Janis Ian

This article is about the singer. For the fictional character, see Janis Ian (Mean Girls).

Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)"^[1] and the 1975 Top Ten single "At Seventeen", from her seventh studio album Between the Lines, which in September 1975 reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart.

Janis Ian
Ian performing in concert in Dublin, Ireland, 1981
Background information
Birth name	Janis Eddy Fink
Born	(1951-04-07) April 7, 1951 (age 74) Farmingdale, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Folk soft rock
Occupation	Singer-songwriter
Years active	1965–present
Labels	Rude Girl Columbia Verve Windham Hill
Spouse(s)	Tino Sargo ​ ​ (m. 1978; div. 1983)​ Patricia Snyder ​ (m. 2003)​
Website	janisian.com

Born in Farmingdale, New Jersey, Ian entered the American folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-1960s. Most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century. She has won two Grammy Awards, the first in 1975 for "At Seventeen" and the second in 2013 for Best Spoken Word Album, for her autobiography, Society's Child, with a total of ten nominations in eight different categories.

Ian is a columnist and science fiction author.^[2]

Early life

Born in Farmingdale, New Jersey,^[3] Ian was raised on a farm and attended East Orange High School in East Orange, New Jersey^[4] and the New York City High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. Both sets of grandparents (from Poland, Ukraine, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan) lived in the New York-New Jersey area, having emigrated via England around 1918.^[5] Her parents, Victor, a music teacher, and Pearl, a college fundraiser, were Jewish-born liberal atheists who ran several summer camps in upstate New York.^[6]

As a child, Ian admired the work of folk musicians including Joan Baez and Odetta. Starting with piano lessons at the age of two (at her own insistence), Ian, by the time she entered her teens, was playing the organ, harmonica, French horn, and guitar.^[7] At the age of 12, she wrote her first song, "Hair of Spun Gold", which was subsequently published in the folk publication Broadside and was later recorded for her eponymous debut album. In 1964, she legally changed her name to Janis Ian, taking her brother Eric's middle name as her new surname.^[8]

Music career

At the age of 14, Ian wrote and recorded her first hit single, "Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)", about an interracial romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers. Produced by George "Shadow" Morton and released three times from 1965 to 1967, "Society's Child" became a national hit upon its third release after Leonard Bernstein featured it in a late-April 1967 CBS TV special titled Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution.^[8]

The song's theme of interracial relationships was considered taboo by some radio stations, who withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly. In her 2008 autobiography Society's Child, Ian recalls receiving hate mail and death threats as a response to the song and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down.^{[citation needed]} In July 1967, "Society's Child" reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single sold 600,000 copies and the album sold 350,000 copies.^[7]

At the age of 16, Ian met comedian Bill Cosby backstage at a Smothers Brothers show where she was promoting "Society's Child". Since she was underage, she was accompanied by a chaperone while touring. After her set, Ian had been sleeping with her head on the lap of her chaperone (an older female family friend). According to Ian in a 2015 interview, she was told by her then manager that Cosby had interpreted their interaction as "lesbian" and as a result "had made it his business" to warn other television shows that Ian wasn't "suitable family entertainment" and "shouldn't be on television" because of her sexuality, thus attempting to blacklist her.^[9][10][11] Although Ian would later come out, she states that at the time of the encounter with Cosby she had only been kissed once, by a boy she had a crush on, in broad daylight at summer camp.^[12]

On her website Ian relates that although "Society's Child" was originally intended for Atlantic Records and the label paid for her recording session, Atlantic subsequently returned the master to her and quietly refused to release it.^[13] Ian relates that years later, Atlantic's president at the time, Jerry Wexler, publicly apologized to her for this. The single and Ian's 1967 debut album (which reached No. 29 on the charts) were finally released on Verve Forecast. In 2001, "Society's Child" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which honors recordings considered timeless and important to music history. Her first four albums were released on a double CD entitled Society's Child: The Verve Recordings in 1995.

Ian performing at the National Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, May 1981

"Society's Child" stigmatized Ian as a one-hit wonder until her most successful US single, "At Seventeen", was released in 1975. "At Seventeen" is a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity and teenage angst, from the perspective of a narrator looking back on her earlier experience. The song was a major hit as it charted at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, hit number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and won the 1976 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female, beating out Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton-John, Judy Collins and Helen Reddy. Ian appeared as the second musical guest on the series premiere of Saturday Night Live on October 11, 1975, performing "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter".^[14][15] The album Between the Lines was also a smash and reached number one on Billboard′s album chart. The album would be certified platinum for sales of over one million copies sold in the US. Another measure of her success is anecdotal: on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received one as a teenager.^[16]

"Fly Too High" (1979), produced by disco producer Giorgio Moroder, was Ian's contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster film Foxes and was also featured on Ian's 1979 album Night Rains. It also became another international hit, reaching number one in many countries, including South Africa, Belgium, Australia, Israel and the Netherlands, and going gold or platinum in those countries and others. Another country where Ian has achieved a high level of popularity is Japan: Ian had two Top 10 singles on the Japanese Oricon charts, "Love Is Blind" in 1976 and "You Are Love" in 1980. Ian's 1976 album Aftertones also topped Oricon's album chart in October 1976.^[17] "You Are Love (Toujours Gai Mon Cher)" is the theme song of Kinji Fukasaku's 1980 movie Virus. Ian cut several other singles specifically for the Japanese market, including 1998's "The Last Great Place". In the US, Ian did not chart in the Top 40 on the pop charts after "At Seventeen", though she had several songs reach the Adult Contemporary singles chart through 1980 (all failing to make the Top 20).

Ian started Rude Girl Records, Inc., and its publishing arm, Rude Girl Publishing, on January 2, 1992. Since then, RGR has steadily grown, with its ownership of more than twenty-five Janis Ian albums and DVDs overseas, as well as hundreds of unreleased recordings and videos, including unreleased songs, concerts, demos, and rehearsal tapes. The Rude Girl label oversees the production of Ian's newer work, and in the case of older work, its re-mastering and the re-creation of the original artwork.^[18]

From 1982–92, Ian continued to write songs, often in collaboration with then songwriting partner Kye Fleming, some of which have been covered by Amy Grant, Bette Midler, Marti Jones and other artists. She released Breaking Silence in 1993 and came out as a lesbian.^[19] Other artists have recorded Ian's compositions, including Roberta Flack, who had a hit in 1973 with Ian's song "Jesse", which peaked at #30 on the Hot 100 on October 27, 1973.^[19] Ian's own version is included on her 1974 album Stars (the title song of which has also been oft-covered, including versions by Joan Baez, Shirley Bassey, Cher, Nina Simone and Barbara Cook). "At Seventeen" is Ian's most covered composition with 50 versions by artists including Celine Dion, Miki Howard and Julia Fordham. Ian's song "In The Winter" has also been covered many times by singers including Dusty Springfield and Sheena Easton. Richard Barone recorded Ian's song "Sweet Misery" on his album Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s in 2016. She continues to tour worldwide, though she stated that her 2022 North-American tour, which was cancelled when a laryngitis diagnosis became severe, would be her "last full tour".^[20] In August 2018 Ian performed at the UK's Cambridge Folk Festival.^[21][22]

Criticism of the RIAA

Ian is an outspoken critic of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA),^[23] which she sees as acting against the interests of musicians and consumers. Thus, she has released several of her songs for free download from her website.^[24] "I've been surprised at how few people are willing to get annoyed with me over it," she laughs. "There was a little backlash here and there. I was scheduled to appear on a panel somewhere and somebody from a record company said if I was there they would boycott it. But that's been pretty much it. In general, the entire reaction has been favorable. I hear from a lot of people in my industry who don't want to be quoted, but say 'yeah, we're aware of this and we'd like to see a change too.'"^[25] Along with science fiction authors Eric Flint and Cory Doctorow, she has argued that their experience provides conclusive evidence that free downloads dramatically increased hard-copy sales, contrary to the claims of RIAA and NARAS.^[26]

Writing and acting

Ian at a Borders store book-signing; Cory Doctorow is in the photo to the right, but was cropped out,May 2005

Ian writes science fiction. A long-time reader of the genre, she became involved in science fiction fandom in 2001 by attending the Millennium Philcon in Philadelphia. Her short stories have been published in anthologies and with Mike Resnick, she co-edited Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian, an anthology published in 2003. She continues to occasionally go to science fiction conventions.^[27] Ian performed at the 2009 Nebula Award Conference in Los Angeles, where she sang "Welcome Home," a version of her song "At Seventeen" with the lyrics changed to talk about the acceptance she found by reading science fiction.^[28]

Ian was a regular columnist for the LGBT news magazine The Advocate^[29] and contributed to Performing Songwriter magazine from 1993^[30] to 2006.^[31] On July 24, 2008, Ian released autobiography Society's Child (published by Penguin Tarcher), which was positively received. An accompanying double CD, The Autobiography Collection, has been released with many of Ian's best loved songs.^[32]

Ian took acting lessons and script interpretation classes from Stella Adler in the early 1980s to help her feel more comfortable on stage, and she and Adler remained close friends until Adler's death in 1992. In December 2015, Ian appeared in the series finale of HBO comedy series Getting On playing a patient who refused to stop singing.^[33][34]

Personal life

Ian's mother, Pearl Yadoff Fink, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1975. Because of this, Ian and her brother persuaded their mother to pursue her lifelong dream of going to college. Fink eventually enrolled in Goddard College's adult education program and graduated with a master's degree. After Fink's death in 1997, Ian decided to auction off memorabilia to raise money to endow a scholarship at Goddard specifically for older continuing education students, which became the Pearl Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity. At the end of each year, 90% or more of funds raised from sale of merchandise, donations from fans and contributions from Ian herself are disbursed to various educational institutions to fund scholarships.^[35] By 2020, it had endowed more than $1,250,000 in scholarship funds at four schools.^[36]

Ian married Portuguese filmmaker Tino Sargo in 1978 and the two divorced in 1983. In her autobiography, Ian accused Sargo of physical and emotional abuse.^[35][37] After moving to Nashville, she met Patricia Snyder in 1989. Ian came out as a lesbian in 1993 with the worldwide release of her album Breaking Silence.^[19] Snyder and Ian married in Toronto on August 27, 2003.^[38] Ian has a stepdaughter and two grandchildren with Snyder.^[39]

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Chart positions						Label
		US	AUS [40]	CAN	JPN	NLD [41]	UK [42]
1967	Janis Ian	29	—	—	—	—	—	Verve Forecast
1967	For All the Seasons of Your Mind	179	—	—	—	—	—
1968	The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink	—	—	—	—	—	—
1969	Who Really Cares	—	—	—	—	—	—
1971	Present Company	—	—	—	—	—	—	Capitol
1974	Stars	63	82	—	—	—	—	Columbia
1975	Between the Lines	1	16	4[43]	22	—	—
1976	Aftertones	12	45	81[44]	1	23	—
1977	Miracle Row	45	58	—	26	20	—
1978	Janis Ian	120	97	—	—	—	—
1979	Night Rains	—	11	—	—	2	—
1981	Restless Eyes	156	57	—	—	15	—
1985	Uncle Wonderful	—	93	—	—	—	—	Interfusion
1992	Breaking Silence	—	—	—	—	—	—	Morgan Creek
1995	Revenge[a]	—	—	—	—	—	81	Beacon
1997	Hunger	—	—	—	—	—	—	Windham Hill/Rude Girl
2000	God and the FBI	—	—	—	—	—	—
2001	Lost Cuts 1	—	—	—	—	—	—	Rude Girl
2004	Billie's Bones	—	—	—	—	—	—
2006	Folk Is the New Black	—	—	—	—	—	—
2014	Strictly Solo[b]	—	—	—	—	—	—
2020	Hope	—	—	—	—	—	—
2022	The Light at the End of the Line[45]	—	—	—	—	—	—

Live albums

Year	Title	Label
1978	Remember...	orig. JVC Japan, now Rude Girl
1996	Live On the Test 1976	BBC World Wide
1999	The Bottom Line Encore Collection	The Bottom Line Record Company
2003	Live: Working Without a Net	Rude Girl/Oh Boy
2017/2023	Live at The Calderone Theater 1975	Rude Girl

Compilation albums

Year	Title	Chart positions		Label
		AUS [40]	NLD [41]
1970	Golden Archive Series: Janis Ian	—	—	MGM Records
1977	Best of Janis Ian	69	—	Interfusion
1980	The Best of Janis Ian	—	—	CBS Benelux
	My Favourites	—	5
1990	At Seventeen	—	—	CBS
1992	Up 'Til Now - The Best of Janis Ian[c]	—	18	Sony
1995	Society's Child: The Verve Recordings	—	—	Polydor/UMG
1998	Unreleased 1: Mary's Eyes	—	—	Rude Girl
2000	Unreleased 2: Take No Prisoners	—	—
2001	Unreleased 3: Society's Child	—	—
2002	The Best of Janis Ian	—	—	Festival Australia
2004	Souvenirs: Best of 1972–1981	—	—	Rude Girl
2007	Ultimate Best	—	—	JVC Victory
2008	Best of Janis Ian: Autobiography Collection	—	—	Rude Girl
2009	The Essential Janis Ian	—	—	Columbia/Legacy/Rude Girl
2011	Playlist: The Very Best of Janis Ian	—	—
2017	The Essential Janis Ian 2.0	—	—	Sony (worldwide)
2023	Worktapes & Demos, Vol. 1	—	—	Rude Girl

Singles

Year	Titles (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated	Chart positions									Album
		US Billboard	US Cash Box	US A/C	CAN	AUS [40]	SA	UK	NLD [46]	JPN
1967	"Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" b/w "Letter to Jon" (Non-album track)	14	13	—	13[47]	—	—	—	—	—	Janis Ian (Verve Forecast)
	"Younger Generation Blues" b/w "I'll Give You a Stone If You'll Throw It"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Insanity Comes Quietly to the Structured Mind" b/w "Sunflakes Fall, Snowrays Call"	109	82	—	76[48]	—	—	—	—	—	...For All The Seasons Of Your Mind
1968	"A Song for All the Seasons of Your Mind" b/w "Lonely One"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Friends Again" b/w "Lady of the Night" (Non-album track)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink
	"Janey's Blues" b/w "Everybody Knows" (from The Secret Life of J. Eddy Fink)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Janis Ian (Verve Forecast)
1969	"Calling Your Name" b/w "Month of May"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Who Really Cares
1971	"He's a Rainbow" b/w "Here in Spain" (US) or "See My Grammy Ride" (UK)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Present Company
1974	"The Man You Are in Me" b/w "Jesse"	104	105	33	—	—	—	—	—	—	Stars
1975	"When the Party's Over" b/w "Bright Lights and Promises"	—	112	20	—	—	—	—	—	—	Between the Lines
	"At Seventeen" b/w "Stars" (from Stars)	3	1	1	6[49]	23	—	54[d]	—	—
	"In the Winter" b/w "Thankyous" (from Stars)	—	97	21	—	—	—	—	—	—
1976	"Boy I Really Tied One On" b/w "Aftertones"	—	—	43	—	50	—	—	—	—	Aftertones
	"I Would Like to Dance" b/w "Goodbye To Morning"	—	—	28	86[50]	—	—	—	—	—
	"Roses" b/w "Love Is Blind"	—	—	37	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Love Is Blind" b/w "Miracle Row" (from Miracle Row)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1
	"Between the Lines" b/w "Sweet Sympathy" (from Stars)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	90	Between The Lines
1977	"Miracle Row" b/w "Take to the Sky"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Miracle Row
	"I Want to Make You Love Me" b/w "Candlelight"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Will You Dance?" b/w "I Want to Make You Love Me"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	40
1978	"That Grand Illusion" b/w "Hopper Painting"	—	—	43	—	—	—	—	—	—	Janis Ian (Columbia)
	"The Bridge" b/w "Do You Wanna Dance"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1979	"Here Comes the Night" b/w "Tonight Will Last Forever" (from Janis Ian Columbia album)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Night Rains
	"Fly Too High" b/w "Night Rains"	—	—	—	—	7	1	44	5	—
1980	"You Are Love" b/w "All to You"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	10	"Virus" soundtrack (Japan release only)
	"The Other Side of the Sun" b/w "Memories"	—	—	47	—	44	—	44	30	—	Night Rains
1981	"Under the Covers" b/w "Sugar Mountain"	71	79	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Restless Eyes
	"Restless Eyes" b/w "I Remember Yesterday"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1985	"Body Slave (Re-Mix)" b/w "Mechanical Telephone" (Australia)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Uncle Wonderful
	"Heart Skip Too Many Beats" b/w "Sniper of the Heart" (Australia/New Zealand)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1989	"Heaven Knows" b/w "Heaven Knows (Non Vocal Version)" (Japan)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Non-album track
1992	"Days Like These" (promo)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Falling from Grace (Soundtrack)
	"Walking On Sacred Ground" b/w "Cosmopolitan Girl (Live)" & "When He Was Here (Live)" (Europe)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Breaking Silence
1993	"Tattoo" b/w "Cosmopolitan Girl (Live)" & "When He Was Here (Live)" (Europe)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Guess You Had To Be There" b/w "Breaking Silence" (Europe)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1995	"Tenderness" b/w "Take No Prisoners" & "When Angels Cry" (Europe)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Revenge
	"Take Me Walking in the Rain" b/w "When the Silence Fall"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
1997	"Honor Them All" (promo)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Hunger
1998	"Getting Over You" (promo)	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2000	"Jolene"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	God and the FBI
2006	"The Great Divide"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Folk Is the New Black
	"Standing In the Shadows of Love" b/w "All Those Promises" & "Crocodile Song"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Married In London"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Non-album track
2010	"Welcome Home (The Nebulas Song)"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Every Woman's Song" (with Angela Aki)[51][52]	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	53
2012	"The Tiny Mouse"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	The Tiny Mouse Book/CD
2013	"Architect of All Creation"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	The Singer & the Song audiobook
2014	"I'm Still Standing"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Strictly Solo
	"Society's Child (Solo Acoustic)"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"At Seventeen (Solo Acoustic)"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2015	"Getting On"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Getting On
2017	"1776"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Non-album track
	"Perfect Little Girl"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	The Light at the End of the Line
	"Swannanoa"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2019	"Resist"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2020	"Amazing Grace"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Non-album track
	"Better Times Will Come" with Neil Finn	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
2021	"I Am the One"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Hope
	"A Thousand Years"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
	"Today Your Mine (Unplugged 2007)"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Non-album track
2024	"When He Was Here"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—

Video albums

Year	Title	Format	Label
1994	Live at the Forum (Japan)	Laserdisc	Midi Inc.
2004	Live at Club Cafe	DVD	Rude Girl
2004	Janismania	DVD	Rude Girl
2007	Through the Years: A Retrospective	DVD	Rude Girl
2007	'79: Live In Japan & Australia	DVD	Rude Girl
2008	Live From Grand Center[53]	DVD	Rude Girl

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2025	Janis Ian: Breaking Silence	Herself	Documentary	[54]

Bibliography

• Who Really Cares: Poems From Childhood and Early Youth, 1969 (2002 re-release), ISBN 978-1-930709-37-9
• Songbook, 1999, ISBN 978-0-7692-0148-1
• Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7564-0177-1 (ed., with Mike Resnick)
• "Prayerville", 2003, in Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg (eds), Women Writing Science Fiction As Men, ISBN 978-0-7564-0148-1
• Society's Child: My Autobiography, 2008, Tarcher/Penguin; ISBN 1-58542-675-X; ISBN 978-1-58542-675-1

Notes

1. At this time, Ian made a parody version of Revenge under the name Simon Renshaw Presents: Janis Ian Shares Your Pain as a private joke and prank on her manager, Simon Renshaw. The album was later^[when?] released publicly on iTunes; it's never been released on CD.^{[citation needed]}
2. Available only at live shows.
3. A limited-edition two-CD combining Up 'Til Now - The Best of Janis Ian with Breaking Silence was issued by Sony in 1993.
4. Chart position is from the official UK "Breakers List".