Syd Straw is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

singer and songwriter. She began her career singing backup for

Pat Benatar Patricia Mae Giraldo (née Andrzejewski; formerly and still professionally Benatar ; born January 10, 1953) is an American singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has two multi-platinum albums, five platinum albums, and 15 US ''Billboa ...

, then took her distinctive and powerful voice to the indie/alternative scene and joined the ever-evolving line-up of Golden Palominos from 1985 through 1987, appearing on their second and third albums. She left the group in 1987 to establish her solo career.

Career

Straw is the daughter of actor Jack Straw (''

The Pajama Game ''The Pajama Game'' is a musical based on the 1953 novel '' 7½ Cents'' by Richard Bissell. The book is by George Abbott and Richard Bissell; the music and lyrics are by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Dances were staged by Bob Fosse in his chor ...

'') and songwriter Barrie Jean Garvin. She was a frequent lead singer and occasional co-songwriter for Golden Palominos, which was spearheaded by drummer

Anton Fier John Anton Fier III (June 20, 1956 – September 14, 2022) was an American drummer, producer, composer, and bandleader. He led The Golden Palominos, an experimental rock group active from 1981 to 2010. Family Fier, known as Tony, was born in Cl ...

and also featured vocal turns by

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer, songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. Stipe was born in Metro Atlanta in January 1960. Due to his father's militar ...

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

, Don Dixon,

Jack Bruce John Symon Asher Bruce (14 May 1943 – 25 October 2014) was a Scottish musician. He gained popularity as the primary lead vocalist and ‍bassist ‍of Rock music, rock band Cream (band), Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a ...

and others. She appeared as a featured musical guest on many programs, including the initial episode of MTV's ''Unplugged'', ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'', and ''Late Night with David Letterman''. Straw in 1989 released her first solo album, '' Surprise'',"Pantera offers up easy-access disc"
''The Spectator'' – Hamilton, Ont. Krewen, Nick. Jun 20, 1996 Page: 4 which featured contributions by Stipe, Fier, Richard Thompson,

Jody Harris Jody Harris is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer who was born in Kansas and became a central figure in the seminal no wave scene in New York City in the 1970s. Career history Harris was lead guitarist in the Contortions, an ...

, Peter Blegvad, and a number of other well-known musicians. She released a second solo album, ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

'', in 1996. Recorded with

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

rock group The Skeletons, it chronicled a brief and unhappy romance. In 2008, she released a new album, ''Pink Velour,'' on her own label, Earnester Records. According to an earlier interview, the title track “is about my family moving back and forth between the east and the west, and my being kidnapped by my mother on Valentine's Day in 1969, and about not seeing my dad for almost seven years.” A frequent

backup singer A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

and contributor to duets with other musicians, Straw has also maintained an intermittent acting career, appearing on the television shows '' The Adventures of Pete & Pete'' and the original '' Tales of the City''. Straw's role on ''The Adventures of Pete & Pete'', as middle-school algebra teacher Miss Fingerwood, was introduced in the episode "Valentine's Day Massacre," and was reprised in the episodes "Hard Day's Pete" and "x=why?" Syd Straw can be heard singing harmony and backing vocals on the

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

albums '' Traffic from Paradise'' and '' The Evening of My Best Day''. She is also featured on Leo Kottke's '' Peculiaroso,'' which Jones produced. Straw appears on "What Am I Worth" from the Dave Alvin album '' King of California''. For a number of years she has given an annual "Heartwreck" live performance on Valentine's Day. In 1994, Straw teamed up with

Wilco Wilco is an American Rock music, rock band based in Chicago. The band was formed in 1994 by the remaining members of alternative country group Uncle Tupelo after singer Jay Farrar's departure. Wilco's lineup changed frequently during its fir ...

to contribute the song "The T.B. Is Whipping Me" to the

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

benefit album '' Red Hot + Country'', produced by the Red Hot Organization. She continues to record and perform today, recently in San Francisco's legendar
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
festival in September 2023.

Discography

Albums

* 1989: '' Surprise'' (

Virgin Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

) – reissued in 2000 on Koch with two bonus tracks) * 1996: ''

'' (Capricorn) * 2001: ''Live at the Triple Crown'' (TAO) with The Adventures Of... * 2005: ''Whole Wide World: Uncollected Songs'' (self-released) * 2008: ''Pink Velour'' (Earnester)

Compilation albums

* 1985: various artists – ''Luxury Condos Coming to Your Neighborhood Soon'' (Coyote) – track 13, "Listening To Elvis" * 1988: various artists – '' Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films'' ( A&M) – track 4(c), "Blue Shadows on the Trail" * 1990: various artists – ''Rutles Highway Revisited (A Tribute to

The Rutles The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series '' Rutland W ...

)'' ( Shimmy Disc) – track 1–7, "I Must Be In Love" (with

Marc Ribot Marc Ribot (; born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. His work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, Rock music, rock, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notab ...

) * 1992: various artists – ''Downtown Does The Beatles Live at the Knitting Factory 1992'' (Knitting Factory) – track 10, " Don't Let Me Down" (with

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. In ...

, Mark Ribot, Joey Baron, and Greg Cohn) * 1993: Chris Stamey and Friends – ''Christmas Time'' (East Side Digital) – track 10, "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presents, Dear" * 1994: various artists – ''Beat the Retreat – Songs by Richard Thompson'' ( Capitol) – track 5, "For Shame of Doing Wrong" (with Evan Dando) * 1994: various artists – '' Red Hot + Country'' (

Mercury Nashville Music Corporation of America, formerly known as Universal Music Group Nashville, is Universal Music Group's country music subsidiary. It was officially opened in 1945 as #MCA Nashville, MCA Nashville and #Mercury Nashville, Mercury Nashville wh ...

) – track 16, "The T.B. Is Whipping Me" (with

) * 1994: various artists – ''A Live Christmas Extravaganza'' (Deko) – track 2, "X-Mas Twist" * 1995: various artists – ''Live from Mountain Stage Volume 8'' (Blue Plate) – track 9, "Golden Dreams" * 1998: various artists – ''I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush'' (Brown Star Records) "The Man With The Child In His Eyes" * 1998: various artists – '' Real: The Tom T. Hall Project'' (

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteh ...

) – track 10: "Harper Valley P.T.A." (with the Skeletons) * 2000: various artists – ''One Step Up / Two Steps Back: The Songs of

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

'' (Capitol) – track 12, "Meeting Across the River" * 2001: various artists – ''Daddy-O Daddy! Rare Family Songs of Woody Guthrie'' (Rounder) – track 8, "My Daddy (Flies a Ship in the Sky)" * 2020: various artists – ''I WANNA BE KATE: The Songs of Kate Bush – Remastered and Expanded'' (Brown Star Records) "The Man With The Child In His Eyes"

Appears on

* 1985:

The Golden Palominos The Golden Palominos were an American musical group headed by drummer, producer, arranger, and composer Anton Fier, first formed in 1981. Aside from Fier, the Palominos membership fluctuated, with only bassist Bill Laswell and guitarist Nick ...

– '' Visions of Excess'' (

Celluloid Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common present-day ...

) * 1986: Beat Rodeo – ''Home in the Heart of the Beat'' ( I.R.S.) * 1986: The Golden Palominos – '' Blast of Silence (Axed My Baby for a Nickel)'' (Celluloid) * 1987:

The dB's The dB's are an American alternative Rock music, rock and power pop group, who formed in New York City in 1978 and first came to prominence in the early 1980s. Their debut album ''Stands for Decibels'' is acclaimed as one of the great "lost" pow ...

– ''The Sound of Music'' (I.R.S.) * 1987:

Victoria Williams Victoria Williams (born December 23, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multi ...

– ''Happy Come Home'' (Geffen) * 1988: Eric Ambel – ''Roscoe's Gang'' ( Enigma) * 1988: Face to Face – ''One Big Day'' ( Mercury) * 1989: Boo Hewerdine and Darden Smith – ''Evidence'' (

Chrysalis A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages the ...

) * 1989: Mark Bingham – ''I Passed for Human'' (Dog Gone) * 1989:

Marshall Crenshaw Marshall Howard Crenshaw (born November 11, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for hit songs such as " Someday, Someway", a US top 40 hit in 1982, " Cynical Girl", and " Whenever You're on My Mind". He is ...

– '' Good Evening'' (Warner Bros.) * 1989:

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, record producer, singer, and former Warner Bros. Records executive whose work encompasses orchestral pop, elaborate recording experiments, Ame ...

– ''

Tokyo Rose Tokyo Rose (alternative spelling Tokio Rose) was a name given by Allied troops in the South Pacific during World War II to all female English-speaking radio broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The programs were broadcast in the South Pacific ...

'' (Warner Bros.) * 1990: Peter Blegvad – ''King Strut and Other Stories'' ( Silvertone) * 1990: Bloomsday – ''Fortuny'' (

Island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

) * 1990: Was (Not Was) – '' Are You Okay?'' ( Fontana) * 1990: Roy Nathanson – ''Little Fred'' (

Les Disques du Crépuscule Les Disques du Crépuscule is an independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized ente ...

) * 1991: Barkmarket – '' Vegas Throat'' ( Def American Recordings) * 1991:

David Sanborn David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024) was an American alto saxophonist. He worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age o ...

– ''Another Hand'' ( Elektra) * 1992: Freedy Johnston – '' Can You Fly'' ( Bar/None) * 1992:

– '' Requiem for What's His Name'' (

Les Disques Du Crépuscule Les Disques du Crépuscule is an independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized ente ...

) * 1993: Dave Alvin – '' Museum of Heart'' ( HighTone) * 1993:

– '' Traffic from Paradise'' (

Geffen Records Geffen Records (formerly The David Geffen Company from 1980 to 1992 and Geffen Records Inc. from 1993 to 2004) is an American record label, founded in late 1980 by David Geffen. Originally a music subsidiary of the company known as Geffen Pi ...

) * 1993:

Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, Little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

– ''Drunk'' ( Texas Hotel) * 1994: Dave Alvin – '' King of California'' (HighTone) * 1994: Doug Legacy with the Zydeco Party Band – ''King Cake Party'' (Wildcat) * 1994:

Grant McLennan Grant William McLennan (12 February 19586 May 2006) was an Australian alternative rock singer-songwriter-guitarist. He co-founded the Go-Betweens (1977–89, 2000–06) with Robert Forster in Brisbane in 1977 and issued four solo albums: '' Wat ...

– '' Horsebreaker Star'' (Atlantic / Beggars Banquet) * 1994: Leo Kottke – '' Peculiaroso'' (

Private Music Private Music was an American independent record label founded in 1984 by musician Peter Baumann as a "home for instrumental music". Baumann signed Ravi Shankar, Yanni, Suzanne Ciani, Andy Summers, Patrick O'Hearn, Leo Kottke, and his for ...

) * 1995: Tony Trischka – ''World Turning'' ( Rounder) * 1998: Richard Buckner – ''Since'' ( MCA) * 2000: John Greaves – ''The Caretaker'' (

Blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842. The process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

) * 2000: The Schramms – ''100 Questions'' (Blue Rose) * 2000: Christy McWilson – ''The Lucky One'' (HighTone) * 2002:

Wayne Kramer Wayne Stanley Kramer (''né'' Kambes; April 30, 1948 – February 2, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer, and Film score, film and television composer. Kramer came to prominence in the 1960s as the lead guitarist of t ...

– ''Adult World'' ( MuscleTone) * 2003: Rickie Lee Jones – '' The Evening of My Best Day'' ( V2) * 2004: One Ring Zero – ''As Smart as We Are'' (Soft Slull Press/Urban Geek Records) * 2014:

– '' Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014'' ( Nonesuch) * 2015: Bill Wells & Friends – ''Nursery Rhymes'' (Karaoke Kalk) * 2021:

Michael Hearst Michael Marcus Hearst (born December 27, 1972) is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and producer. He is best known for his solo albums ''Songs For Ice Cream Trucks'', ''Songs For Unusual Creatures'', ''Songs For Fearful Flyers'', ''Songs ...

– ''Songs For Unconventional Vehicles'' (Urban Geek Records)

As composer

* 1990: David Halley – ''Stray Dog Talk'' (

Demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

) – track 9, "Dream Life" (co-written with David Halley)

References

''Not The Last Straw''
(2004 interview)