Joan Chandos Baez (/baɪɛz/BYEZ,[1][2]Spanish:[ˈbaes]; born January 9, 1941)[3] is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist.[4] Hercontemporary folk music often includes songs of protest andsocial justice.[5] Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums.
Baez was born in theStaten Island borough of New York City on January 9, 1941.[13] Her grandfather, Alberto Baez, left theCatholic Church to become aMethodistminister and moved to the U.S. when her father was two years old. Her father,Albert Baez (1912–2007), was born inPuebla, Mexico,[14] and grew up inBrooklyn, New York, where his father preached to – and advocated for – a Spanish-speaking congregation.[15] Albert first considered becoming a minister but instead turned to the study of mathematics andphysics and received his PhD from Stanford University in 1950. Albert was later credited as a co-inventor of theX-ray microscope.[16][17][18] Joan's cousin,John C. Baez, is amathematical physicist.[19] Her mother, Joan Chandos Baez (née Bridge), referred to as “Joan Senior” or "Big Joan", was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the second daughter of an English Anglican priest who claimed to be descended from theDukes of Chandos.[20][21][22] Born on April 11, 1913,[23] she died on April 20, 2013 aged 100.[22]
Baez was the second of three sisters, all of whom were political activists and musicians. The eldest was Pauline Thalia Baez Bryan (1938–2016), also known as Pauline Marden, and the youngest was Margarita Mimi Baez Fariña (1945–2001), who was better known asMimi Fariña. The Baez family converted toQuakerism during Joan's early childhood, and she has continued to identify with the tradition, particularly in her commitment topacifism and social issues.[24] While growing up, Baez was subjected to racial slurs and discrimination because of her Mexican heritage. Consequently, she became involved in social causes early in her career. She declined to play in any white student venues that were segregated, which meant that when she toured the Southern states, she would play only at black colleges.[25]
Owing to her father's work withUNESCO, their family moved many times, living in towns across the U.S. as well as in England, France, Switzerland, Spain, Canada, and the Middle East, includingIraq. Joan Baez became involved with a variety of social causes early in her career, includingcivil rights andnonviolence.[26]Social justice, she stated in thePBS seriesAmerican Masters, is the true core of her life, "looming larger than music".[27] Baez spent much of her formative youth living in theSan Francisco Bay area,[28] where she graduated fromPalo Alto High School in 1958.[29] Here, Baez dated Michael New, a fellow student described as "Trinidad English" whom she met at her college in the late 1950s, and occasionally introduced as her husband.[30] Baez committed her first act ofcivil disobedience by refusing to leave herPalo Alto High School classroom inPalo Alto, California for anair raid drill.[31]
Baez remained close to her younger sister Mimi up until Mimi's death in 2001 and mentioned in the 2009American Masters documentary that she had grown closer to her older sister Pauline in later years. Currently, Baez is a resident ofWoodside, California, where she lived with her mother until the latter's death in 2013.[22] She has said that her house has a backyardtree house in which she spends time meditating, writing, and "being close to nature".[32] Since stepping down from the stage in 2019, she has devoted herself to portraiture.[33] Owing to false assumptions that have been promoted about her, Baez stated in 2019 that she has never been part of thefeminist movement and is not a vegetarian.[34] She is the subject of the 2023 documentaryJoan Baez: I Am a Noise, in which she reflected on among other things her personal struggles, her political activism, and her personal and professional relationship with Bob Dylan.[35][36] She also related that Mimi and she had struggled with depression and after years of therapy came to believe that they had been abused by their father.[37]
The opening line of Baez's memoirAnd a Voice to Sing With is "I was born gifted" (referring to her singing voice, which she explained was given to her and for which she can take no credit).[38] A friend of Joan's father gave her aukulele. She learned four chords, which enabled her to playrhythm and blues, the music she was listening to at the time. Her parents, however, were fearful that the music would lead her into a life ofdrug addiction.[39] When Baez was 13, her aunt took her to a concert byfolk musicianPete Seeger, and Baez found herself strongly moved by his music.[40] She soon began practicing the songs of hisrepertoire and performing them publicly. One of her earliest public performances was at a retreat inSaratoga, California, for a youth group from Temple Beth Jacob, aRedwood City, California, Jewish congregation. A few years later, in 1957, Baez bought her firstGibson acoustic guitar.
After graduating from high school in 1958, Baez and her family moved from the San Francisco area toBoston, Massachusetts, after her father accepted a faculty position atMIT.[28] At that time, it was in the center of the up-and-coming folk-music scene and she began performing near home in Boston and nearbyCambridge. She also performed in clubs and attendedBoston University for about six weeks[27] before she gave her first concert at theClub 47 in Cambridge. When designing the poster for the performance, Baez considered changing her performing name to either Rachel Sandperl, the surname of her longtime mentorIra Sandperl, or Maria from the song "They Call the Wind Maria". She later opted against doing so, fearing that people would accuse her of changing her last name because it was Spanish. The audience consisted of her parents, sister Mimi, her boyfriend, and a few friends, resulting in eight patrons. Baez was paid ten dollars before she was later asked back and began performing twice a week for $25 per show.[41]
A few months later, Baez and two other folk enthusiasts made plans to record an album in the cellar of a friend's house. The trio sang solos and duets and a family friend designed the album cover, which was released on Veritas Records that same year asFolksingers 'Round Harvard Square. Baez later metBob Gibson andOdetta, who were at the time two of the most prominent vocalists singingfolk andgospel music. Baez cites Odetta as a primary influence along withMarian Anderson and Pete Seeger.[42] Gibson invited Baez to perform with him at the 1959Newport Folk Festival, where they sang two duets, "Virgin Mary Had One Son" and "We Are Crossing Jordan River".[43] The performance generated substantial praise for the "barefoot Madonna" with the otherworldly voice, and it was this appearance that led to Baez signing withVanguard Records the following year,[44] althoughColumbia Records tried to sign her first.[45] Baez later claimed that she felt she would be given more artistic license at a more "low key" label.[46] Baez's nickname at the time, "Madonna", has been attributed to her clear voice, long hair, and natural beauty,[47] and to her role as "Earth Mother".[48]
Her true professional career began at the 1959Newport Folk Festival. Following that appearance, she recorded her first album for Vanguard,Joan Baez (1960), produced byFred Hellerman ofThe Weavers, who produced many albums by folk artists. The collection of traditional folkballads, blues, andlaments sung to her own guitar accompaniment sold moderately well. It featured many popularChild Ballads of the day and was recorded in only four days in the ballroom of New York City's Manhattan Towers Hotel. The album also included "El Preso Numero Nueve", a song sung entirely in Spanish, which she would re-record in 1974 for inclusion on her Spanish-language albumGracias a la Vida.
She made her New York concert debut on November 5, 1960, at the92nd Street Y[49] and on November 11, 1961, Baez played her first major New York concert at a sold-out performance atTown Hall. Robert Shelton, folk critic of theNew York Times, praised the concert, saying, "That superb soprano voice, as lustrous and rich as old gold, flowed purely all evening with a wondrous ease. Her singing (unwound) like a spool of satin."[50] Years later when Baez thought back to that concert, she laughed, saying: "I remember in 1961 my manager sending me this newspaper (clipping) in the mail (which) read, 'Joan Baez Town Hall Concert, SRO.' I thought SRO meant 'sold right out.' I was so innocent of it all."[51]
Her second release,Joan Baez, Vol. 2 (1961), wentgold, as didJoan Baez in Concert, Part 1 (1962) andJoan Baez in Concert, Part 2 (1963). Like its immediate predecessor,Joan Baez, Vol. 2 contained strictly traditional material. Her two albums of live material,Joan Baez in Concert, Part 1 and its second counterpart were unique in that unlike most live albums, they contained only new songs rather than established favorites. It wasJoan Baez in Concert, Part 2 that featured Baez's first-ever Dylan cover. From the early to the mid-1960s, Baez emerged at the forefront of the Americanroots revival, where she introduced her audiences to the then-unknownBob Dylan and was emulated by artists such asJudy Collins,Emmylou Harris,Joni Mitchell, andBonnie Raitt. On November 23, 1962, Baez appeared on the cover ofTime Magazine—a rare honor then for a musician. Although primarily an album artist, several of Baez's singles have charted, the first being her 1965 cover ofPhil Ochs' "There but for Fortune", which became a mid-level chart hit in the U.S. and Canada, and a top-ten single in the United Kingdom.
Baez in 1966
Baez added other instruments to her recordings onFarewell, Angelina (1965), which features several Dylan songs interspersed with more traditional fare. Deciding to experiment with different styles, Baez turned toPeter Schickele, a classical music composer, who provided classical orchestration for her next three albums:Noël (1966),Joan (1967), andBaptism: A Journey Through Our Time (1968).Noël was a Christmas album of traditional material, whileBaptism was akin to aconcept album, featuring Baez reading and singing poems written by celebrated poets such asJames Joyce,Federico García Lorca, andWalt Whitman.Joan featured interpretations of work by contemporary composers, includingJohn Lennon andPaul McCartney,Tim Hardin,Paul Simon, andDonovan.
In 1968, Baez traveled toNashville, Tennessee, where a marathon recording session resulted in two albums. The first,Any Day Now (1968), consists exclusively of Dylan covers. The other, the country-music-infusedDavid's Album (1969), was recorded for husbandDavid Harris, a prominent anti-Vietnam War protester eventually imprisoned fordraft resistance. Harris, a country music fan, turned Baez toward more complexcountry-rock influences beginning withDavid's Album. Later in 1968, Baez published her first memoir,Daybreak (byDial Press). In August 1969, her appearance atWoodstock in upstate New York raised her international musical and political profile, particularly after the successful release of the documentary filmWoodstock (1970).
Beginning in the late 1960s, Baez began writing many of her own songs, beginning with "Sweet Sir Galahad" and "A Song For David", both songs appearing on her 1970(I Live) One Day at a Time album; "Sweet Sir Galahad" was written about her sister Mimi's second marriage, while "A Song For David" was a tribute to Harris.One Day at a Time, likeDavid's Album, featured a decidedly country sound. Baez's distinctive vocal style and political activism had a significant impact on American popular music. She was one of the first musicians to use her popularity as a vehicle for social protest, singing and marching for human rights and peace.Pete Seeger,Odetta, and decades-long friendHarry Belafonte were her early social justice advocate influences.[52] Baez came to be considered the "most accomplished interpretive folksinger/songwriter of the 1960s".[53] Her appeal extended far beyond the folk music audience.[53] Of her fourteen Vanguard albums, thirteen made the top 100 of Billboard's mainstream pop chart, eleven made the top forty, eight made the top twenty, and four made the top ten.[54]
After eleven years with Vanguard, Baez decided in 1971 to cut ties with the label that had released her albums since 1960. She delivered Vanguard one last success with the gold-selling albumBlessed Are... (1971), which included a top-ten hit in "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", her cover ofthe Band's signature song. WithCome from the Shadows (1972), Baez switched toA&M Records, where she remained for four years and six albums. Joan Baez wrote "The Story of Bangladesh" in 1971. This song was based on the Pakistani army crackdown on unarmed sleeping Bengali students at Dhaka University on March 25, 1971, which ignited the prolonged nine-monthBangladesh Liberation War.[55] The song was later entitled "The Song of Bangladesh" and released in a 1972 album from Chandos Music.[56]
During this period in late 1971, she reunited with composerPeter Schickele to record two tracks, "Rejoice in the Sun" and "Silent Running" for thescience-fiction filmSilent Running. The two songs were issued as a single onDecca (32890). In addition to this, another LP was released on Decca (DL 7-9188) and was later reissued byVarèse Sarabande on black (STV-81072) and green (VC-81072) vinyl. In 1998, a limited release on CD by the "Valley Forge Record Groupe" was released.
Baez's first album for A&M,Come from the Shadows, was recorded in Nashville, and included a number of more personal compositions, including "Love Song to a Stranger" and "Myths", as well as work by Mimi Farina, John Lennon, and Anna Marly.Where Are You Now, My Son? (1973) featured a 23-minute title song which took up all of theB-side of the album. Halfspoken word poem and half tape-recorded sounds, the song documented Baez's visit toHanoi,North Vietnam, in December 1972 during which she and her traveling companions survived the 11-day-longChristmas Bombings campaign over Hanoi andHaiphong.[57]
Gracias a la Vida (1974) (the title song written and first performed by Chilean folk singerVioleta Parra) followed and was a success in both the U.S. and Latin America. It included the song "Cucurrucucú paloma". Flirting with mainstream pop music as well as writing her own songs forDiamonds & Rust (1975), the album became the highest selling of Baez's career and included a second top-ten single in the form of the title track. AfterGulf Winds (1976), an album of entirely self-composed songs andFrom Every Stage (1976), a live album that had Baez performing songs "from every stage" of her career, Baez again parted ways with a record label when she moved toCBS Records forBlowin' Away (1977) andHonest Lullaby (1979).
Baez found herself without an American label for the release ofLive Europe 83 (1984), which was released in Europe and Canada but not released commercially in the U.S. She did not have an American release until the albumRecently (1987) onGold Castle Records. In 1987, Baez's second autobiography, calledAnd a Voice to Sing With, was published and became aNew York Times bestseller. That same year, she traveled to the Middle East to visit with and sing songs of peace for Israel and thePalestinians.
In May 1989, Baez performed at a music festival inCommunist Czechoslovakia called Bratislavská lýra. While there, she met futureCzechoslovak presidentVáclav Havel, whom she let carry her guitar so as to prevent his arrest by government agents. During her performance, she greeted members ofCharter 77, a dissident human-rights group, which resulted in her microphone being shut off abruptly. Baez then proceeded to singa cappella for the nearly four thousand gathered. Havel cited her as a great inspiration and influence in that country'sVelvet Revolution, the revolution in which the Soviet-dominated Communist government there was overthrown.
In 1993, at the invitation ofRefugees International and sponsored by theSoros Foundation, she traveled to the war-tornBosnia and Herzegovina region of former-Yugoslavia in an effort to help bring more attention to the suffering there. She was the first major artist to perform inSarajevo since the outbreak of theYugoslav civil war. In October 1993, Baez became the first major artist to perform in a professional concert presentation onAlcatraz Island (a former U.S. federal prison) in San Francisco, California, in a benefit for her sister Mimi's Bread and Roses organization. She later returned for another concert in 1996.
Beginning in 2001, Baez has had several successful long-term engagements as a lead character at San Francisco'sTeatro ZinZanni.[58] In August 2001, Vanguard began re-releasing Baez's first 13 albums, which she recorded for the label between 1960 and 1971. The reissues, being released through Vanguard's Original Master Series, feature digitally restored sound, unreleased bonus songs, new and original artwork, and newliner-note essays written by Arthur Levy. Likewise, her six A&M albums were reissued in 2003. In 2003, Baez was also a judge for the third annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.[59]
Baez's album,Dark Chords on a Big Guitar (2003), features songs by composers half her age, while a November 2004 performance at New York City'sBowery Ballroom was recorded for a live release,Bowery Songs (2005). On October 1, 2005, she performed at theHardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, at San Francisco'sGolden Gate Park. Then, on January 13, 2006, Baez performed at the funeral ofLou Rawls, where she ledJesse Jackson Sr., Wonder, and others in the singing of "Amazing Grace". On June 6, 2006, Baez joinedBruce Springsteen on stage at his San Francisco concert, where the two performed the rolling anthem "Pay Me My Money Down". In September 2006, Baez contributed a live, retooled version of her classic song "Sweet Sir Galahad" to aStarbucks's exclusive XM Artist Confidential album. In the new version, she changed the lyric "here's to the dawn of their days" to "here's to the dawn ofher days", as a tribute to her late sister Mimi, about whom Baez wrote the song in 1969.
On October 8, 2006, Baez appeared as a special surprise guest at the opening ceremony of theForum 2000 international conference inPrague. Her performance was kept secret from formerCzech Republic President Havel until the moment she appeared on stage. Havel was a great admirer of both Baez and her work. During Baez's next visit to Prague, in April 2007, the two met again when she performed in front of a sold-out house at Prague'sLucerna Hall, a building erected by Havel's grandfather. On December 2, 2006, she made a guest appearance at theOakland Interfaith Gospel Choir's Christmas Concert at theParamount Theatre inOakland, California. Her participation included versions of "Let Us Break Bread Together" and "Amazing Grace". She also joined the choir in the finale of "O Holy Night".
In February 2007,Proper Records reissued her 1995 live albumRing Them Bells, which featured duets with artists ranging fromDar Williams and Mimi Fariña to theIndigo Girls andMary Chapin Carpenter. The reissue features a 16-page booklet and six unreleased live tracks from the original recording sessions. In addition, Baez recorded a duet of "Jim Crow" withJohn Mellencamp which appears on his albumFreedom's Road (2007). Also in February 2007, she received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The day after receiving the honor, she appeared at theGrammy Awards ceremony and introduced a performance by theDixie Chicks.[60]
September 2008 saw the release of the studio albumDay After Tomorrow, produced bySteve Earle and featuring three of his songs. The album was Baez's first charting record in nearly three decades.[61][62] On June 29, 2008, Baez performed on the acoustic stage at theGlastonbury Festival[63] playing out the final set to a packed audience.[64] On July 6, 2008, she played at theMontreux Jazz Festival inMontreux, Switzerland. During the concert's finale, she spontaneously danced on stage with a band of African percussionists.[65]
On August 2, 2009, Baez played at the 50thNewport Folk Festival, which also marked the 50th anniversary of her breakthrough performance at the first festival.[66] On October 14, 2009, PBS aired an episode of its documentary seriesAmerican Masters, entitledJoan Baez: How Sweet the Sound. It was produced and directed by Mary Wharton. A DVD and CD of the soundtrack were released at the same time.[27]
Baez sings "We Shall Overcome" at theWhite House, 2010
On April 4, 2017, Baez released on her Facebook page her first new song in 27 years, "Nasty Man", a protest song against US PresidentDonald Trump, which became a viral hit.[67][68] On April 7, 2017, she was inducted into theRock and Roll Hall of Fame.[69] On March 2, 2018, she released a new studio album entitledWhistle Down the Wind,[70] which charted in many countries and was nominated for a Grammy, and undertook her "Fare Thee Well Tour" to support the album.[71] On April 30, 2019, Baez toldRolling Stone that she had been approached to perform at theWoodstock 50 festival, but had turned the offer down for "it was too complicated to even get involved in" and her "instincts" were telling her "no".[72]
On July 28, 2019, following dates across Europe, Baez performed her final concert at Madrid's Teatro Real.[72] In January 2021, it was announced that Baez would receive a 2020Kennedy Center Honor in a ceremony that was postponed because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[73] She was honored along with Debbie Allen, Garth Brooks, Midori, and Dick Van Dyke in May 2021.[74]
In 1956, Baez first heardMartin Luther King Jr. speak about nonviolence, civil rights andsocial change in a speech that brought tears to her eyes.[27] Several years later, the two became friends,[27] with Baez participating in many of theCivil Rights Movement demonstrations that King helped organize. When she was a senior in high school, Baez met anti-war activistIra Sandperl and through their interests in various philosophies and political causes they developed a friendship. In 1965 they founded together the Institute for the Study of Non-violence inCarmel Valley, California with Sandperl running the general operations and funding coming from Baez.[75]
Her recording of the song "Birmingham Sunday" (1964), written by her brother-in-law, Richard Fariña, was used in the opening of4 Little Girls (1997),Spike Lee's documentary film about the four young victims killed in the 196316th Street Baptist Church bombing. In 1965, Baez announced that she would be opening a school to teach nonviolent protest.[78] She also participated in the 1965Selma to Montgomery marches for voting rights.[79]
In November 2017, as part of a release of documents from the National Archives that were supposed to relate to theassassination ofJohn F. Kennedy,[80] a 1968FBI report alleged that Baez was involved in the 1960s in an intimate affair with King, an accusation described by history professor Clayborne Carson, the director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University, as "part of asmear campaign" against King.[81]
I went to jail for 11 days for disturbing the peace; I was trying to disturb the war.
Highly visible in civil-rights marches, Baez became more vocal about her disagreement with theVietnam War. In 1964, she publicly endorsedresisting taxes by withholding sixty percent of her 1963 income taxes. In 1964, she founded the Institute for the Study of Nonviolence[82] (along with her mentor Sandperl) and encouraged draft resistance at her concerts. The Institute for the Study of Nonviolence would later branch into the Resource Center for Nonviolence.[83]
In 1966, Baez's autobiography,Daybreak, was released. It is the most detailed report of her life through 1966 and outlined her anti-war position, dedicating the book to men facing imprisonment for resisting the draft.[84] Baez was arrested twice in 1967,[85] having blocked the entrance of the Armed Forces Induction Center in Oakland, California, and spent over a month in jail. She was a frequent participant in anti-war marches and rallies, including:
There were many others, culminating in Phil Ochs'sThe War Is Over celebration in New York City in May 1975.[89] During the Christmas season 1972, Baez joined a peace delegation traveling to North Vietnam, both to address human rights in the region, and to deliver Christmas mail to Americanprisoners of war. During her time there, she was caught in the U.S. military's "Christmas bombing" of Hanoi, North Vietnam, during which the city was bombed for eleven straight days.[90] She was critical of Vietnam's government and organized the May 30, 1979, publication of a full-page advertisement (published in four major U.S. newspapers)[91] in which the government was described as having created a nightmare. Her one-time anti-war allyJane Fonda refused to join in Baez's criticism of the Vietnamese government,[92][93][94] leading to what was publicly described as a feud between the two.
In December 2005, Baez appeared and sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" at the California protest at theSan Quentin State Prison against the execution ofTookie Williams.[95][96] She had previously performed the same song at San Quentin at the 1992 vigil protesting against the execution ofRobert Alton Harris, the first man to be executed in California after the death penalty was reinstated. She subsequently lent her prestige to the campaign opposing the execution ofTroy Davis by the State of Georgia.[97][98] In 2016, Baez advocated for theInnocence Project andInnocence Network. At each concert, Baez informs the audience about the organizations' efforts to exonerate the wrongfully convicted and reform the system to prevent such incidents.[52]
Baez has been prominent in the struggle forgay and lesbian rights. In 1978, she performed at several benefit concerts to defeat theBriggs Initiative, which proposed banning openly gay people from teaching in public schools in California.[99] Later that same year, she participated in memorial marches for the assassinated San Francisco city supervisor,Harvey Milk, who was openly gay.[100] In the 1990s, she appeared with her friendJanis Ian at a benefit for theNational Gay and Lesbian Task Force, a gay lobbying organization, and performed at the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March.[101] Her song "Altar Boy and the Thief" fromBlowin' Away (1977) was written as a dedication to her gay fanbase.[102]
On June 25, 2009, Baez created a special version of "We Shall Overcome",[103] with a few lines ofPersian lyrics in support of peaceful protests by Iranian people. She recorded it in her home and posted the video on her personal website and on YouTube.[104] She dedicated the song "Joe Hill" to the people of Iran during her concert atMerrill Auditorium inPortland, Maine on July 31, 2009.
On Earth Day 1999, Baez andBonnie Raitt honored environmental activistJulia Butterfly Hill with Raitt'sArthur M. Sohcot Award in person on her 180-foot (55 m)-high redwood treetop platform, where Hill had camped to protect ancient redwoods in theHeadwaters Forest from logging.[105]
In early 2003, Baez performed at two rallies of hundreds of thousands of people in San Francisco protesting theU.S. invasion of Iraq.[106] In August 2003, she was invited byEmmylou Harris andSteve Earle to join them in London, England, at the Concert For a Landmine-Free World.[107] In the summer of 2004, Baez joinedMichael Moore's "Slacker uprising Tour" on American college campuses, encouraging young people to get out and vote for peace candidates in theupcoming presidential election.[108] In August 2005, Baez appeared at ananti-war protest inCrawford, Texas, which had been started byCindy Sheehan.[109]
On May 23, 2006, Baez once again joinedJulia Butterfly Hill, this time in a "tree sit" in a giant tree on the site of theSouth Central Farm in a poor neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, California. Baez and Hill were hoisted into the tree, where they remained overnight. The women, in addition to many other activists and celebrities, were protesting the imminent eviction of the community farmers and demolition of the site, which is the largest urban farm in the state. Because many of the South Central Farmers are immigrants from Central America, Baez sang several songs from her 1974 Spanish-language album,Gracias a la Vida, including the title track and "No Nos Moverán" ("We Shall Not Be Moved").[110]
Throughout most of her career, Baez remained apprehensive about involving herself inparty politics. However, on February 3, 2008, Baez wrote a letter to the editor at theSan Francisco Chronicle endorsingBarack Obama in the2008 U.S. presidential election. She noted: "Through all those years, I chose not to engage in party politics. ... At this time, however, changing that posture feels like the responsible thing to do. If anyone can navigate the contaminated waters of Washington, lift up the poor, and appeal to the rich to share their wealth, it is Sen. Barack Obama."[111] Playing at the Glastonbury Festival in June, Baez said during the introduction of a song that one reason she likes Obama is because he reminds her of another old friend of hers:Martin Luther King Jr.[112]
Although a highly political figure throughout most of her career, Baez had never publicly endorsed a major political party candidate prior to Obama. However, after Obama was elected, she expressed that she would likely never do so again, saying in a 2013 interview inThe Huffington Post that "In some ways I'm disappointed, but in some ways it was silly to expect more. If he had taken his brilliance, his eloquence, his toughness and not run for office he could have led a movement. Once he got in the Oval Office he couldn't do anything."[113] She performed at the White House on February 10, 2010, as part of an evening celebrating the music associated with the civil rights movement, performing "We Shall Overcome".[114]
In 2003, Baez was presented with theJohn Steinbeck Award for her civil rights activism.[120] She was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2007 Grammys.[121] To reward her decades of dedicated activism, Baez was honored with the Spirit of Americana/Free Speech award at the 2008Americana Music Honors & Awards. On March 18, 2011, Baez was honored byAmnesty International at its 50th Anniversary Annual General Meeting in San Francisco. The tribute to Baez was the inaugural event for the Amnesty International Joan Baez Award for Outstanding Inspirational Service in the Global Fight for Human Rights. Baez was presented with the first award in recognition of her human rights work with Amnesty International and beyond, and the inspiration she has given activists around the world. The award is to be presented to an artist – music, film, sculpture, paint or other medium – who has helped advance human rights.[122]
In 2015, Amnesty International jointly awarded Baez andAi Wei Wei the Ambassador of Conscience award.[123] The American Academy of Arts and Sciences elected her to fellowship in 2020, praising her contributions both to music and to activism.[124] In May 2021, Baez was recognized as part of the 43rdKennedy Center Honors.[125] In 2023,Rolling Stone ranked Baez at number 189 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.[126] In February 2024, she received the Third Class of theOrder of the White Double Cross byZuzana Čaputová[127]
Baez first met Dylan in April 1961 atGerde's Folk City in New York City'sGreenwich Village. Baez had already released her debut album and her popularity as the emerging "Queen of Folk" was on the rise. Baez was initially unimpressed with the "urbanhillbilly", but she liked one of Dylan's first compositions, "Song to Woody" and remarked that she would like to record it. By 1963, Baez had released three albums, two of which had been certified gold, and she invited Dylan on stage to perform alongside her at the Newport Folk Festival. The two performed the Dylan composition "With God on Our Side", a collaboration that set the stage for many more duets in the months and years to come. Typically, while on tour, Baez would invite Dylan to sing on stage partly by himself and partly with her, much to the chagrin of her fans.[27]
Before meeting Dylan, Baez's topical songs were few: "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream", "We Shall Overcome", and an assortment ofspirituals. Baez would later say that Dylan's songs seemed to update the topics of protest and justice. By the time of Dylan's 1965 tour of the UK, their relationship had slowly begun to fizzle out. The couple are captured inD. A. Pennebaker's documentary filmDont Look Back (1967). Baez later described it as an abrupt halt that broke her heart. In the 2023 documentaryI Am a Noise Baez referred to the relationship as "totally demoralizing" which she later forgave him for but said that they are no longer in touch with each other.[128][129]
Baez toured with Dylan as a performer on hisRolling Thunder Revue in 1975–76. She sang four songs with Dylan on the live album of the tour,The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue, released in 2002. Baez appeared with Dylan in the one-hour TV specialHard Rain, filmed atFort Collins,Colorado, in May 1976. Baez also starred as 'The Woman in White' in the filmRenaldo and Clara (1978), directed by Bob Dylan and filmed during the Rolling Thunder Revue. They performed together at the Peace Sunday anti-nuke concert in 1982.[130] Dylan and Baez toured together again in 1984 along withCarlos Santana. Baez discussed her relationship with Dylan inMartin Scorsese's documentary filmNo Direction Home (2005), and in the PBSAmerican Masters biography of Baez,How Sweet the Sound (2009).
Baez wrote and composed at least three songs that were specifically about Dylan. In "To Bobby", written in 1972, she urged Dylan to return to political activism, while in "Diamonds & Rust", the title track fromher 1975 album, she revisited her feelings for him in warm, yet direct terms.[131] "Winds of the Old Days", also on theDiamonds & Rust album, is a bittersweet reminiscence about her time with "Bobby". The references to Baez in Dylan's songs are far less clear. Baez herself has suggested that she was the subject of both "Visions of Johanna" and "Mama, You Been on My Mind", although the latter was more likely about his relationship withSuze Rotolo.[132][133] Dylan's "To Ramona" is potentially also about Baez. In the liner notes of his 1985 compilation albumBiograph, Dylan stated that the song was "pretty literal. That was just somebody I knew";[134] and in her 1987 biographyAnd A Voice To Sing With, Baez wrote about how Dylan would call her "Ramona". Baez implied when speaking about the connection to "Diamonds and Rust" that "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" is, at least in part, a metaphor for Dylan's view of his relationship with her. As for "Like A Rolling Stone", "Visions of Johanna", "She Belongs to Me", and other songs alleged to have been written about Baez, neither Dylan nor biographers such asClinton Heylin andMichael Gray have had anything definitive to say either way regarding the subject of these songs.
Baez’s relationship with Dylan was referenced in the 2024 filmA Complete Unknown.
In October 1967, Baez, her mother, and nearly 70 other women were arrested at the Oakland, California, Armed Forces Induction Center for blocking its doorways to prevent entrance by young inductees, and in support of young men who refusedmilitary induction. They were incarcerated in theSanta Rita Jail, and it was here that Baez metDavid Harris, who was kept on the men's side but who still managed to visit with Baez regularly. The two formed a close bond upon their release and Baez moved into his draft-resistancecommune in the hills aboveStanford, California. The pair had known each other for three months when they decided to marry. After confirming the news to Associated Press, media outlets began dedicating ample press to the impending nuptials (at one point,Time magazine referred to the event as the "Wedding of the Century").[135]
After finding apacifist preacher and a church outfitted with peace signs and writing a blend ofEpiscopalian andQuaker wedding vows, Baez and Harris married in New York City on March 26, 1968. Her friendJudy Collins sang at the ceremony. After the wedding, Baez and Harris moved into a home inLos Altos Hills, California on 10 acres (4.0 hectares) of land called Struggle Mountain, part of a commune, where they tended gardens.[136]
A short time later, Harris refused induction into the armed forces and was indicted. On July 16, 1969, Harris was taken by federal marshals to prison.[137] Baez was visibly pregnant in public in the months that followed, especially at theWoodstock Festival, where she performed a handful of songs in the early morning. The documentary filmCarry It On was produced during this period and was released in 1970.[138] The film's behind-the-scenes looks at Harris's views and arrest and Baez on her subsequent performance tour was positively reviewed inTime magazine andThe New York Times.[139][140]
Among the songs Baez wrote about this period of her life are "A Song for David", "Myths", "Prison Trilogy (Billy Rose)" and "Fifteen Months" (the amount of time Harris was imprisoned). Their son Gabriel was born on December 2, 1969. Harris was released from Texas prison after 15 months, but they separated three months after his release and the couple divorced amicably in 1973.[141] They shared custody of Gabriel, who lived primarily with Baez.[142] Explaining the split, Baez wrote in her autobiography: "I am made to live alone."[143] Baez and Harris remained on friendly terms throughout the years; they reunited on-camera for the 2009American Masters documentary for the USA's PBS. Their son Gabriel is a drummer and occasionally tours with his mother. He has a daughter Jasmine who also sang with Joan Baez at Kidztock in 2010.[144][145]
Baez datedApple Computer cofounderSteve Jobs during the early 1980s.[146] A number of sources have stated that Jobs—then in his mid-twenties—had considered asking Baez to marry him, except that her age at the time (early 40s) made the possibility of their having children unlikely.[147] Baez mentioned Jobs in the acknowledgments in her 1987 memoirAnd a Voice to Sing With and performed at the memorial for him in 2011. After Jobs's death, Baez spoke fondly about him, stating that even after the relationship had ended, the two remained friends, with Jobs having visited Baez a few months before his death, and stating that "Steve had a very sweet side, even if he was as... erratic as he was famous for being. But he gets genius licence for that, because he was somebody who changed the world."[148]
CartoonistAl Capp, creator of thecomic stripLi'l Abner, satirized Baez as "Joanie Phoanie" during the 1960s. Capp's satirized Joanie was an unabashed communist radical who sang songs ofclass warfare whilehypocritically traveling in alimousine and charging outrageous performance fees to impoverished orphans.[149] Capp had this character singing songs such as "A Tale of Bagels and Bacon" and "Molotov Cocktails for Two". Although Baez was upset by the parody in 1966, she admits to being more amused in recent years. "I wish I could have laughed at this at the time", she wrote in a caption under one of the strips, reprinted in her autobiography. "Mr. Capp confused me considerably. I'm sorry he's not alive to read this, it would make him chuckle."[150] Capp stated at the time: "Joanie Phoanie is a repulsive, egomaniacal, un-American, non-taxpaying horror, I see no resemblance to Joan Baez whatsoever, but if Miss Baez wants to prove it, let her."[151]
Baez's serious persona was parodied several times on the American variety showSaturday Night Live in impersonations byNora Dunn, notably in the 1986 mock game showMake Joan Baez Laugh.[28][152]
^Baez, Joan (2009),And A Voice to Sing With: A Memoir, New York City: Simon & Schuster, p. 61,I gaveTime a long-winded explanation of the pronunciation of my name which came out wrong, was printed wrong inTime magazine, and has been pronounced wrong ever since. It's not "Buy-ezz"; it's more like "Bize," but never mind.
^Wells, J. C. (2000). "Baez 'baɪez; baɪ'ez —but the singer Joan Baezprefers baɪz".Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow, England: Pearson Education Ltd.
^Hansen, Liane (September 7, 2008)."Joan Baez: Playing For 'Tomorrow'". NPR.Archived from the original on September 16, 2017. RetrievedSeptember 15, 2017.Reinterpreting other musicians' songs is nothing new to Baez, who says she considers herself more an interpreter than a songwriter.
^Hajdu, David.Positively Fourth Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Fariña and Richard Fariña (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001).The passage about that Pete Seeger concert's effect on Baez starts on p. 7 of the book. The concert was in 1955 at Palo Alto High School. It was a fundraiser for the California Democratic Party.
^Baez, Joan (1987).And A Voice to Sing With, pp 61–62. Baez describes the afternoon when she met with first Mitch Miller at Columbia, then Maynard Solomon at Vanguard.
^Abbe A. Debolt, James S. Baugess – The Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture 1440801029 Page 48 "She received the nickname "Madonna" because of the soulful clarity of her soprano voice, long hair, and natural beauty."
^Terrie M. Rooney Newsmakers 1998: The People Behind Today's Headlines 0787612308 – 1999 Page 17 "With her pure, three-octave soprano voice, her long hair and natural good looks, and her unpretentious presence, she came to earn the nickname "Madonna" because she represented the "Earth Mother" for the 1960s generation."
^Montgomery, Paul L. (May 12, 1975). "End-of-War Rally Brings Out 50,000; Peace Rally Here Brings Out 50,000".The New York Times.
^Schwenkel, Christina (2020).Building Socialism The Afterlife of East German Architecture in Urban Vietnam. Duke University Press. p. 45.ISBN978-1-4780-1106-4.
^"Joan Baez starts protest on repression by Hanoi".The New York Times. May 30, 1979. p. A14.
^Laura Moye – Director, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign,Open letter of May 4, 2011, Amnesty International,Dear (Recipients) Any day now, an execution date could be set for Troy Davis. On March 28, 2011 the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Troy Davis' appeals, setting the stage for Georgia to try to execute him again. Thousands of you have once again rallied to ward off the unthinkable. Music artists such as R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, the Indigo Girls, and rapper Big Boi (all Georgians), as well as Steve Earle, Joan Baez, State Radio and actor Tim Roth have joined us by signing the petition ...
^James F. Clarity (March 27, 1973)."Joan Baez Sues for a Divorce".The New York Times. p. 43.Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. RetrievedFebruary 3, 2008.
^Baez, Joan (1987).And a Voice to Sing With: A Memoir. New York: Summit Books. p. 160.ISBN978-0-671-40062-0.
^Manock, Jerry (June 1982)."Invasion of Texaco Towers"Archived March 4, 2016, at theWayback Machine. Folklore.org. "One afternoon, when the project was in its advanced stages, Steve burst through the door, unannounced, in an exuberant mood. He had two guests ... Joan Baez and her sister, Mimi Farina."
Heller, Jeffrey, 1991.Joan Baez: Singer with a Cause. People of Distinction Series. Children's Press.
Jäger, Markus, 2003.Joan Baez and the Issue of Vietnam: Art and Activism versus Conventionality. ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany.(in English)
Jaeger, Markus, 2021.Popular Is Not Enough: The Political Voice of Joan Baez. Revised and updated edition. ibidem-Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany.(in English)
Romero, Maritza, 1998.Joan Baez: Folk Singer for Peace. Great Hispanics of Our Time Series. Powerkids Books.
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