Editing Janis Ian (section)

==Music career==
{{BLP sources section|date=August 2023}}
At the age of 14, Ian wrote and recorded her first hit single, "[[Society's Child|Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)]]", about an [[Interracial marriage|interracial romance]] forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers. Produced by [[Shadow Morton|George "Shadow" Morton]] and released three times from 1965 to 1967, "Society's Child" became a national hit upon its third release after [[Leonard Bernstein]] featured it in a late-April 1967 CBS TV special titled ''[[Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution]]''.<ref name="musicguide"/>

The song's theme of interracial relationships was considered taboo by some radio stations, who withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly. In her 2008 autobiography ''Society's Child'', Ian recalls receiving hate mail and [[death threat]]s as a response to the song and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down.{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} In July 1967, "Society's Child" reached No. 14 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]]. The single sold 600,000 copies and the album sold 350,000 copies.<ref name="Life Magazine 53" />

At the age of 16, Ian met comedian [[Bill Cosby]] backstage at a [[Smothers Brothers]] show where she was promoting "Society's Child". Since she was underage, she was accompanied by a chaperone while touring. After her set, Ian had been sleeping with her head on the lap of her chaperone (an older female family friend). According to Ian in a 2015 interview, she was told by her then manager that Cosby had interpreted their interaction as "[[lesbian]]" and as a result "had made it his business" to warn other television shows that Ian wasn't "suitable family entertainment" and "shouldn't be on television" because of her sexuality, thus attempting to blacklist her.<ref name=cosby>{{cite news |last1=Silman |first1=Anna |title=Janis Ian says Bill Cosby spread lesbian rumors about her as a teen, tried to blacklist her from TV |url=http://www.salon.com/2015/07/29/janis_ian_says_bill_cosby_spread_lesbian_rumors_about_her_as_a_teen_tried_to_blacklist_her_from_tv/ |access-date=July 29, 2015 |work=Salon |date=July 29, 2015 |archive-date=July 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731000028/http://www.salon.com/2015/07/29/janis_ian_says_bill_cosby_spread_lesbian_rumors_about_her_as_a_teen_tried_to_blacklist_her_from_tv/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=cosbyagain>{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Nate |title=Janis Ian Shares Her Own Creepy Bill Cosby Story |url=https://www.vulture.com/2015/07/janis-ian-shares-her-own-creepy-cosby-story.html |access-date=July 29, 2015 |work=Vulture |date=July 29, 2015 |archive-date=July 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150731091059/http://www.vulture.com/2015/07/janis-ian-shares-her-own-creepy-cosby-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=cosbycosby>{{cite magazine |last1=Goodman |first1=Jessica |title=Janis Ian recalls personal story about Bill Cosby following New York cover feature |url=https://www.ew.com/article/2015/07/29/janis-ian-bill-cosby |access-date= July 29, 2015 |issue=July 29, 2015 |magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]}}</ref> Although Ian would later come out, she states that at the time of the encounter with Cosby she had only been kissed once, by a boy she had a crush on, in broad daylight at summer camp.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/07/29/folk-singer-janis-ian-bill-cosby-tried-to-ban-me-from-tv-because-he-thought-i-was-gay/ |title=Veteran singer-songwriter Janis Ian has claimed that Bill Cosby tried to get her banned from TV – because he thought she was a lesbian |date=July 29, 2015 |work=Pink News |access-date=May 2, 2020 |last=Duffy |first=Nick |archive-date=February 15, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200215041539/https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2015/07/29/folk-singer-janis-ian-bill-cosby-tried-to-ban-me-from-tv-because-he-thought-i-was-gay/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

On her website Ian relates that although "Society's Child" was originally intended for [[Atlantic Records]] and the label paid for her recording session, Atlantic subsequently returned the [[Master recording|master]] to her and quietly refused to release it.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/janis_ian/ |title=Janis Ian interview |date=March 14, 2003 |work=Songfacts |access-date=September 27, 2012 |last=Wiser |first=Carl |archive-date=October 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001055149/http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/janis_ian/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Ian relates that years later, Atlantic's president at the time, [[Jerry Wexler]], publicly apologized to her for this. The single and Ian's 1967 debut album (which reached No. 29 on the charts) were finally released on [[Verve Forecast]]. In 2001, "Society's Child" was inducted into the [[List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Q-Z|Grammy Hall of Fame]], which honors recordings considered timeless and important to [[music history]]. Her first four albums were released on a double CD entitled ''Society's Child: The Verve Recordings'' in 1995.

[[File:Janis Ian 1.jpg|thumb|left|Ian performing at the [[National Stadium (Ireland)|National Stadium]] in [[Dublin|Dublin, Ireland]], May 1981]]

"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 number 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 second 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>

"Fly Too High" (1979), produced by [[disco]] producer [[Giorgio Moroder]], was Ian's contribution to the soundtrack of the [[Jodie Foster]] film ''[[Foxes (film)|Foxes]]'' and was also featured on Ian's 1979 album ''Night Rains''. It also became another international hit, reaching number one in many countries, including South Africa, Belgium, Australia, Israel and the Netherlands, and going gold or platinum in those countries and others. Another country where Ian has achieved a high level of popularity is Japan: Ian had two Top 10 singles on the Japanese [[Oricon]] charts, "Love Is Blind" in 1976 and "You Are Love" in 1980. Ian's 1976 album ''[[Aftertones]]'' also topped Oricon's album chart in October 1976.<ref name="officialwebsite">{{cite web|url=http://www.janisian.com/|title=Janis Ian|publisher=janisian.com|access-date=September 23, 2002|archive-date=April 10, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110410001827/http://www.janisian.com/|url-status=live}}</ref> "You Are Love (Toujours Gai Mon Cher)" is the theme song of [[Kinji Fukasaku]]'s 1980 movie ''[[Virus (1980 film)|Virus]]''. Ian cut several other singles specifically for the Japanese market, including 1998's "The Last Great Place". In the US, Ian did not chart in the Top 40 on the pop charts after "At Seventeen", though she had several songs reach the [[Adult Contemporary]] singles chart through 1980 (all failing to make the Top 20).

Ian started Rude Girl Records, Inc., and its publishing arm, Rude Girl Publishing, on January 2, 1992. Since then, RGR has steadily grown, with its ownership of more than twenty-five Janis Ian albums and DVDs overseas, as well as hundreds of unreleased recordings and videos, including unreleased songs, concerts, demos, and rehearsal tapes. The Rude Girl label oversees the production of Ian's newer work, and in the case of older work, its re-mastering and the re-creation of the original artwork.<ref name="officialwebsite_RGR">{{cite web |url=http://www.janisian.com/rudegirlrecords.php |title=Rude Girl Records, Inc. |publisher=janisian.com |access-date=September 8, 2016 |archive-date=September 17, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917093542/http://www.janisian.com/rudegirlrecords.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

From 1982–92, Ian continued to write songs, often in collaboration with then songwriting partner [[Kye Fleming]], some of which have been covered by [[Amy Grant]], [[Bette Midler]], [[Marti Jones]] and other artists. She released ''[[Breaking Silence]]'' in 1993 and came out as a lesbian.<ref name="keehnen">{{cite web |url=http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Keehnen/Ian.html |title=At 42: Lesbian Legend Janis Ian Comes Out |first=Owen |last=Keehnen |date=March 24, 2005 |publisher=Queer Culture Center |access-date=November 15, 2012|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051104135414/http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Keehnen/Ian.html|archive-date = 2005-11-04|url-status = dead}}</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 #30 on the [[Hot 100]] on October 27, 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> In August 2018 Ian performed at the [[United Kingdom|UK]]'s [[Cambridge Folk Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/06/cambridge-folk-festival-review-cherry-hinton-hall-rhiannon-giddens-patti-smith-eliza-carthy |title=Cambridge folk festival review – verve and energy in a female-focused weekend |first=Colin |last=Irwin |date=August 6, 2018 |website=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815005952/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/aug/06/cambridge-folk-festival-review-cherry-hinton-hall-rhiannon-giddens-patti-smith-eliza-carthy |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/what-s-on/events-and-festivals/cambridge-folk-festival-2018-a-resounding-and-countrified-success-1-5641082 |title=Cambridge Folk Festival 2018 a resounding – and countrified – success |first=Adrian Peel & Mike |last=Scialom |date=August 7, 2018 |access-date=August 15, 2018 |archive-date=August 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180816025504/http://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/what-s-on/events-and-festivals/cambridge-folk-festival-2018-a-resounding-and-countrified-success-1-5641082 |url-status=live }}</ref>