Jump to content
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar
hide
Navigation
Main page
Recent changes
Random page
Help about MediaWiki
Special pages
Niidae Wiki
Search
Search
Appearance
Create account
Log in
Personal tools
Create account
Log in
Pages for logged out editors
learn more
Contributions
Talk
Editing
Joan Baez
(section)
Page
Discussion
English
Read
Edit
View history
Tools
Tools
move to sidebar
hide
Actions
Read
Edit
View history
General
What links here
Related changes
Page information
Appearance
move to sidebar
hide
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===College music scene in Massachusetts=== After graduating from high school in 1958, Baez and her family moved from the San Francisco area to [[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]], after her father accepted a faculty position at [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]].<ref name=badass/> At that time, it was in the center of the up-and-coming folk-music scene and she began performing near home in Boston and nearby [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]]. She also performed in clubs and attended [[Boston University]] for about six weeks<ref name="American Masters" /> before she gave her first concert at the [[Club Passim|Club 47]] in Cambridge. When designing the poster for the performance, Baez considered changing her performing name to either Rachel Sandperl, the surname of her longtime mentor [[Ira Sandperl]], or Maria from the song "[[They Call the Wind Maria]]". She later opted against doing so, fearing that people would accuse her of changing her last name because it was Spanish. The audience consisted of her parents, sister Mimi, her boyfriend, and a few friends, resulting in eight patrons. Baez was paid ten dollars before she was later asked back and began performing twice a week for $25 per show.<ref>{{cite book |title= And A Voice To Sing With|last= Baez|first= Joan |year= 1987|publisher= Summit Books|isbn= 978-5-551-88863-5|page= 63 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v2tocQYV1owC&q=joan+baez+mitch+miller&pg=PA63|access-date=August 1, 2010}}</ref> A few months later, Baez and two other folk enthusiasts made plans to record an album in the cellar of a friend's house. The trio sang solos and duets and a family friend designed the album cover, which was released on Veritas Records that same year as ''[[Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square]]''. Baez later met [[Bob Gibson (musician)|Bob Gibson]] and [[Odetta]], who were at the time two of the most prominent vocalists singing [[folk music|folk]] and [[gospel music]]. Baez cites Odetta as a primary influence along with [[Marian Anderson]] and Pete Seeger.<ref>Baez, Joan. ''And a Voice to Sing With: A Memoir''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009, p. 43</ref> Gibson invited Baez to perform with him at the 1959 [[Newport Folk Festival]], where they sang two duets, "Virgin Mary Had One Son" and "We Are Crossing Jordan River".<ref name=pc19 /> The performance generated substantial praise for the "barefoot Madonna" with the otherworldly voice, and it was this appearance that led to Baez signing with [[Vanguard Records]] the following year,<ref>{{cite book |title= And A Voice To Sing With|last= Baez|first= Joan |year= 1987|publisher= Summit Books|isbn= 978-5-551-88863-5|page= 62 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=v2tocQYV1owC&q=joan+baez+mitch+miller&pg=PA61|access-date=August 1, 2010}}</ref> although [[Columbia Records]] tried to sign her first.<ref>Baez, Joan (1987). ''And A Voice to Sing With'', pp. 61β62. Baez describes the afternoon when she met with first Mitch Miller at Columbia, then Maynard Solomon at Vanguard.</ref> Baez later claimed that she felt she would be given more artistic license at a more "low key" label.<ref>{{cite book |title= How the Beatles Destroyed Rock n Roll: An Alternative History of American Popular Music|last= Wald|first= Elijah|year= 2009 |publisher= Oxford University Press, USA|isbn= 978-0-19-534154-6|page= [https://archive.org/details/howbeatlesdestro00waldx/page/226 226]|url= https://archive.org/details/howbeatlesdestro00waldx|url-access= registration|quote= joan baez mitch miller.|access-date=August 1, 2010}}</ref> Baez's nickname at the time, "Madonna", has been attributed to her clear voice, long hair, and natural beauty,<ref>Abbe A. Debolt, James S. Baugess β The Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture 1440801029 Page 48 "She received the nickname "Madonna" because of the soulful clarity of her soprano voice, long hair, and natural beauty."</ref> and to her role as "Earth Mother".<ref>Terrie M. Rooney Newsmakers 1998: The People Behind Today's Headlines 0787612308 β 1999 p. 17 "With her pure, three-octave soprano voice, her long hair and natural good looks, and her unpretentious presence, she came to earn the nickname "Madonna" because she represented the "Earth Mother" for the 1960s generation."</ref>
Summary:
Please note that all contributions to Niidae Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see
Encyclopedia:Copyrights
for details).
Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)
Search
Search
Editing
Joan Baez
(section)
Add topic