Shawn Colvin

Shawn Colvin is an American singer-songwriter and musician from Vermillion, South Dakota. Born in 1956, she grows up in Carbondale, Illinois, and attends Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learns guitar at the age of 10 and gives her first public concert at 15 at the University of Illinois campus.

Career

Colvin begins working in music in earnest in the late 1970s, first in Austin, Texas and then nationally. She cites Joni Mitchell as a major influence, and her early performances closely reflect Mitchell’s vocal phrasing and guitar tunings. During this period she meets John Leventhal, who later produces several of her albums.

Her debut album, Steady On, includes the track “Diamond in the Rough”, with backing vocals from Suzanne Vega. Colvin also sings backing vocals on Vega’s 1987 single “Luka”. Mary Chapin Carpenter sings on Colvin’s “Climb On (A Back That’s Strong)” from Fat City, while Colvin appears on Carpenter’s The Hard Way and Come On Come On.

After several albums of original material, Colvin releases Cover Girl, a set of cover versions. She later gains wider recognition with A Few Small Repairs, which includes “Sunny Came Home”. The single reaches the US Top Ten and wins Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Her later releases receive Grammy nominations, and her catalogue also includes a greatest-hits album and a Christmas collection.

Other albums include These Four Walls, which is released in 2006. Colvin also works as a guest vocalist on Lisa Loeb’s “Falling in Love”. She appears at Lilith Fair festivals, on Austin City Limits, and at the 2003 Austin City Limits Music Festival. In 2001 she appears in a tribute to Joni Mitchell broadcast on TNT.

Other work and collaborations

Colvin appears twice on The Simpsons as Rachel Jordan, the lead singer of a Christian rock band. She first appears in “Alone Again, Natura-diddly” and later in “I’m Going to Praiseland”. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her daughter Caledonia and her husband Mario Erwin, and remains active in the Austin music scene.

Colvin records on her own label, Colvinsongs, and also works as part of Colvin & Earle.