Society's child [sound recording] : my autobiography

Title:

Brilliance Audio on compact disc

Brilliance Audio on compact disc.

Author:

Ian, Janis.

Publication Information:

Grand Haven, MI : Brilliance Audio, p2012.

Edition:

Unabridged.

Format:

Audio disc

Physical Description:

10 sound discs (ca. 733 min) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Series:

Brilliance Audio on compact disc

Brilliance Audio on compact disc.

General Note:

Title from container.

Duration: 12:13:00.

Summary:

Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at the age of 15, when her soul-wrenching song 'Society's Child' became a hit. An intimate portrait of an interracial relationship, 'Society's Child' climbed the charts despite the fact that many radio stations across the country refused to play it because of its controversial subject matter. However, this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career.

System Details:

Compact disc.

Personal Subject:

Ian, Janis.

Subject Term:

Singers -- United States -- Biography.

Genre:

Audiobooks.

ISBN:

9781469255545

Document ID:

SD_ILS:1753694

Availability:

Library	Call Number	Format	Status	Item Holds
Searching... Quincy Thomas Crane Library	782.4216 IAN	BOOK ON COMPACT DISC	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable
Searching... Sharon Public Library	B IAN, JANIS	BOOK ON COMPACT DISC	Searching... Unknown	Searching... Unavailable

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Summary

Winner of the 2013 Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album

Janis Ian was catapulted into the spotlight in 1966 at age fifteen, when her soul-wrenching song about an interracial relationship, "Society's Child," became a hit. The song climbed the charts despite the fact that many radio stations across the country refused to play it because of its controversial subject matter. But this was only the beginning of a long and illustrious career. Society's Child is Ian's fascinating personal account of her more than forty years in the music business.

In 1975, Ian's legendary "At Seventeen" earned two Grammy Awards and five nominations. Her next two albums brought her worldwide platinum hits. But after seven albums in as many years, she made a conscious decision to walk away from the music business and devote herself to writing. During this period, she struggled through a difficult marriage that ended with her then husband's attempt to destroy her, and a sudden illness that very nearly cost her her life. The hiatus from music lasted for close to a decade until, in 1993, Ian returned with the release of the Grammy-nominated Breaking Silence , and she has been making unforgettable music ever since. In Society's Child , she provides a relentlessly honest account of the successes and failures, the hopes and dreams, of an extraordinary life.

Summary

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

I was born into the crack that split America, Ian writes, and her early immersion in the folk music scene of the 1960s helped shape her prodigious songwriting talents while she was still in her teens. The autobiography shares a title with her first hit, a song about a doomed interracial romance that was considered too controversial for many record labels and radio stations. The pressures of the music industry and her troubled family life drove Ian to a nervous breakdown at the age of 19. It was in the following long period of recovery that she wrote her most famous song, At Seventeen. (I'd never sing it in public, she says of her initial feelings about the song. It was just too humiliating.) Soon after reaching that recording peak, her life was derailed by a series of troubles ranging from an abusive marriage (to a man she first met because she was in love with his girlfriend) to massive tax liabilities to bouts with septicemia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The roller-coaster ride may be typical stuff for celebrity autobiography, but fans will appreciate the candor with which Ian discusses these hardships and her gradual path to happiness as an independent singer-songwriter in Nashville. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Casual music-scene observers may see Ian and her remarkable music surfacing every decade or so, usually winning a handful of Grammy nominations. There's a life between recording sessions, of course, that Ian describes with brutal honesty. An unusually intelligent child, she began writing songs very early, adored folk and protest singers Odetta and Joan Baez, but knew she didn't look like or sound like them. Her idol, Baez, was tall and svelte; she was short and stocky, with stubborn, curly hair. Yet her 1966 hit Society's Child, about interracial romance, brought her role-models' kind of fame at 15, including hate mail and death threats. Less than a decade later, At Seventeen, an homage to outsiders and misfits, brought further fame while, offstage, she endured an abusive marriage, came out as lesbian, had IRS trouble, and battled chronic fatigue syndrome and other debilitating illnesses. Songwriting has been her way to express inner turmoil. She writes casually and conversationally about her ups and downs and the life lessons she learned. Even recounting decisions that were stupid (quite often) and bad things that happened to her (many), she keeps us on her side, hoping things eventually turn out well. Fans will love the book, of course, but many nonfans, too, should find this painfully candid memoir hard to put down.--Sawyers, June Copyright 2008 Booklist

Quincy Thomas Crane Library

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Summary

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Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Booklist Review