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Singer+songwriter Suzanne Nadine Vega was born on July 11, 1959 in Santa
Monica, California USA. 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. 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 in 1982, she took a day
job as a receptionist and continued to perform at New York clubs such
as Folk City and the Speakeasy.
As Suzanne Vega's 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.
Her eponymous debut album, released in the spring of 1985, reached the
#91 position on The Billboard Top 200 chart selling 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 U.K. and earned her fans all over Europe.
Vega's sophomore album, "Solitude Standing", was released in
April 1987. The lead single "Luka", a haunting song about child
abuse, became an unexpected hit, going all the way to the #3 slot on The
Billboard Hot 100 chart in August and hit #15 on The Mainstream Rock Tracks
chart. The album achieved gold status in the United States, reached #11
on The Billboard 200 chart and peaked at #2 in Great Britain. It went
on to sell over three million copies worldwide and she had a further U.S.
Hot 100 entry with the album's title-cut.
There was a three years gap between Vega's previous LP and "Days
Of Open Hand", her third album, which arrived in spring 1990; the
record marked a departure from her acoustic-Folk roots into a more Pop-Rock
sound. Despite positive critical reviews, the album's lack of a hit single
made it less of a success than her two previous efforts; it stalled at
#50 on The Billboard Top 200 chart, however, the lead single "Book
Of Dreams" grazed The Modern Rock chart peaking at #8.
Suzanne Vega had another huge hit with a proto-trip-hop remix of an a
cappella recording that had originally appeared on "Solitude Standing".
A pair of British producers known as DNA used "Tom's Diner"
as the vocal track for their Techno remix released in 1990. Vega heard
the unauthorized recording and loved it, prompting A&M to reissue
it. The single became a smash around the world, reaching #2 on the British
Sales chart, #5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and #7 on The Modern Rock
Tracks in early 1991.
Inspired by the unexpected success of a Dance-oriented single, Vega's
next album, "99.9 F°", produced by Mitchell Froom, made
use of electronic and industrial sounds, techno beats and plenty of percussion.
It reached #86 in U.S. upon its September 1992 release generating two
Modern Rock top 20 hits, including the #1 "Blood Makes Noise"
and the title-track. Froom and Vega got married shortly after the album
was completed and a daughter, Ruby Froom, was born in 1994.
Under the guidance of her husband Suzanne Vega continued to explore more
textured and vaguely experimental musical territory on her next album,
"Nine Objects Of Desire"; the disc was released in September
1996 and weighed in at #92 on The Billboard 200 chart.
Froom and Vega split up in August 1998 and her best-of collection, "Tried
And True" which contains all the hits and a fair sampling from each
of her five albums, was released in December 1999. That same year was
published a collection of poems, lyrics, essays and journalistic pieces
entitled "The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings Of Suzanne Vega".
Vega's sixth album of new material, "Songs In Red And Gray",
arrived in September 2001 and marked a return to the acoustic-oriented
sound of her first two albums, but it only scraped the lower reaches of
the U.S. Billboard Top 200 chart.
Out June 5 internationally and July 17 in North America, "Beauty
& Crime", her seventh album, marks Suzanne Vega's debut on Blue
Note Records. Recorded in both New York and London, the 11-track set features
guest appearances from background vocalist and vocal arranger KT
Tunstall, guitarists Gerry Leonard and Sonic
Youth's Lee Ranaldo as well as long time members of her backing band,
bassist Mike Visceglia and drummer Doug Yowell. "Frank And Ava"
is the first single from "Beauty & Crime".
Suzanne Vega biography is an exclusive of 100xr.com
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