WOMAD

Suzanne Vega

From United States

Biography from A&M RecordsWhen Suzanne Vega released her now seminal 1985 self-titled debut, few could have then anticipated the mini-industry of acolytes and imitators that would follow over the next ten years. Though the notion of poetic folk singer blossoming into fully-realised chart star was not a new one - Suzanne was following an illustrious roll-call of like-minded performers like Dylan and Leonard Cohen - it was the 'Suzanne Vega' album and classic early singles like 'Marlene on the Wall', 'Left of Centre' and 'Small Blue Thing' that truly broke new ground and whose influence could later be traced in the work of singers like Tracy Chapman, Tori Amos and, even more recently, Alanis Morissette.Eschewing the limelight, but ever-present on the live circuit - whether in the low-key surroundings of New York's folk clubs where she still performs, or on the larger arena tours which she can still comfortably fill - Suzanne has quietly gone about things in her own way, emerging every two or three years with an album of immaculately-crafted, sweetly-perfomed new songs. 1987's 'Solitude Standing', which spawned the worldwide number 1 'Luka', and the bizarrely-recreated and postumously-successful 'Tom's Diner', and 93's quirkily upbeat and much vaunted '99.9', consolidated Vega's reputation as a singer/songwriter with few peers and a legion of devoted followers.All this from a singer born in Los Angeles, raised in New York's Spanish Harlem and weaned musically on a brilliantly diverse diet of Motown (courtesy of the family child-minder), Astrud Gilberto (Puerto-Rican stepfather), The Beatles (anyone and everyone) and later British punk stars Elvis Costello and The Teardrop Explodes (teenage English boyfriend). After studying dance at the celebrated ('Kids from Fame') New York School of Performing Arts, she studied English at college, supporting herself as a receptionist and through acoustic performances at New York clubs like the Bottom Line and Folk City. Linking up with Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye and producer Steve Addabo, there began a prodigious body of work that seamlessly leads to 1999's eagerly-anticipated release of her new opus 'Nine Objects of Desire'.Continuing much of the stylistic experimentation exhibited on the virtuoso '99.9' - it continues her production liaison with husband Mitchell Froom - the new album sees Vega at the peak of her creative powers. Recorded in New York with a band comprising Attractions Pete Thomas on drums, and Bruce Thomas on bass, guitarist Steve Donnelly and Peter Gabriel percussionist Jerry Marotta, 'Nine Objects of Desire' is a feast of different moods and experiences. Moving effortlessly from bossa nova to mid-tempo, from hip-hop to jazzy swing, the effect is mesmerising, like every musical twist and turn in Suzanne's career to date captured on one record.1999