caption associated_acts years_active birth_place background birth_date instrument genre image article_title name
chicago 10/28/2012 avengers 1977 & ndash ; present los angeles , california solo_singer 17 december 1958 vocals punk rock , folk music penelope_houston . jpg penelope houston
 penelope houston
penelope houston

penelope houston -lrb- born december 17 , 1958 in los angeles , california -rrb- is an american singer-songwriter best known as the singer for the san francisco-based punk rock band the avengers .
she was raised in seattle .
in the mid-1970s she attended fairhaven college in bellingham , washington .
in 1977 , houston moved to san francisco , attended the san francisco art institute and shortly thereafter became the lead singer and songwriter for the avengers .
that band released only one album , their eponymous debut in 1983 .
the album is now out of print , although two retrospective collections are available .
following the group 's demise in 1979 , houston moved first to los angeles to work in film and video with the screamers and director rene daalder , then to england where she collaborated with howard devoto on his post-magazine projects .
in the mid-1980s , she returned to san francisco and helped originate the west coast neo-folk movement .
in 1986 , she was featured alongside tomata du plenty of the screamers in the punk rock musical , which was released on '' dvd '' in october 2008 .
by 1996 she had toured europe extensively , signed with wea germany -lrb- warner brothers -rrb- and earned numerous awards with the dozen albums , which blended influences of punk , folk , rock , blues and americana into her dark unique acoustic sound .
her first full-length album was `` birdboys '' which came out in 1987 .
her most recent album is 2012 's `` on market street '' .
shortly after the release of `` pale green girl '' , houston and original guitarist greg ingraham recreated the avengers , adding bassist joel reader -lrb- formerly of the mr. t experience , and the plus ones -rrb- and drummer luis illades -lrb- of pansy division , formerly also of the plus ones -rrb- to round out the lineup .
since the spring of 2004 she has toured the u.s. and europe with this lineup .
she continues to play her solo material , mainly in the san francisco bay area .
a new album titled `` on market street '' was released march 20 , 2012 .
in august 2012 , houston conducted an audio interview with music life radio about her life and musical career .
