English literature at Barnard College,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village, where she was a regular contributor to Jack Hardy's Monday night songwriters' group at the Cornelia Street Cafe and had some of her first songs published on Fast Folk anthology albums.<ref>[1] Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> In 1984, she received a major label recording contract, making her one of the first 'Fast Folk' artists to break out on a major label.
Vega's self-titled debut studio album was released in 1985 and was well received by critics in the U.S.;<ref name=bio/> it reached platinum status in the United Kingdom. Produced by Lenny Kaye and Steve Addabbo, the songs feature Vega's acoustic guitar in straightforward arrangements. A video was released for the album's song "Marlene on the Wall", which went into MTV and VH1's rotations. During this period Vega also wrote lyrics for two songs ("Lightning" and "Freezing") on Songs from Liquid Days (1986) by composer Philip Glass.<ref name="Holden">Template:Cite news</ref>
Vega's song "Left of Center" co-written with Steve Addabbo for the 1986 John Hughes film Pretty in Pink reached No. 32 on the UK Singles Chart in 1986.<ref>Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 584. Template:ISBN.</ref>
Her next studio album, Solitude Standing (1987), garnered critical and commercial success, selling over one million copies in the U.S.<ref name="riaa.com">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It includes the international hit single "Luka", which is written about, and from the point of view of, an abused child.<ref name="Larkin"/> (Not until many years later did Vega reveal the song dealt with the abuse she herself had suffered from her stepfather.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) While continuing a focus on Vega's acoustic guitar, the music of her second album is more strongly pop-oriented and features fuller arrangements. Following the success of the album, in 1989 Vega became the first female artist to headline the Glastonbury Festival.<ref name="glasto">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vega performed her set whilst wearing a bulletproof vest, her band having received death threats from an obsessed fan ahead of the festival.<ref name="glasto" />
The acappella "Tom's Diner" from Solitude Standing became a hit in 1990, having been remixed by two British dance producers under the name DNA.<ref name="Larkin"/> The track was originally a bootleg, until Vega allowed DNA to release it through her record company, and it became her biggest hit.
1990sEdit
Vega's third studio album, Days of Open Hand (1990), continued in the style of her first two studio albums.
In 1992, she released her fourth studio album Template:Proper name, which mixed folk and pop music with electronic elements.<ref name="Chiu 2017 i377">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This record was awarded Gold status by the RIAA in recognition of selling over 500,000 copies in the U.S.<ref name="riaa.com"/> The single "Blood Makes Noise" from this album peaked at number-one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks. Vega later married the album's producer, Mitchell Froom.<ref name="Chiu 2017 i377"/>
Her fifth studio album, Nine Objects of Desire, was released in 1996.<ref name="Larkin"/> The music varies between a frugal, simple style and the industrial production of Template:Proper name. This album contains "Caramel", featured in the movie The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996), and later the trailer for the movie Closer (2004). A song not included on that album, "Woman on the Tier", was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Dead Man Walking (1996).
In 1997 she took a singing part on the concept album Heaven & Hell, a musical interpretation of the seven deadly sins by her colleague Joe Jackson, with whom she had already collaborated in 1986 on "Left of Center" from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack (with Vega singing and Jackson playing piano).<ref name="Morse">Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref>
In 1999, Avon Books published Vega's book The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings of Suzanne Vega, a volume of poems, lyrics, essays and journalistic pieces.<ref name="Gewertz">Template:Cite news</ref>
2000sEdit
In September 2001, Vega released a new studio album entitled Songs in Red and Gray. Three songs deal with Vega's divorce from her first husband, Mitchell Froom.
At the memorial concert for her brother Tim Vega in December 2002, Vega began her role as the subject of the direct-cinema documentary, Some Journey, directed by Christopher Seufert of Mooncusser Films. The documentary has not been completed.
Underground hip hop duo Felt named a track "Suzanne Vega" on their studio album Felt: A Tribute to Christina Ricci, released in 2002.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2003, the 21-song greatest hits compilation album Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega was released. (The UK version of Retrospective included an eight-song bonus CD as well as a DVD containing 12 songs). In the same year she was invited by Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist Bill Frisell to play at the Century of Song concerts at the famed Ruhrtriennale in Germany.
In 2003, she hosted the American Public Media radio series American Mavericks, about 20th century American composers, which received the Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On August 3, 2006, Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live in the Internet-based virtual world, Second Life. The event was hosted by John Hockenberry of public radio's The Infinite Mind.
On September 17, 2006, she performed in Central Park, as part of a benefit concert for the Save Darfur Coalition.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> During the concert she highlighted her support for Amnesty International, of which she has been a member since 1988.<ref>The Official Suzanne Vega Website .::. By Suzanne: Articles, Poetry and Essays. Web.archive.org (November 11, 2006). Retrieved on May 7, 2011.</ref>
In early October 2006, Vega participated in the Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, the oldest festival of documentary films in Europe, in which she appeared as a main guest. She was invited there as the subject of the documentary film by director Christopher Seufert, that had a test screening at the festival. At the end of the festival she performed her classic songs and added one brand new piece called "New York Is a Woman".
Vega is also interviewed in the book Everything Is Just a Bet which was published in Czech in October 2006. The book contains 12 interview transcriptions from the talk show called Stage Talks that regularly runs in the Švandovo divadlo (Švandovo Theatre) in Prague. Vega introduced the book to the audience of the Švandovo divadlo (Švandovo Theatre), and together with some other Czech celebrities gave a signing session.
She signed a new recording contract with Blue Note Records in the spring of 2006, and released Beauty & Crime on July 17, 2007. The album, produced by Jimmy Hogarth, won a Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Her contract was not renewed and she was released in June 2008.<ref>[2] Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
In 2007, Vega followed the lead of numerous other mainstream artists and released her track "Pornographer's Dream" as podsafe. The song spent two weeks at number-one during 2007 and finished as the No. 11<ref name=pmc1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> hit of the year on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. In 2015, Vega joined The 14th Annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was also a judge for the 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Independent Music Awards.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In 2008, fire at a Universal Music Group vault in Los Angeles County resulted in the loss or damage of some Vega recordings.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
2010sEdit
A partial cover version of her song "Tom's Diner" was used to introduce the 2010 British movie 4.3.2.1., with its lyrics largely rewritten to echo the plot. This musical hybrid was released as "Keep Moving". Vega participated in the Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse studio album Dark Night of the Soul (2010). She wrote both melody and lyrics for her song, which is titled "Man Who Played God", inspired by a biography of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso. Vega sang lead vocals on the song "Now I Am an Arsonist" with singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton on his studio album, Artificial Heart (2011).
Vega has re-recorded her back-catalogue,<ref>Suzanne Vega | Brief Bio 2010 Template:Webarchive. Suzannevega.com. Retrieved on May 7, 2011.</ref> both for artistic and commercial (and control) reasons,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in the Close-up series. Vol. 1 (Love Songs) and Vol. 2 (People & Places) appeared in 2010 while Vol. 3 (States of Being) was released in July 2011<ref>Twitter / Suzanne Vega: Vol 3 of Close-Up coming out in July of this year – States of Being. Twitter.com. Retrieved on May 24, 2011.</ref> followed by Vol. 4 (Songs of Family) in September 2012. Volumes 2, 3 and 4 of the Close-Up albums included previously unrecorded material; Volumes 2 and 3 each included one new collaboratively written song, while Volume 4 included three songs that Vega had written years earlier, but had not previously gotten around to recording. In all, Vega's Close-Up series features 60 re-recorded songs and five new compositions, representing about three-quarters of her lifetime songwriting output.
While performing live, Vega and long-term collaborator Gerry Leonard began to introduce a number of new songs into the setlist, including the live favorite "I Never Wear White". Over the course of a year, the songs were completed and recorded in a live-studio setting with the help of a number of guests. Produced by Leonard, Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles was released in February 2014.<ref>"Ishtar Press-release Template:Webarchive Announcement headliner for the Festival Antigel in Geneva, February 15, 2014</ref> It was her first album of new material in seven years and became Vega's first studio album to reach the UK Top 40 since 1992, peaking at No. 37.
Vega's ninth studio album, Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, was released on October 14, 2016.<ref name="wsj-mccullers">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="nimbit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
2020sEdit
In February and March 2023, Vega was to tour the UK.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
On May 2, 2025, Vega released the album "Flying With Angels".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
SongwritingEdit
At the age of nine she began to write poetry. She was encouraged to do so by her stepfather.<ref name="sodajerker"/> It took her three years to write her first song, "Brother Mine", which was finished at the age of 14.<ref name="americansongwriter">Template:Cite interview</ref> It was first published on Close-Up Vol. 4, Songs of Family (2012), along with her other early song, "The Silver Lady".<ref name="sodajerker">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Vega has not learned to read musical notation; she sees the melody as a shape and chords as colors. She focuses on lyrics and melodic ideas; for advanced features – like intros or bridges – she relies on other artists with whom she works.<ref name="sodajerker"/> Most of her albums, except the first one, were made in such cooperation.<ref name="slugmag">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Vega finishes 80% of the songs she starts writing.<ref name="americansongwriter"/> She got the melody of "Tom's Diner" while walking down Broadway in New York. She was thinking of French New Wave films.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The most important artistic influences on her work come from Lou Reed, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen. Some other important artists for her are Paul Simon and Laura Nyro.<ref name="americansongwriter"/>
GuitarsEdit
Suzanne Vega currently plays Furch guitars, a brand made in the Czech Republic<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and was the focus of a win-a-guitar competition run by Furch in 2021.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the mid-1980s she played Guild guitars,<ref>Liner notes, Solitude Standing, 1987</ref> and in the 1990s she played Yamaha and Taylor guitars at different times.
TheaterEdit
Vega and Duncan Sheik wrote a play Carson McCullers Talks About Love, about the life of the writer Carson McCullers. In the play directed by Kay Matschullat, which premiered in 2011, Vega alternates between monologue and songs.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vega and Sheik were nominated for Outstanding Music in a Play for the 57th annual Drama Desk awards.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The album Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers, based on this play, was released in 2016.<ref name="wsj-mccullers"/><ref name="nimbit"/> Vega considers it to be a third version, because it's rewritten, and she made the first version in college.<ref name="theguardian">Template:Cite news</ref>
In early 2020, Vega played the role of "Band Leader" in an off-Broadway musical based on the 1969 movie Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, directed by Scott Elliott and produced at The New Group in New York City. She replaced Sheik, who wrote the show's music and co-wrote the lyrics with Amanda Green.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his review for The New York Times, critic Ben Brantley called the "brandy-voiced" Vega "a delightful, smoothly sardonic presence."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Amanuensis ProductionsEdit
Vega established her own recording label after the 2008 financial crisis. From that point, she stopped working for Blue Note Records and started thinking about re-recording her back catalog with new arrangements and gaining control over her works (which she eventually did with the 2014 Close-Up Series).<ref name="sodajerker"/>
The name "Amanuensis Productions" was meant as a private joke about "servant" (amanuensis) owning the "masters" (recording masters), also a pun at A&M still legally owning her previous master tapes.<ref name="slugmag"/>
Running the label proved to be harder than she expected. In 2015, it barely "broke even", but new licenses were coming for "Tom's Diner".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
On March 17, 1995, Vega married Mitchell Froom, a musician and a record producer (who played on and produced Template:Proper name and Nine Objects of Desire). They have a daughter, Ruby Froom (born July 8, 1994). The alternative rock band Soul Coughing's debut studio album Ruby Vroom (1994) was named for her, with Vega's approval.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Vega and Froom separated and divorced in 1998.Template:Citation needed
On February 11, 2006, Vega married Paul Mills, a lawyer and poet, "22 years after he first proposed to her."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Beginning in 2010, Ruby has occasionally performed with her mother on tour.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}Template:Cbignore</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Vega practices Nichiren Buddhism and is a member of the American branch of the worldwide Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Awards and nominationsEdit
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DiscographyEdit
{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} Studio albums
- Suzanne Vega (1985)
- Solitude Standing (1987)
- Days of Open Hand (1990)
- Template:Proper name (1992)
- Nine Objects of Desire (1996)
- Songs in Red and Gray (2001)
- Beauty & Crime (2007)
- Tales from the Realm of the Queen of Pentacles (2014)
- Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers (2016)
- Flying with Angels (2025)
Live albums
- Live in London 1986 (1986)
- Sessions at West 54th (1997)
- Solitude Standing: Live at the Barbican (2013)
- Live at the Speakeasy (2014)
- An Evening of New York Songs and Stories (2020)
BooksEdit
- The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writing of Suzanne Vega (1999) Template:ISBN.
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:Sister project Template:Sister project
- Template:Official website
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- Suzanne Vega at Bandcamp
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