Meg Christian (born 1946 in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner and Abolitionism, abolitionist John Lynch (1740–1820), J ...

) is an American

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

associated with the

women's music Women's music is a type of music based on the ideas of feminist separatism and lesbian separatism, designed to inspire feminist consciousness chiefly in Western popular music, to promote music "by women, for women, and about women." Women's mu ...

movement.

Early life and career

Christian was born in

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

in 1946 and raised in

. She has spoken about being an only child, learning stringed instruments while spending a lot of time alone and later being influenced by

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, ...

and

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

to organize folk groups in the '60s. Christian graduated from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

with a double degree in English and music. She moved to Washington, D.C. in 1969, where she performed in bars covering

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...

material by artists such as

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...

and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...

. Christian has said that her "entrance to sexual politics" began after witnessing the way

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was an English television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ...

showed little respect for two women authors Ti-Grace Atkinson and

Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key Radical feminism, radical feminist member of the American Feminist movement, Wom ...

,, during an interview. She then began writing material from an explicitly political and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

perspective. For a time in the 1970s, Christian, who is openly lesbian, embraced women's separatism and sometimes played at women-only venues. She has acknowledged that the "feminist tag...makes women's music seem limited in appeal" but that the common denominator is that "we all make make music out of a consciousness of being a woman...some of us would rather play only to an audience of women...some want to play to the universe." Christian was one of the performers at the second Boston Women's Music Festival in 1977 and agreed with Holly Near, that the purpose of their music was to make women more aware of political issues. She explained how discovering the gay and women's movement in 1969 had resulted in her writing new material, noting "I couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth... nd..I started trying to find songs that said something to women."

Olivia Records

Christian, along with other feminist and lesbian activists founded Olivia Records in 1973. The label began by releasing a single of Christian's version of the

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the US No.1 hits " Will You L ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer-songwriter and musician renowned for her extensive contributions to popular music. She wrote or co-wrote 118 songs that charted on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

song ''Lady,'' and the first LP was Christian's debut album, ''I Know You Know'' in 1974. A reviewer said

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

"the album's core is found in its romantic woman-to-woman folk-pop ballads, such as Christian's own ''Valentine Song''... nd..the arrangements, generally keyed to Christian's classical or steel-string guitar, are very much in the singer/songwriter style of

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

and

. Christian's second album ''Face the Music'' (1977) was said in one review to reflect he conflict"between the value of the music-as-message and the music's value regardless of what it is about lyrically", while in another, as being "worth the attention of anyone interested in women's music and an absolute must for Meg Christian fans. Christian has said that the songs on her third album ''Turning it Over'' released in 1981, "had gone places that she had never imagined they would go musically and they are so beautiful that they made me cry." The

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

noted of ''Turning it Over'', that "every major performer in women's music (

Cris Williamson Cris Williamson (born February 15, 1947) is an American feminist singer-songwriter and recording artist. She was a visible lesbian political activist during an era when few who were unconnected to the lesbian community were aware of gay and l ...

, Mary Watkins, Teresa Trull,

Margie Adam Margie Adam (born 1947) is an American musician and composer. Early life and education Margie Adam was born in 1947 in Lompoc, California. Her father was a newspaper publisher who composed music on the side, and her mother was a classical piani ...

) appeared as a musician or backup singer... nd..it was a sign of love and respect for Christian, who has been at the cultural heart of the women's movement for more than a decade." She ceased giving live performances in 1984, and began studying Siddha Yoga with Gurumayi Chidvilasananda. The result of these explorations were the albums ''The Fire of My Love'' and ''Songs of Ecstasy''. She changed her first name to Shambhavi during this time and lived in an

ashram An ashram (, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery in Indian religions, not including Buddhism. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...

arranged by Olivia. She also performed on two weeklong Caribbean cruises to celebrate Olivia's 40-year anniversary in 2013.

Personal issues

Christian has said that working with Olivia Records assisted her as a recovering alcoholic. She noted that writing songs as a "woman-identified-woman" was not only consistent with her concept of feminism, but had also developed an awareness of how music enabled emotional changes to be made without compromising her art. Christian described the emotions and moods of women's music, as helping women "know all that we are" and it helped her to deal with her anger and "listen to my inner voice, to what I truly want for myself, beyond all the shoulds and oughts." She later shared her experiences about time spent in the Alcoholism Centre for Women in Los Angeles and said that she had been validated by meeting other women dealing with the same issue.

Discography

*''I Know You Know'' ( Olivia Records, 1974) *''Face the Music'' (Olivia, 1977) *''Turning it Over'' (Olivia, 1981) *''Meg & Cris at Carnegie Hall'' (live with

, Olivia, 1983) *''From the Heart'' (Olivia, 1984) *''Scrapbook'' (Olivia, 1986) *''The Fire of My Love'' (Syda Records, 1986) *''The Best of Meg Christian'' (Olivia, 1990) *''Songs of Ecstasy'' (Syda, 1995)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Meg 1946 births American women singers American Hindus Converts to Hinduism LGBTQ Hindus Singers from Virginia American feminist musicians American folk singers Living people Musicians from Lynchburg, Virginia Lesbian feminists American lesbian musicians LGBTQ people from Virginia Women's music University of North Carolina alumni Lesbian separatists 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people