Ani DiFranco | |
|---|---|
 DiFranco performing in 2007 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Angela Maria DiFranco (1970-09-23)September 23, 1970 (age 55) |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
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| Instruments |
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| Works | Ani DiFranco discography |
| Years active | 1989–present |
| Labels | Righteous Babe |
| Website | anidifranco |
Angela Maria "Ani"DiFranco[2] (/ˈɑːniː/; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter.[3] She has released more than 20 albums.[4][5][6][7] DiFranco's music has been classified asfolk rock andalternative rock, although it has additional influences frompunk,funk,hip hop andjazz. She has released all her albums on her own record label,Righteous Babe.
DiFranco supports many social and political movements by performing benefit concerts, appearing on benefit albums and speaking at rallies. Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed grassroots cultural and political organizations supporting causes includingabortion rights andLGBT visibility. She counts American folk singer and songwriterPete Seeger among her mentors.[8]
DiFranco released a memoir,No Walls and the Recurring Dream, on May 7, 2019, viaViking Books[9] and madeThe New York Times Best Seller list.[10]
On February 9, 2024, DiFranco made herBroadway debut inHadestown asPersephone, reprising the role she played in theconcept album of the same name.[11]
DiFranco was born inBuffalo, New York,[12] on September 23, 1970, the daughter of Elizabeth (Ross) and Dante Americo DiFranco, who had met while attending theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.[13][14] Her father was of Italian descent, and her mother was from Montreal.[15] DiFranco started playingBeatles covers at local bars andbusking with her guitar teacher, Michael Meldrum,[16] at the age of nine. By 14 she was writing her own songs. She played them at bars and coffee houses throughout her teens. DiFranco graduated from theBuffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts high school at 16 and began attending classes atBuffalo State College. She was living by herself, having moved out of her mother's apartment after she became anemancipated minor when she was 15.[17]
DiFranco started her own record company,Righteous Babe Records, in 1989 at age 19.[4] She released herself-titled debut album in the winter of 1990, shortly after relocating to New York City. There, she took poetry classes atThe New School, where she met poetSekou Sundiata, who was to become a friend and mentor. She toured steadily for the next 15 years, pausing only to record albums. Appearances at Canadian folk festivals and increasingly larger venues in the U.S. reflected her increasing popularity on the North American folk and roots scene. Throughout the early and mid-1990s DiFranco toured solo and also as a duo with Canadian drummerAndy Stochansky.[citation needed]
In September 1995, DiFranco participated in a concert at theRock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland Ohio, inaugurating the opening of theWoody Guthrie Archives in New York City. She later released a CD on Righteous Babe of the concertTil We Outnumber Em featuring artists such as DiFranco,Billy Bragg,Ramblin' Jack Elliott,Arlo Guthrie,Indigo Girls,Dave Pirner,Tim Robbins, andBruce Springsteen with 100 percent of proceeds going to the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum educational department.[18]
In 1996, bassistSara Lee joined the touring group, whose live rapport is showcased on the 1997 albumLiving in Clip. DiFranco would later release Lee's solo albumMake It Beautiful on Righteous Babe. In 1998, Stochansky left to pursue a solo career as a singer-songwriter. A new touring ensemble consisting of Jason Mercer on bass, Julie Wolf on keyboards, and Daren Hahn on drums, augmented at times by a horn section, accompanied DiFranco on tour between 1998 and 2002.[19]
The 1990s were a period of heightened exposure for DiFranco, as she continued playing ever larger venues around the world and attracted international attention of the press, including cover stories inSpin,Ms., andMagnet, among others,[20] as well as appearances on MTV and VH1. Her playfully ironic cover of the Bacharach/David song "Wishin' and Hopin'" appeared under the opening titles of the filmMy Best Friend's Wedding.[21]She guest starred on a 1998 episode of theFox sitcomKing of the Hill, as the voice ofPeggy's feminist guitar teacher, Emily.[22]Beginning in 1999, Righteous Babe Records began releasing albums by other artists including Sara Lee,Sekou Sundiata,Arto Lindsay,Bitch and Animal,That One Guy,Utah Phillips,Hamell on Trial,Andrew Bird,Kurt Swinghammer,Buddy Wakefield,Anaïs Mitchell andNona Hendryx.[citation needed]
On September 11, 2001, DiFranco was in Manhattan and later penned the poem "Self Evident" about the experience. The poem was featured in the bookIt's a Free Country: Personal Freedom in America After September 11. The poem's title also became the name of DiFranco's first book of poetry released exclusively in Italy by Minimum Fax. It was later also featured inVerses, a book of her poetry published in the U.S. by Seven Stories press.[23] DiFranco has written and performed many spoken-word pieces throughout her career and was showcased as a poet on the HBO seriesDef Poetry in 2005.[24]
Since her 2005 releaseKnuckle Down (co-produced by Joe Henry) DiFranco's touring band and recordings have featured bass playerTodd Sickafoose and in turns other musicians such asAllison Miller, Andy Borger, Herlin Riley, and Terence Higgins on drums andMike Dillon on percussion and vibes.[citation needed] On September 11, 2007, she released the first retrospective of her career, a two-disc compilation entitledCanon and simultaneously a retrospective collection of poetry bookVerses. On September 30, 2008, she releasedRed Letter Year.[citation needed]
In 2009, DiFranco appeared atPete Seeger's 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden, debuting her revamped version of the 1930s labor anthem "Which Side Are You On?" in a duet withBruce Cockburn and also duetting withKris Kristofferson on the folk classic "There's a Hole in the Bucket".[25] DiFranco released an album on January 17, 2012,¿Which Side Are You On?. It includes collaborations withPete Seeger,Ivan Neville,Cyril Neville,Skerik,Adam Levy, Righteous Babe recording artistAnaïs Mitchell,CC Adcock, and a host of New Orleans–based horn players known for their work in such outfits asGalactic,Bonerama, andRebirth Brass Band.[citation needed] In 2014, she released her eighteenth album,Allergic to Water. In 2017, she released her nineteenth,Binary.[citation needed]
On May 7, 2019, DiFranco released a memoir,No Walls and the Recurring Dream, viaViking Books. It is described as a "coming-of-age story".[9] In 2021, DiFranco released the albumRevolutionary Love which was largely inspired byValarie Kaur's bookSee No Stranger.[26]
DiFranco came out asbisexual in her twenties,[27] and has written songs about love and sex with women and men. She addressed the controversy about her sexuality in the song "In or Out" on the albumImperfectly (1992). However, in 2015 she told the blog GoPride.com that she was "not so queer anymore, but definitely a woman-centered woman and just a human rights-centered artist."[28] In a 2019 interview withJezebel, she stated that she preferred the term "queer" because "bisexual" "always sounded very medical, like something you do to a frog in 9th grade science or something", and further added that "the irony is I'm pretty fuckin'hetero, which is unfortunate for me because many of my deepest connections are with women. But, naw, I just like what's in boys' pants better."[29] In 1998, she married her sound engineer Andrew Gilchrist[30] in aUnitarian Universalist service in Canada. DiFranco and Gilchrist divorced in 2003.[31]
In 1990, she wrote "Lost Woman Song", inspired by abortions she had at ages eighteen and twenty.[32]
DiFranco's father died in the summer of 2004.[33] In July 2005, DiFranco developedtendinitis and took a nine-month hiatus from touring. In January 2007 DiFranco gave birth to her first child, a daughter,[34][35] at her Buffalo home. She married the child's father, Mike Napolitano, also her regular producer, in 2009. In an interview on September 13, 2012, DiFranco mentioned that she was pregnant with her second child.[36] In April 2013, she gave birth to her second child, a son.[37]
She has resided in theBywater, New Orleans, neighborhood since 2008.[38]
DiFranco signed the October 2023Artists4Ceasefire open letter to Joe Biden calling for a ceasefire during the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.[39]
She has described herself as anatheist. On the subject of religion, DiFranco has stated:[40]
Well, I'm not a religious person myself. I'm an atheist. I think religion serves a lot of different purposes in people's lives, and I can recognize the value of that, you know, the value of ceremony, the value of community, or even just having a forum to get together and talk about ideas, about morals – that's a cool concept. But then, of course, institutional religions are so problematic.
DiFranco has spoken critically ofcancel culture, saying it is "just gonna get us nowhere" and "The human family can't divorce each other".[29][41] DiFranco herself has received criticism for planning a 2013 songwriting retreat atNottoway, a former slave plantation.[29][28] She cancelled the retreat three days after the news broke, writing on her website, "I needed a wake-up call and you gave it to me." In a 2019 interview, she said of her choices at the time, "I should have found the ultimate humility to put down my own hurt, and all of the misconceptions or mis-truths out there. You have to make yourself accountable. There's a greater pain that's bigger than me, and it's more important."[42]
She wrote in her memoir that she "[sympathized] with both sides" regarding the controversialtrans-exclusionary policies of theMichigan Womyn's Music Festival. In a 2019 interview, she elaborated on this statement, discussing her perception that cisgender women were being "asked again ... to move over and make room for somebody else," and later expressed that she understood the difficulty "for anybody outside of a very specific group to experience it the way that group does," saying that "maybe [women's spaces] should be a little more [inclusive]".[29]
DiFranco is the subject of the 2024 documentary film1-800-On-Her-Own.[43]
DiFranco has been a critical success for much of her career, with a career album average of 55 onMetacritic.[44]Living in Clip, DiFranco's 1998 double live album, is the only one to achieve gold record status to date. DiFranco was praised byThe Buffalo News in 2006 as "Buffalo's leading lady of rock music".[45]
Starting in 2003, DiFranco was nominated four consecutive times forBest Recording Package at theGrammy Awards, winning in2004 forEvolve.[46]
DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signaturestaccato style,[47][48] rapidfingerpicking and many alternate tunings. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. Her lyrics, which often includealliteration,metaphor,word play and a more or less gentleirony, have also received praise for their sophistication.[49]
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Although DiFranco's music has been classified as bothfolk rock andalternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums incorporating first punk, then funk, hiphop, and jazz influences.
While primarily an acoustic guitarist she has used a variety ofinstruments and styles:brass instrumentation was prevalent in 1998'sLittle Plastic Castle; a simplewalking bass in her 1997 cover ofHal David andBurt Bacharach's "Wishin' and Hopin'";strings on the 1997 live albumLiving in Clip and 2004'sKnuckle Down; and electronics and synthesizers in 1999'sTo the Teeth and 2006'sReprieve.[citation needed]
DiFranco has stated that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar – that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference topunk music andrap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority."[50]
DiFranco has collaborated with a wide range of artists. In 1997, she appeared on Canadian songwriterBruce Cockburn'sCharity of Night album. In 1998, she produced fellow folksingerDan Bern's albumFifty Eggs.[citation needed]
She developed a deep association with folksinger and social activistUtah Phillips throughout the mid-1990s, sharing her stage and her audience with the older musician until his death in 2008 and resulting in two collaborative albums:The Past Didn't Go Anywhere (1996) andFellow Workers (1999, with liner notes byHoward Zinn).[51]The Past is built around Phillips's storytelling, an important part of his art that had not previously been documented on recordings; on the album, DiFranco provides musical settings for his speaking voice.[50] The followup,Fellow Workers, was recorded live inDaniel Lanois's Kingsway Studio in New Orleans and features Phillips fronting DiFranco's touring band for a collection of songs and stories.[52]
Prince recorded two songs with DiFranco in 1999, "Providence" on herTo the Teeth album, and "Eye Love U, But Eye Don't Trust U Anymore" on Prince'sRave Un2 the Joy Fantastic album.[53] Funk and soul jazz musicianMaceo Parker and rapper Corey Parker have both appeared on DiFranco's albums[54] and featured appearances by her on theirs. Parker and DiFranco toured together in 1999.
She has appeared on several compilations of the songs ofPete Seeger and frequented hisHudson Clearwater Revival Festival.[55] In 2001, she appeared on Brazilian artistLenine's albumFalange Canibal. In 2002, her rendition ofGreg Brown's "The Poet Game" appeared onGoing Driftless: An Artist's Tribute to Greg Brown. Also in 2002 she recorded a duet withJackie Chan of theIrving Gordon song "Unforgettable" for a record of unlikely collaborations,When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear.[56]
In 2005, she appeared onDar Williams' recordMy Better Self, duetting on William's cover ofPink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb". She performed withCyndi Lauper on "Sisters of Avalon" a track from Lauper's 2005The Body Acoustic album. In 2006, she producedHamell on Trial's albumSongs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs. In 2008, she appeared onTodd Sickafoose's albumTiny Resisters. In 2010, she co-produced a track withMargaret Cho called "Captain Cameltoe" for the comedian'sCho Dependant album. In 2011, she appeared onRob Wasserman's albumNote of Hope, an exploration of the writings ofWoody Guthrie with musical accompaniment, though the track in which she appeared, "Voice", was actually recorded 13 years earlier. Also in 2011 she duetted withGreg Dulli on theTwilight Singers recordDynamite Steps.[57]
Other artists have covered and sampled DiFranco's work throughout the years. Her spoken word poem "Self Evident" was covered byPublic Enemy founderChuck D's group called Impossebulls.Alana Davis had some commercial success with DiFranco's song "32 Flavors". Samples from the track "Coming Up" were used byDJ Spooky in his albumLive Without Dead Time, produced forAdBusters Magazine in 2003.[citation needed] In 2010, DiFranco playedPersephone onAnaïs Mitchell's albumHadestown.[58]
DiFranco was approached by Zoe Boekbinder to work on theirPrison Music Project, an album of collaborations between incarcerated and formerly incarcerated writers and musicians on the outside.[59] DiFranco co-produced the project with Boekbinder and co-wrote and performed "Nowhere but Barstow and Prison". The albumLong Time Gone was released onRighteous Babe Records in 2020 after ten years in the making.[60]
Although much of DiFranco's material is autobiographical, it is often also strongly political. Many of her songs are concerned with contemporary social issues such asracism,sexism,sexual abuse,homophobia,reproductive rights, poverty, and war. In 2008, she donated a song toAid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the2004 tsunami.[citation needed] The combination of personal and political is partially responsible for DiFranco's early popularity among politically active college students, particularly those of the left wing, some of whom set up fan pages on theweb to document DiFranco's career as early as 1994. DiFranco's rapid rise in popularity in the mid-1990s was fueled mostly by personal contact and word of mouth rather thanmainstream media.[61]
DiFranco cites her anti-corporate ethos for the main reason she decided to start her own label. This has allowed her a considerable degree of creative freedom[62] over the years, including, for example, providing all instrumentals and vocals and recording the album herself at her home on an analog 8-trackreel to reel, and handling much of the artwork and packaging design for her 2004 albumEducated Guess.[63] She has referenced this independence from major labels in song more than once, including "The Million You Never Made" (Not a Pretty Girl), which discusses the act of turning down a lucrative contract, "The Next Big Thing" (Not So Soft), which describes an imagined meeting with a label head-hunter who evaluates the singer based on her looks, and "Napoleon" (Dilate), which sympathizes sarcastically with an unnamed friend who did sign with a label.
The business grew organically starting in 1990 with the first cassette tape. Connections were made when women in colleges started duplicating and sharing tapes. Offers to play at colleges started coming in and her popularity grew largely by word of mouth and through women's groups or organizations.[61] Zango and Goldenrod, two music distributors specializing in women's music, started carrying DiFranco's music. They sold music to independent music stores and women's book stores. In 1995, Righteous Babe Records signed withKoch International for DiFranco's release ofNot a Pretty Girl. Her records could then be found in large and small record stores alike.[64]
DiFranco has occasionally joined withPrince in discussing publicly the problems associated with major record companies. Righteous Babe Records employs a number of people in her hometown of Buffalo. In a 1997 open letter toMs. magazine she expressed displeasure that what she considers a way to ensure her own artistic freedom was seen by others solely in terms of its financial success.[65]
From the earliest days of her career, DiFranco has lent her voice and her name to a broad range of social movements, performing benefit concerts, appearing on benefit albums, speaking at rallies, and offering info table space to organizations at her concerts and the virtual equivalent on her website, among other methods and actions. In 1999, she created her own not-for-profit organization; as the Buffalo News has reported, "Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed various grassroots cultural and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility."[45]
During thefirst Gulf War, DiFranco participated in the anti-war movement. In early 1993 she playedPete Seeger's Clearwater Folk Festival for the first time. In 1998, she was a featured performer in the Dead Man Walking benefit concert series[66] raising money for SisterHelen Prejean's "Not in Our Name" anti-death penalty organization. DiFranco's commitment to opposing the death penalty is longstanding; she has also been a long time supporter of theSouthern Center for Human Rights.
During the2000 U.S. presidential election, she actively supported and voted forGreen Party candidateRalph Nader,[67][68][69] though in an open letter she made clear that if she lived in aswing state, she would vote forAl Gore to preventGeorge W. Bush from being elected.[70]
In 2004, DiFranco visited Burma in order to learn about the Burmese resistance movement and the country's fight for democracy.[71] During her travels she met with then-detained resistance leaderAung San Suu Kyi. Her song "In The Way" was later featured onFor the Lady, a benefit CD that donated all proceeds to theUnited States Campaign for Burma.[72]
During the 2004 presidential primaries, she supported liberal, anti-war DemocratDennis Kucinich, who appeared on stage with her during several of her concerts. After the primary season ended, andJohn Kerry was the clear Democratic candidate, DiFranco launched a "Vote Dammit!" tour of swing states encouraging audience members to vote.[73] In 2005, she lobbied Congress against the proliferation of nuclear power in general and the placement of nuclear waste dumps on Indian land in particular.[74][75] In 2008, she again backed Kucinich in his bid for the presidency.[76]
In 2002, Righteous Babe Records established the "Aiding Buffalo's Children" program in conjunction with members of the local community to raise funds for Buffalo's public school system. To kick off the program, DiFranco donated "a day's pay"—the performance fee from her concert that year at Shea's Performing Arts Center— to ABC and challenged her fans to do the same. Aiding Buffalo's Children has since been folded into the Community Foundation of Greater Buffalo, contributing to a variety of charitable funds.[77]
In 2005, whenHurricane Katrina devastated DiFranco's newly adopted home town of New Orleans, she collected donations from fans around the world through The Righteous Babe Store website for the Katrina Piano Fund,[78] helping musicians replace instruments lost in the hurricane, raising over $47,500 for the cause.
In 2010, after theDeepwater Horizon oil spill, she performed at the "For Our Coast" benefit concert joiningMarianne Faithfull,C. C. Adcock and others at the Acadiana Center for the Arts Theater in Lafayette, raising money for Gulf Aid Acadiana, and the Gulf Aid show withLenny Kravitz,Mos Def, and others at Mardi Gras World River City in New Orleans, both shows raising money to help protect the wetlands, clean up the coast and to assist the fishermen and their families affected by the spill.[79]
DiFranco sits on the board forThe Roots of Music,[38] founded byRebirth Brass Band drummerDerrick Tabb. The organization provides freemarching band instruction to children in the New Orleans area in addition to academic tutoring and mentoring.[citation needed]
DiFranco joined about 500,000 people at the March for Women's Lives in DC in April 2004. As an honored guest she marched in the front row for the three-mile route, along withMargaret Cho,Janeane Garofalo,Whoopi Goldberg,Gloria Steinem and others. Later in the day, DiFranco played a few songs on the main stage in front of the Capitol, including "Your Next Bold Move".[80]
Scot Fisher, formerly Righteous Babe label president and DiFranco's manager for many years, has been a longtime advocate of the preservation movement in Buffalo. In 1999, he and DiFranco purchased a decaying church on the verge of demolition in downtown Buffalo and began the lengthy process of restoring it. In 2006, the building opened its doors again, first briefly as "The Church" and then as "Babeville", housing two concert venues, the record label's business office, and Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center.[81]
DiFranco is a member of the Toronto-based charity Artists Against Racism for which she participated in a radio PSA.[82]
On July 21, 2006, she received theWoman of Courage Award at theNational Organization for Women (NOW) Conference and Young Feminist Summit inAlbany, New York. DiFranco was one of the first musicians to receive the award, given each year to a woman who has set herself apart by her contributions to the feminist movement.[83]
In 2009, DiFranco received the Woody Guthrie Award for being a voice of positive social change.[84]
In October 2023, DiFranco signed an open letter toJoe Biden,President of the United States, of artists calling for a ceasefire of theIsraeli bombardment of Gaza.[85]
| Year | Nominated work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ani DiFranco | A2IM Lifetime Achievement Award[86] | Won |
| 2021 | Ani DiFranco | John Lennon Real Love Award[87] | Won |
| 2024 | Hadestown | Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Replacement (Female) | Nominated |
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