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| Suzanne Vega |
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"I felt compelled to sing my songs. There's something in me that says, 'You may not like doing this, but you have to do it, so quit fighting it'."
-Suzanne Vega
| Date of Birth: July 11, 1959 |
| Birthplace: Santa Monica, California |
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| Vega was a favorite of neo-folk enthusiasts and critics who caught her New York City performances long before her debut disc was released in 1985. With her second album, Solitude Standing (1987), she became a worldwide star, mainly due to the hit single and video "Luka," which spoke of child abuse from the victim's point of view. |
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| Suzanne Vega's story-like songs focus on the lives of ordinary people and she frequently sings from the point of view of those who have no voice, such as abused children, victims of war, or those experiencing spiritual or physical trauma. |
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Suzanne Nadine Vega was born on July 11, 1959 in Santa Monica, California. Her mother divorced Suzanne's biological father when Suzanne was a year old, and remarried in 1960. Suzanne's stepfather, Ed Vega, was a Puerto Rican-born writer and teacher. The family, which eventually included three siblings, moved to the Spanish Harlem section of New York City in 1961, and were raised speaking both English and Spanish.
Vega wrote poetry from an early age, and began composing songs on the guitar at 14. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, where she studied modern dance. In 1978, she started performing her original compositions in Greenwich Village folk music clubs. Following her graduation from Barnard College, where she earned a B.A. in English in 1982, she took a day job as a receptionist. She continued to perform at New York clubs such as Folk City and the Speakeasy, and as her local fan base grew, she began receiving rave reviews from journals such as The New York Times, and attracting interest from major record labels.
In 1983, A&M Records, who had twice turned her down before, signed her to a contract. Lenny Kaye of Patti Smith Group fame was brought in to co-produce her eponymous debut disc, released in April 1985. The album went on to sell over a quarter of a million copies stateside, and over half a million abroad.
While it produced no major hit singles in the U.S., "Marlene On The Wall" became a Top 20 hit in the UK. In 1986, she contributed lyrics for two sections of "Songs from Liquid Days" by avant-garde composer Philip Glass, and also wrote "Left of Center," a tribute to a nonconformist teenager, which appeared on the Pretty In Pink soundtrack. |
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© Dimitrios Kambouris
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