Ingrid Julia Chavez (born January 21, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and visual artist.

Early life

Chavez was born on January 21, 1965, in

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, and raised in

Marietta, Georgia Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Cobb County, Georgia, United States. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 60,972. The 2019 estimate was 60,867, making it one of Atlanta's largest suburbs. Marietta is the fourth largest ...

. She is of Mexican-American descent. At the age of 10, she was sent by her mother to live with relatives in Atlanta, Georgia. Living in a rundown neighbourhood of Atlanta with Steve Snow, her musician boyfriend at the time, and her newborn, she decided to relocate to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

— her boyfriend's hometown — after a burglary of their home, to pursue a career in music.

Career

After moving to Minneapolis, in 1986, she auditioned for a number of bands, made the rounds of the Minneapolis music scene, and paid her bills working in a coffee shop. She met

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

in a pub in late 1987, having written to him. Impressed by Chavez's voice and poetry, Prince took Chavez under his wing. She was known as ''The Spirit Child'' on his 1988 ''

Lovesexy ''Lovesexy'' is the tenth studio album by American recording artist Prince. The album was released on May 10, 1988, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. The album was recorded in just seven weeks, from mid-December 1987 to late Jan ...

'' album (She does the outro on

Alphabet St. "Alphabet St." is a song from American musician Prince's tenth album, ''Lovesexy'' (1988). It was the first single from that album and the album's only top 10 single, reaching the top 10 in both the UK and US. Initially written as an acoustic blu ...

amongst other things). Prince encouraged Chavez to write 21 poems with the promise that they would make a poetry album together. In January 1988, Ingrid and Prince recorded The Poetry Session at

Paisley Park Studios Paisley may refer to: *Paisley (design), an ornamental Persian pattern or motif commonly identified with the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west Scotland People * Paisley (name), including a list of people with the name *Lord Paisley, in the ...

. Prince improvised on keyboards while Ingrid recited her poetry. Shortly after this session the project was put on hold. In 1989, Chavez formed a band called Skyfish with Richard Werbowenko. They created a six-song album released only on cassette. Chavez ran into Prince a year or so later and handed him a copy of the Skyfish demo. Shortly after the exchange, Prince contacted Chavez and wanted her to listen to a track that he had just finished with the poem "Heaven Must Be Near". Prince asked Chavez to finish the poetry album. It was at this time that Chavez was asked to play the part of Prince's romantic interest in his 1990 film '' Graffiti Bridge''. During the filming Chavez went into the studio with

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

and Andre Betts and co-wrote and recorded what became

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

's sultry 1990 hit "

Justify My Love "Justify My Love" is a song released as a single by American singer Madonna. It does not appear on any of her studio albums, but is included on her first greatest hits album, ''The Immaculate Collection'' (1990). The song was written by Lenny ...

". She received a large out-of-court settlement for not being credited on the single's release.Thomas, Lindsey. (March 8, 2006
"She Bop"
. ''City Pages''. In 1992, not long after recording vocals with

David Sylvian David Sylvian (born David Alan Batt; 23 February 1958) is an English musician, singer and songwriter who came to prominence in the late 1970s as frontman and principal songwriter of the band Japan (band), Japan. During his time in Japan, Sylvia ...

for the songs "Heartbeat (Tainai Kaiki II) - Returning to the Womb" and "Cloud #9" on

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

's 1991 album ''

Heartbeat Heartbeat, heart beat or heartbeats may refer to: Science and technology * Heartbeat (biology), one cardiac cycle of the heart * Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system ** Heartbea ...

'', Chavez married Sylvian, and over the years contributed her trademark breathy vocals to a number of her baritone-voiced husband's releases. During the mid-1990s, Chavez worked with Sylvian and Werbowenko on a second solo album titled ''Little Girls with 99 Lives''. Chavez and Sylvian sent out demos to record labels and close friends, yet could not strike up interest in a deal. The album would have included tracks entitled "Lighthouse", "Snowfall", "Whose Trip Is This?", "Starred and Dreaming", "Kall/Les Fleurs Du Mal", and "Remembering Julia"—the latter four of which can be found as B-sides on the 2-CD UK single of David Sylvian's "I Surrender". These four tracks were later collected and released as an EP titled "Little Girl with 99 Lives" Ep in 2010 through Ingrid's Ten Windows records. In 1996, Tommy Roberts, a former Minneapolis recording engineer who recorded the Skyfish demo, contacted Chavez and asked her to be in a band with him. She joined the band, called Ova, and recorded a four-song EP. Chavez became pregnant and decided to let go of the project and focus on her family. Chavez teamed up with Chicago native, Marco Valentin to form the duo Black Eskimo in 2011. The 12-song full-length ''Deep & Heady'' CD was released on November 25, 2013, via

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. Their song "My Sky" won for Song of the Year (Spoken Word Category) at the 14th Annual Independent Music Awards. In celebration of this award the My Sky Poetry and Music Journal was released. This was the first album released in a physical format as a poetry and music journal. Ingrid's third solo album was due to be released in late 2018. ''Memories of Flying'' features collaborations with Charles Webster, Ganga, Mashti, Deep Dive Corp., Marco Valentin, and David Hurn.

Personal life

Chavez has a son, Tinondre, born circa 1984 in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. She also has two daughters, Ameera and Isobel, with English singer and musician

, whom she married in 1992 and divorced in 2003; the disintegration of the marriage informed Sylvian's 2003 studio album ''

Blemish Blemish may refer to: * Acne, skin imperfections * Blemish (album), ''Blemish'' (album), a 2003 album by David Sylvian See also

* Flaw (disambiguation) * Imperfect (disambiguation) {{disambiguation ...

''. Chavez currently lives in

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Local artist who collaborated with Prince reflects on icon's death
Wmur.com, Retrieved 2018-08-22. focusing on photography, writing and new recording projects.

Discography

Ingrid Chavez

''Ingrid Chavez'' is Chavez's debut solo album, which was released in 1991 on

Paisley Park Records Paisley Park Records was an American record label founded by musician Prince in 1985, which was distributed by and funded in part by Warner Bros. Records. It was started in 1985, following the success of the film and album '' Purple Rain''. Th ...

. The album was initially intended to set her spoken-word poetry to music supplied by Prince. It was recorded gradually from late 1987 to mid-1991. When

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

pushed for the album to have sung vocals in place of the spoken word, Prince abandoned the project. Five of the album's tracks ("Elephant Box", "Slappy Dappy", "Jadestone", "Whispering Dandelions" and "Heaven Must Be Near") ended up as spoken word with atmospheric music by Prince under his Paisley Park alias, and the remainder were relatively poppy tracks with sung vocals, co-produced by Ingrid with Prince's studio hands Michael Koppelman and Levi Seacer Jr. The album spawned three singles, "Elephant Box," "Hippy Blood," and "Heaven Must Be Near." Each were supported with remix packages that featured contributions by Eric Kupper, Junior Vasquez, and Larry 'Tee' Robinson.

Little Girls With 99 Lives

Release date: 2010 Label: Ten Windows Records Format: Compact Disc, Digital

A Flutter and Some Words

''A Flutter and Some Words'' is Chavez's second album, released on January 25, 2010, on her own label, Ten Window Records. It consists of Chavez's poetry and lyrics set to the instrumentation of Lorenzo Scopelliti (aka Saffron Wood) and Richard Werbowenko (on the title track) and recorded by Alessandro Mazzitelli.

By the Water Reimagined EP

Released: 2010 Label: Ten Windows Records Format: CD

Deep EP

Heady EP

Deep & Heady

Memories Of Flying

Release date: May 17, 2019

Singles and Appearances

*Ganga feat. Ingrid Chavez "Non Toxic" *Ganga feat. Ingrid Chavez "Non Toxic Remixed EP" *Vanessa Daou "Revolution (Black Eskimo's Memories of Flying Re-imagining)" *P.C. Muñoz (feat. Ingrid Chavez) "Disappear" *Saffon Wood "Visit Dream (feat. Ingrid Chavez)"

017 017 may refer to: * DOL-017, GameCube console * '' Global Underground 017'', DJ mix album * Road FC 017, 2014 Mixed Martial Arts event * Swift 017.n, racing car * Tyrrell 017, Formula One racing car See also * 17 (disambiguation) Seventeen o ...

*Mashti "Out of Love (feat. Ingrid Chavez)"

018 018 may refer to: *Air Canada Flight 018, an airline flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, Canada, illegally boarded by a Chinese man wearing a disguise in 2010 *Area code 018, a telephone area code in Uppsala, Sweden *BMW 018, an experimental turboj ...

*"You Gave Me Wings"

*"Ride (Balearic Mix by Deep Dive Corp.)"

019 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

*"All The Love In The World"

*"Light Rays"

References

External links

*
Biography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chavez, Ingrid 1965 births Living people American women singers American musicians of Mexican descent Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) People from Marietta, Georgia Paisley Park Records artists Singers from Georgia (U.S. state) American poets of Mexican descent American women poets People from Peterborough, New Hampshire 21st-century American poets Hispanic and Latino American musicians 21st-century American women Hispanic and Latino American women singers Prince associates