Toshi Reagon (born January 27, 1964) is an American musician of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

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 ...

and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, as well as a composer, curator, and producer.

Early life

Born January 27, 1964 in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Reagon grew up with her parents

Bernice Johnson Reagon Bernice Johnson Reagon (October 4, 1942 – July 16, 2024) was an American song leader, composer, professor of American history, curator at the Smithsonian, and social activist. In the early 1960s, she was a founding member of the Freedom Sin ...

and Cordell Hull Reagon, as well as her younger brother Kwan Tauna Reagon. Reagon grew up in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

She was raised by musician parents active in the civil rights movement. Her mother,

, founded the all-woman

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

group

Sweet Honey in the Rock Sweet Honey in the Rock are an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are a three-time Grammy Award–nominated troupe who express their history as black women through song, dance, and sign language. Originally a four-person en ...

in 1973, which had a profound influence on her. Her father, Cordell Hull Reagon, was a leader of the civil rights movement in Albany (Georgia) and member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Her parents were also part of the civil rights musical group

The Freedom Singers The Freedom Singers originated as a quartet formed in 1962 at Albany State College in Albany, Georgia. After folk singer Pete Seeger witnessed the power of their congregational-style of singing, which fused black Baptist ''a cappella'' church sin ...

. Reagon lists 1970's

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

bands such as

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

, and

Kiss A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

, as well as classic

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

musicians such as

Big Mama Thornton Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B. The ''Encyclopedia of Pop, Rock and Soul'' described Thornton by saying: "Her booming voice, sometimes 200-pound fra ...

Howlin' Wolf Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910January 10, 1976), better known by his stage name Howlin' Wolf, was an American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player. He was at the forefront of transforming acoustic Delta blues into electric Chica ...

, and

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1893 or 1903August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African-American audiences. In the 19 ...

as additional musical influences.

Career

Bands and performances

Reagon began performing at age 17. In 1990,

Lenny Kravitz Leonard Albert Kravitz (born May 26, 1964) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. His debut album ''Let Love Rule (Lenny Kravitz album), Let Love Rule'' (1989) was characterized by a blend of Rock music, rock ...

invited her to open for him on his first world tour. She has since shared the stage with performers including

Ani DiFranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

and

Meshell Ndegeocello Meshell Ndegeocello ( ; born Michelle Lynn Johnson on August 29, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, and bassist. She has gone by the name Meshell Suhaila Bashir-Shakur which is used as a writing credit on some of her mid-career work. ...

. Reagon's first album, ''Justice'', was released in 1990 through

Flying Fish Records Flying Fish Records was a record label founded in Chicago in 1974 that specialized in folk, blues, and country music. In the 1990s the label was sold to Rounder Records. Bruce Kaplan, the label's founder, was a native of Chicago and the son of ...

. Since then, she has released many solo albums, including her most recent ''SpiritLand'' in December 2018. Her band, BIGLovely, has been performing since September 1996. The name BIGLovely comes from a term Reagon's girlfriend used to address her in a letter. The band includes Judith Casselberry on

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked, its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and vocals, Robert "Chicken" Burke on

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s, Fred Cass, Jr. on

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, Adam Widoff on

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

, and Catherine Russell on

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

and vocals. The line-up also includes Jen Leigh, Ann Klein, Debbie Robinson, Allison Miller, Kismet Lyles and Stephanie McKay as substitutes.

Parable of the Sower Opera

Reagon's ''

Parable of the Sower The Parable of the Sower (sometimes called the Parable of the Soils) is a Parables of Jesus, parable of Jesus found in , , and the apocrypha, extra-canonical Gospel of Thomas. Jesus tells of a farmer who sows seed indiscriminately. Some seed ...

'' rock-opera, based on the novel by

Octavia Butler Octavia Estelle Butler (June 22, 1947 – February 24, 2006) was an American science fiction writer who won several awards for her works, including Hugo, Locus, and Nebula awards. In 1995, Butler became the first science-fiction writer to recei ...

, had its world premiere at NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center in fall 2017. Shortly after, the US premiere was performed at Carolina Performing Arts at UNC-Chapel Hill, where Reagon was also an artist in residence. On April 26, 2019, it was performed at the O'Shaughnessy Auditorium in

Saint Paul Paul, also named Saul of Tarsus, commonly known as Paul the Apostle and Saint Paul, was a Christian apostle ( AD) who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. For his contributions towards the New Testament, he is generally ...

, Minnesota. The performance, created and written by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Reagon, and directed by Eric Ting, included over 20 singers, actors, and musicians. Reagon has been a big fan of Octavia Butler's works and her themes of

Afrofuturism Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture ...

and the eerily similar political climates led Reagon to create the opera. In relation to the differences between the novel and the opera, Reagon notes:

We had to make the opera different because the book is enormous. We wanted to focus on the idea of two communities: one that you are born into and that holds you. The second is an unknown community that you find and who finds you. We thought it should start with this known intimate community and then tell the story by bringing the entire theater and audience into that community. That is why the lights are up at the start of the performance. We wanted audiences to experience a comfortable space and then have the experience of watching things get uncomfortable. We decided to show how fragile we become when we hold on to something when it's time to change.

Reagon's "congregational opera" was first performed in 2015 at both the

Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: A ...

’s

Under the Radar Festival The Under the Radar Festival is an internationally-sourced experimental theater festival based in New York City, founded in 2005 by Mark Russell. Russell was the former Artistic Director of P.S. 122 for over twenty years, Guest Artistic Director ...

and at The Arts Center at

NYU Abu Dhabi New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD, ) is a degree-granting portal campus of New York University, established as a private liberal arts college in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Together with the main sites in New York and Shanghai, the por ...

(NYUAD) in 2017.

Discography

Studio and live albums

* 1990 ''Justice'', Flying Fish Records * 1994 ''The Rejected Stone'', PRO-MAMMA LP's * 1997 ''Kindness'', Smithsonian Folkways * 1999 ''The Righteous Ones'', Razor and Tie * 2001 ''Africans in America Soundtrack w/Bernice Johnson Reagon, Various artists.'' Ryco * 2002 ''TOSHI'', Razor and Tie * 2004 ''I Be Your Water'', limited self-release * 2005 ''Have You Heard'', Righteous Babe Records * 2008 ''Until We’re Done'', self-release * 2009 ''Lava: We Become'', self-release * 2010 ''There and Back Again'', self-release * 2018 ''SpirtLand'', self release

Compilation albums

* ''Shout Sister Shout'', a tribute to

Sister Rosetta Tharpe Sister Rosetta Tharpe (born Rosetta Nubin, March 20, 1915 – October 9, 1973) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She gained popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with her gospel recordings, characterized by a unique mixture of spirit ...

and Respond II * ''Dreaming Wide Awake'',

Lizz Wright Elizabeth LaCharla Wright (born January 22, 1980) professionally known as Lizz Wright, is an American jazz and gospel singer. Early life and education Wright was born in the small town of Hahira, which is northwest of Valdosta, Georgia, one ...

with Toshi Reagon: Vocals * ''Real Music'', Chocolate Genius with Toshi Reagon: Vocals * ''Raise Your Voice'', Sweet Honey In The Rock collaboration with Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely * ''Africans In America'', Rycodisc, Toshi Reagon: Musician, Composer and Associate Producer * ''The Temptation of Saint Anthony'' * ''Every Mother Counts'' Starbucks

Producer

* ''The Temptation of Saint Anthony Studio Cast Recording'', Songtalk Music, 2006 * ''Sweet Honey in the Rock: In This Land'', Earthbeat Records, 1992. Co-produced with

. * ''Sweet Honey in the Rock: Still On The Journey'', Earthbeat Records, 1993. Co-produced with

. * ''Sweet Honey in the Rock: I Got Shoes'', Music For Little People Records, 1994. Co-produced with

, and Nitanju Bolade Casel. * ''Sweet Honey in the Rock: Sacred Ground'', Earthbeat Records, 1995. Co-produced with

. * ''Sweet Honey in the Rock: The Women Gather'', Earthbeat Records, 2003. Co-produced with

. She also appeared on the TV show ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama series that aired on Showtime in the United States from 2004 to 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated wit ...

'' in the last episode of the fourth season, where she sings a song on the beach at Tasha's party.

Awards and recognition

*2021 Religion and the Arts Award by the American Academy of Religion *2021 The Herb Alpert Award in the Arts *2021 The APAP Award of Merit for Achievement in the Performing Arts *2015

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

''Art of Change'' Fellow *2009 Out Music Award *2007 Black Lily Award for Outstanding Performance *2004 New York Foundation for the Arts award for music composition

Personal life

Reagon is the goddaughter of folk singer

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 is named after his wife,

Toshi Seeger Toshi Seeger (born Toshi Aline Ohta; July 1, 1922 – July 9, 2013) was an American filmmaker, producer and environmental activist. A filmmaker who specialized in the subject of folk music, her credits include the 1966 film '' Afro-American Work ...

. Reagon, a lesbian, lives in

Brooklyn, New York 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 ...

with her partner and their adopted daughter.

References

External links

Official website
* *
Discography
at

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was f ...

Toshi Reagon's bandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reagon, Toshi 1964 births American folk singers Songwriters from Georgia (U.S. state) American feminist musicians American lesbian musicians African-American LGBTQ people Living people Righteous Babe Records artists Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) LGBTQ people from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American women guitarists African-American women songwriters African-American guitarists 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers African American women guitarists