Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1997

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning song " Sunny Came Home".

Early life

Colvin was born Shawna Lee Colvin in Vermillion, South Dakota, and spent her youth in

Carbondale, Illinois Carbondale is a city in Jackson County, Illinois, United States, within the Southern Illinois region informally known as "Little Egypt". As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 25,083, making it the most po ...

, and London, Ontario, Canada. She is the second of four children. She learned to play guitar at the age of 10 and grew up listening to her father's collection of music, which included artists such as

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and social activist. He was a fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s and had a string of hit records in the early 1950s as a member of The Weav ...

and the Kingston Trio.

Career

Her first paid gig came just after she started college at

Southern Illinois University Southern Illinois University is a system of public universities in the southern region of the U.S. state of Illinois. Its headquarters is in Carbondale, Illinois. Board of trustees The university is governed by the nine member SIU Board of T ...

. Colvin performed at local venues in Carbondale and later formed a band. For six months, they expanded their fanbase throughout Illinois. During this time, Colvin struggled with alcohol and other drugs. She later formed Dixie Diesels, a country-swing group. Colvin relocated to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, with the group and then entered "the folk circuit in and around

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

",Koster, Rick (2000)
Texas Music
'' First St. Martin's Griffin, page 219, retrieved May 25, 2012 before straining her

vocal cords In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through Speech, vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when brea ...

and taking a sabbatical at the age of 24. Colvin relocated to New York City, joining the Buddy Miller Band in 1980 and later became involved in the '' Fast Folk'' cooperative of

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 ...

. While participating in

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

shows such as '' Pump Boys and Dinettes'', she was featured in ''Fast Folk'' magazine, and in 1987, producer Steve Addabbo hired her to sing backup vocals on the song " Luka" by

Suzanne Vega Suzanne Nadine Vega ( Peck; born July 11, 1959) is an American singer-songwriter of Folk music, folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s she released four singles that entered the Top 40 charts in the ...

. After touring with Vega, Colvin signed a recording contract with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

and released her debut album '' Steady On'' in 1989. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.Woodstra, Chri
Shawn Colvin Biography
All Music, retrieved May 25, 2012 Colvin's second album '' Fat City'' was released in 1992 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. Her song "I Don't Know Why" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal category. In 1993, she moved back to Austin and, in 1994, released the album '' Cover Girl''. In 1995, Colvin released her album '' Live 88'' a collection of live recordings from 1988. In 1996, Colvin released her album '' A Few Small Repairs'' and, in 1997, her single " Sunny Came Home" spent four weeks at the number one spot on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song won the 1998

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for both Song and Record of the Year. Colvin released the album ''Holiday Songs and Lullabies'' in 1998 and in 2001 released another album called ''Whole New You''. In 2004, she released a compilation of past songs called, ''Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection''. In 2006, Colvin left Columbia Records and released a 15-song album called ''These Four Walls'' on her new label,

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Nonesuch ...

, which featured contributions by Patty Griffin and

Teddy Thompson Teddy Thompson (born 19 February 1976) is an English folk and rock musician. He is the son of folk rock musicians Richard and Linda Thompson and brother of singer Kamila Thompson. He released his first album in 2000. Biography Teddy Thompso ...

. In 2009 she released ''

Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...

'', which was recorded at the jazz club Yoshi's in Oakland, California. ShawnColvinNovember20

Colvin's eighth studio album, ''All Fall Down'', was released in 2012 and was produced by Buddy Miller at his home studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The album featured guest appearances by

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, bandleader, and activist. She is considered one of the leading music artists behind the country rock genre in the 1970s and the Americana (music), Americana genre ...

Alison Krauss Alison Maria Krauss (born July 23, 1971) is an American bluegrass-country singer, fiddler and music producer. She entered the music industry at an early age, competing in local contests by the age of eight and recording for the first time at ...

and Jakob Dylan. Colvin published her memoir ''Diamond in the Rough'' in 2012. In 2016, she recorded an album with Steve Earle called ''Colvin and Earle''. ''A Few Small Repairs'' was reissued in 2017, including its first pressing on vinyl, for its 20th anniversary. Colvin has made vocal contributions to songs by

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 ...

, Béla Fleck, Edwin McCain, Shawn Mullins, Elliott Murphy and

Bruce Hornsby Bruce Randall Hornsby (born November 23, 1954) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, folk music, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock music, rock, heartland r ...

, and collaborated with Sting on the song "One Day She'll Love Me". She recorded as a duet the title track to Curtis Stigers' 1995 album "Time Was". Colvin voiced Rachel Jordan, Ned Flanders' love interest after Maude is killed, in the Simpsons episodes " Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" and " I'm Goin' to Praiseland", and lent her vocals to Mary Chapin Carpenter's 1992 recordings " The Hard Way" and " Come On Come On".

Acting

Colvin has appeared in several films and television shows, including the films '' Grace of My Heart'', '' Heartbreakers'' and '' Crazy'' as well as television shows ''

The Larry Sanders Show ''The Larry Sanders Show'' is an American television sitcom set in the office and studio of a fictional late-night talk show. Created by Garry Shandling and Dennis Klein, the show ran for six seasons and List of The Larry Sanders Show episodes, ...

'', '' Suddenly Susan'', ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening, James L. Brooks and Sam Simon for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a Satire (film and television), satirical depiction of American life ...

'', '' Fame L.A.'', and ''

Baywatch ''Baywatch'' is an American Drama (film and television), drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz ...

''.

Personal life

Colvin has been married twice, first to Simon Tassano in 1993 whom she divorced in 1995 and to photographer Mario Erwin, whom she married in 1997 and divorced in 2002. She gave birth to a daughter in July 1998. Colvin has taken part in several

triathlons A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

. Colvin says she has struggled on and off with depression,

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

and

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

. She wrote about these struggles in her 2012 memoir ''Diamond in the Rough'', published by

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

Awards and recognition

Grammy Awards

Other awards

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Category !! Work !! Result , - , rowspan=2, 1997 , Billboard Music Video Awards , FAN.tastic Video , rowspan="5", " Sunny Came Home" , , - ,

Billboard Music Awards The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by '' Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annually since 1990, with the exception of ...

, Top Adult Top 40 Track , , - , rowspan=2, 1998 , APRA Music Awards , Most Performed Foreign Work , , - , MVPA Awards , Best Adult Contemporary Video , , - , 1999 , ASCAP Pop Music Awards , Most Performed Song , , - , 2001 , Video Premiere Awards , Best Original Song , "Great Big World" , , - , 2016 , Americana Music Honors & Awards , Americana Trailblazer Award , Herself ,

Discography

Albums

* '' Steady On'' (1989) * '' Fat City'' (1992) * '' Cover Girl'' (1994) * '' A Few Small Repairs'' (1996) * '' Holiday Songs and Lullabies'' (1998) * '' Whole New You'' (2001) * '' These Four Walls'' (2006) * '' All Fall Down'' (2012) * '' Uncovered'' (2015) * '' Colvin & Earle'' (2016, with Steve Earle) * '' The Starlighter'' (2018) *'' Steady On: 30th Anniversary Acoustic Edition'' (2019)

Compilation albums

* '' Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection'' (2004) * '' The Best of Shawn Colvin'' (2010) * ''Playlist: The Very Best of Shawn Colvin'' (2012)

Live albums

* '' Live '88'' (1995) * ''

'' (2009) *''Live from These Four Walls: My Favorite Movie Songs'' (2021) * ''Lockdown: Live from Arlyn Studios'' (2021)

DVDs

* ''Music in High Places – Live in Bora Bora'' (2002) * ''Polaroids: A Video Collection'' (2004)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Colvin, Shawn 1956 births American women singer-songwriters American folk singers Fast Folk artists Grammy Award winners Living people Musicians from London, Ontario Singers from Ontario People from Vermillion, South Dakota Musicians from Austin, Texas People from Carbondale, Illinois Singer-songwriters from Illinois 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists Singer-songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Illinois Guitarists from Texas Guitarists from South Dakota 20th-century American women singers 21st-century American women singers Columbia Records artists Nonesuch Records artists Fantasy Records artists 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from South Dakota Jazz musicians from South Dakota