Susan Cagle (born 1981) is an American
pop rock
Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, ear ...
singer-songwriter and guitarist, known by her stage name Susan Justice. She is known best for her debut self-recorded album, ''The Subway Recordings''.
Biography
Cagle is the second-oldest of ten children. Accompanied by several of her siblings as The Susan Cagle Band, she started performing in subway stations in New York City as part of the
Music Under New York
Music Under New York (MUNY) is a part of the Arts & Design program by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) that schedules musical performances in transportation hubs across its rapid transit, ferry, and commuter rail systems.
MTA g ...
program. In addition to singing, Cagle plays the guitar in the majority of her performances, with her sister Caroline playing bass and her brother Jesse on second guitar.
As a child, Cagle traveled the world with her family, living in or visiting countries including
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...
, Mexico,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...
, Italy, France, Germany, England,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
, and Ireland. Her parents were members of the
Children of God new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
, widely referred to as a
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...
, and like actors
River Phoenix
River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician and activist.
Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He h ...
and
Rose McGowan
Rósa Arianna "Rose" McGowan (born September 5, 1973) is an American actress. After her film debut in a brief role in the comedy '' Encino Man'' (1992), McGowan achieved wider recognition for her performance in the dark comedy '' The Doom Genera ...
(who also spent their early childhood in the group), she and her siblings would often
busk on street corners for passers by.
Career
Music career
Cagle began playing guitar at the age of 7, and by the age of 14 was writing poetry and songs. When older, she decided to leave her family and the Children of God group, at odds over their beliefs, and moved to New York. She soon began writing, recording music and performing in subway stations (her album, ''The Subway Recordings'', is cut from live shows).
During a show in the
34th Street – Herald Square subway station, Cagle was discovered by producer
Jay Levine, who introduced her to then new president of
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
,
Steve Greenberg. She soon became his first signing in this placement. Cagle released her debut album, ''The Subway Recordings'', in 2007 with Lefthook Entertainment and Columbia Records.
After leaving Columbia Records in 2009 and signing to Warner Bros., Cagle changed her stage name to ''Susan Justice'', saying it happened "of its own accord" and it (the name change) was something she felt she "needed to do". Her second album is titled ''Eat Dirt'' and was released March 26, 2012. The album was released by
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
.
Notable performances
On May 10, 2007, Cagle and her band performed "Dear Oprah", an ode to billionaire talk show host
Oprah Winfrey, on ''
The Oprah Winfrey Show
''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', often referred to as ''The Oprah Show'' or simply ''Oprah'', is an American daytime broadcast syndication, syndicated talk show that aired nationally for 25 seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in Chicag ...
''. "Dear Oprah" features such lyrics as: "Dear Oprah, Have you ever felt like breakin’ down/ when there ain't no one who cares around/did you ever feel this way back in the day so blue/ what did you do?"
The band appeared in the 2006
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
Video Music Awards
The MTV Video Music Awards (commonly abbreviated as the VMAs) is an award show presented by the cable channel MTV to honour the best in the music video medium. Originally conceived as an alternative to the Grammy Awards (in the video category) ...
warm up in the "You Hear It First".
She appears in the Gary King independent film ''New York Lately'' as Truly Hanssen. The film was released in 2008 to generally favorable reviews.
Her life and music were the subject of a profile and interview on the NPR program
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 A ...
that aired Monday, March 26, 2012.
References
External links
Official Myspace pageOfficial Facebook pageOfficial YouTube pageOfficial TwitterMTV News: You Hear It First: Susan CagleMTV Overdrive: Susan CagleSusan Cagle's family and former bandNew York Lately Official Site"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Justice, Susan
Living people
Women rock singers
Former members of The Family International
1981 births
American women singer-songwriters
American pop musicians