Lucy Wainwright Roche (born December 16, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter. Preceded by two EPs, ''8 Songs'' and ''8 More'', Roche released her debut album, ''

Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...

'' in October 2010. In 2013, she starred as Jeri in the ''

Stuff You Should Know ''Stuff You Should Know'', often abbreviated as SYSK, is a podcast and video series originally published by HowStuffWorks (and now by iHeartRadio) and hosted by Josh Clark and Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant. The podcast, which launched in 2008, educ ...

'' television show.

Musical family

Lucy Wainwright Roche is the daughter of singer-songwriters

Loudon Wainwright III Loudon Snowden Wainwright III (born September 5, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and occasional actor. He has released twenty-six studio albums, four live albums, and six compilations. Some of his best-known songs include "The Swimmin ...

, a Grammy Award winner, and

Suzzy Roche Suzzy Roche ( ; born September 29, 1956) is an American singer, best known for her work with the vocal group the Roches, alongside sisters Maggie and Terre. Suzzy is the youngest of the three, and joined the act in 1977. She is the author of th ...

, who, along with her sisters (Lucy's aunts) Maggie and Terre Roche, made up the vocal group

the Roches The Roches were an American vocal trio of sisters Maggie, Terre and Suzzy Roche, from Park Ridge, New Jersey. Career In the late 1960s, eldest sister Maggie (October 26, 1951 – January 21, 2017) and middle sister Terre (pronounced "Terry" ...

, known for their original harmonies. The couple split when Lucy was two years old and her father spent much of his time in the UK, so Lucy did not often see her father during her childhood. The Loudon Wainwright song "Screaming Issue" is written about Lucy. Lucy and Suzzy sometimes appear onstage together, occasionally with Loudon. Lucy is also the half-sister of singer-songwriters

Rufus Wainwright Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded eleven studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical opera ...

and

Martha Wainwright Martha Wainwright (born May 8, 1976) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and musician. She has released seven critically-acclaimed studio albums. Wainwright is the daughter of musicians Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainwright III and the younger si ...

(whose mother

Kate Kate may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American author o ...

was half of the Canadian folk duo

Kate & Anna McGarrigle Kate McGarrigle (February 6, 1946 – January 18, 2010) and Anna McGarrigle (born December 4, 1944) were a duo of folk rock and country folk Canadian singer-songwriters (and sisters) from Quebec, who performed together until Kate's death in 2010 ...

). She has toured with Rufus throughout the years. Through her father, she is a niece of singer-songwriter

Sloan Wainwright Sloan Wainwright (born 1957) is an American artist and member of the American independent music scene. Her musical style consists of a combination of folk, rock, jazz, and blues; which she developed while writing and performing in the Greenwich ...

Background

Roche was born and raised in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...

, New York City. She attended

PS 41 Public School 41, also known as the Greenwich Village School, is a public school in Manhattan, New York City. History PS 41 opened in 1867. When Grammar School No. 41 first opened, it was located by what is now the school yard entrance at G ...

in Manhattan and high school at Saint Ann's School in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, graduating in 1999. She then attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

in Ohio, graduating in 2003 with a degree in creative writing. In 2006 Roche received her master's degree in general education from

Bank Street College of Education Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 ful ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Career

Roche initially chose to bypass the family career choice of music to teach elementary school in

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

and New York City for several years. In 2007, she made the decision to pursue a career in music full-time. This decision is chronicled in her "Spring Song" which appears on her EP ''8 More'', released in 2008. Prior to ''8 More'', Roche released her first EP in 2007 titled ''8 Songs'' which featured "Saddest Sound", a song that appeared on the television show '' Lipstick Jungle''. Lucy has toured as an opening act for the

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duet (music), duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in Primary school, elementary school and began performing together as Secondary school, hig ...

, and the duo is featured on two songs on Lucy's self-titled record released in October 2010. She has also opened for such acts as

Dar Williams Dorothy Snowden "Dar" Williams (born April 19, 1967) is an American pop folk singer-songwriter from Mount Kisco, New York. Hendrik Hertzberg of ''The New Yorker'' has described Williams as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters." She ...

Girlyman Girlyman was an American folk-rock band formerly based in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, later based in Atlanta, Georgia. Its 2003 self-released debut album, ''Remember Who I Am'', sold 5,000 copies before it was re-released by Daemon Recor ...

Amos Lee Amos Lee (born Ryan Anthony Massaro, June 22, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter whose musical style encompasses folk music, folk, rock music, rock, and Soul music, soul. Lee has recorded five albums on Blue Note Records and has toured as ...

, her father Loudon Wainwright, and her half-brother Rufus Wainwright. Lucy sang backup for Grammy-nominated artist

Neko Case Neko Richelle Case ( ; born September 8, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the Canadian indie rock group the New Pornographers. Case's singing voice has been described by contemporaries and critics as a "flamethrower", "a pow ...

, including an appearance with Case on the ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

''. In early 2009, Lucy's song "Snare Drum" won the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Folk/Singer-Songwriter Song. In 2008, she was one of the winners of the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival's "Emerging Artist" competition. Again in 2009, she was one of six winners of the Grassy Hill Kerrville Folk Festival's "New Folk Singer/Songwriter Competition". Roche released her debut album, ''

'', in October 2010. Two of her songs, "Once In" and "Starting Square" are featured on the soundtrack of the 2013 movie ''The Last Keepers''. In 2015, Roche opened for her brother, Rufus, on his Australia tour, where he premiered a song about her, "Lucy's Blue". On the tour, Roche shared a song from an album of "dark lullabies" on which she and her sister were working.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (2010) * '' There's a Last Time for Everything'' (2013) * ''Fairytale and Myth'' (2013) with

* '' Songs in the Dark'' (2015), as The Wainwright Sisters * ''Mud & Apples'' (2016) with Suzzy Roche * ''Little Beast'' (2018) * ''I Can Still Hear You'' (2020) with Suzzy Roche

EPs

* ''8 Songs'' (2007) * ''8 More'' (2008) * ''Live at Lime with Lucy Wainwright Roche'' (2008, digital download)

References

External links

Official home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Lucy Wainwright 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers 1981 births American folk singers American people of Dutch descent Bank Street College of Education alumni Lucy Wainwright Independent Music Awards winners Living people Oberlin College alumni Musicians from Manhattan People from Greenwich Village Saint Ann's School (Brooklyn) alumni Songwriters from New York (state)

The Wainwright Sisters members

McGarrigle–Wainwright–Roche family