Home > Contemporary Musicians > Ian, Janis

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist

Disturbed by the problems and hypocrisies of modern society, singer/songwriter Janis Ian has made a career out of earnestly challenging the status quo. In 1966, at the tender age of 15, she addressed racial prejudice in her hit song "Society's Child," the poignant story of a white girl forced by parents, teachers, and others to forsake her black boyfriend. A decade later the performer touchingly conveyed the painful feelings of a plain adolescent girl in the award-winning "At Seventeen," indicting a society where female self-worth too often hinges on physical beauty, lan's "Uncle Wonderful," written in the mid-eighties, looked at the secret world and indelible wounds of child molestation. "Janis lan's intelligence and perception continue, to shine through all that she does," observed Peter Reilly in a Stereo Review critique of the entertainer's 1979 album, Night Rains. "The title song .. . has vintage Ian lyrics, flushed with the kind of theatrical melodrama that only she can create... and it is performed with the pulsing, dark intensity that is her trademark." "No one ever accused songwriter Janis Ian of dodging life's difficult issues," People reporter Lois Armstrong agreed.

A musical child prodigy, Ian began classical piano training at the age of three and mastered the acoustic guitar a few years later. By age 12 she was writing songs and performing at school functions—music being her only solace as she moved from place to place repeatedly with her family. Her own musical tastes varied, with favorites like jazz vocalist Billie Holiday and folk singer Odetta; lan's early compositions were largely stormy generation-gap pieces with folk song melodies that nonetheless contained some remarkably perceptive observations. By 16 she was singing and playing in Greenwich Village folk clubs and landed a recording contract with Verve.

Verve agreed to release lan's daring "Society's Child," already rejected by twenty-two other recording companies. The year was 1966, and disc jockeys across the country were reluctant to air lan's song of interracial love. But New York Philharmonic conductor Leonard Bernstein featured the young singer on his television special, and she became an instant celebrity—with "Society's Child" rising to Number 14 on the charts. Her debut album, Janis Ian, was a success; acclaimed as a female Bob Dylan, the performer embarked on a national concert tour. Yet her auspicious start proved impossible to sustain, disillusionment set in, and the entertainer's career began to flag. Turning to drugs and psychotherapy, Ian eventually settled in Los Angeles, where she could scarcely obtain a booking. "People were throwing bottles at me," she recounted to Arm-strong. "It was all the dues I never paid when I was 15."

Ian announced her retirement—but could not stop writing for long—she still had things to say. "I felt more mature, that I had more insight," she told Irwin Stambler in the Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock, and Soul, as she discussed her comeback efforts in the early 1970s. "The reasons I came back to the music field come down to this: I was writing songs I liked and I wanted to record them." While her next few albums brought disappointing results, Ian enjoyed moderate success with the 1974 LP Stars. Notable was the title song, lan's cynical view of celebrity, as well as her version of "Jesse," a hit for vocalist Roberta Flack a year earlier (which helped rekindle lan's reputation as a songwriter). Her comeback endeavors reached full flower a year later with the platinum album Between the Lines, containing the Grammy-winning single "At Seventeen." Critics found this new Ian less angry and grim, more thoughtful and assured.

Ian continued to write, record, and perform through the seventies and eighties, but never again approached the success of Between the Lines. Still, she remained uninhibited, addressing subjects that interested her. "Under the Covers," a 1981 song reflecting on the virtues of Latin men as lovers, was refused air play because its lyrics were deemed too risque; "Uncle Wonderful," which Ian performed in concert, was avoided by record companies in much the same way as "Society's Child" two decades before.

More than one critic has puzzled over the music industry's apparent wariness when it comes to Ian—ironic, given the provocative topics rock groups have dealt in for years. Discussing "Under the Covers" in a review of the performer's 1981 album Restless Eyes, Reilly decided that "compared with the average pre-teen conversation these days, it's about as lewd as To a Skylark.'" "'Under the Covers'. . . is a typically fine piece of writing and performing by Ian," continued the critic. "Like all her work, it's distinguished by an earthy but romantic sensibility that expresses itself fearlessly regardless of social climate."

Compositions

Composer of numerous songs recorded by other artists, including Roberta Flack, Kenny Rogers, and Alabama; has collaborated with country songwriter Rhonda Kye Fleming. Has written songs for motion pictures, including The Foxes and The Bell Jar.

—Nancy Pear