Joan Baez

Joan Baez (/ˈbaɪ.ɛz/ (|'baɛs| in Am. Spanish), born January 9, 1941 as Joan Chandos Baez) is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist[1] whose contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest or social justice.[2] Baez has performed publicly for over 55 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish as well as in English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages. She is regarded as a folk singer, although her music has diversified since the counterculture days of the 1960s and now encompasses everything from folk rock and pop to country and gospel music. Although a songwriter herself, Baez generally interprets other composers' work, having recorded songs by the Allman Brothers Band, the Beatles, Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Violeta Parra, The Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder and many others. In recent years, she has found success interpreting songs of modern songwriters such as Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle and Natalie Merchant. Her recordings include many topical songsand material dealing with social issues.
She began her recording career in 1960 and achieved immediate success. Her first three albums, Joan Baez, Joan Baez, Vol. 2, and Joan Baez in Concert all achieved gold record status and stayed on the charts of hit albums for two years.[3]
Baez has had a popular hit song with "Diamonds & Rust" and hit covers of Phil Ochs's "There but for Fortune" and The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down". Other songs associated with Baez include "Farewell, Angelina", "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word", "Joe Hill", "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "We Shall Overcome". She was one of the first major artists to record the songs of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s; Baez was already an internationally-celebrated artist and did much to popularize his early songwriting efforts.[4][5] Baez also performed three songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment.[6]
== Genres ==
Folk
Category:Sixties
Category:Folk
Category:Greenwich Village sound
Category:Woodstock Performers
Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees