Shawn Colvin
Colvin in 1995
Background information
Born	Shawna Lee Colvin (1956-01-10)January 10, 1956 (age 69) Vermillion, South Dakota, U.S.
Origin	Carbondale, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Contemporary folk Americana country folk
Occupations	Singer musician songwriter
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	1973–present
Labels	Columbia Nonesuch Fantasy
Website	shawncolvinmusic.com

Shawn Colvin (bornShawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956)^[1] is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1997Grammy Award-winning song "Sunny Came Home".

Colvin was born Shawna Lee Colvin inVermillion, South Dakota, and spent her youth inCarbondale, Illinois, andLondon, Ontario, Canada.^[2] She is the second of four children.^[3] She learned to play guitar at the age of 10^[2] and grew up listening to her father's collection of music, which included artists such asPete Seeger andthe Kingston Trio.^[4]

Her first paid gig came just after she started college atSouthern Illinois University. Colvin performed at local venues in Carbondale and later formed a band. For six months, they expanded their fanbase throughout Illinois. During this time, Colvin struggled withalcohol and other drugs.^[5] She later formed Dixie Diesels, a country-swing group. Colvin relocated toAustin, Texas, with the group and then entered "the folk circuit in and aroundBerkeley, California",^[6] before straining hervocal cords and taking a sabbatical at the age of 24.^[7]

Colvin relocated to New York City, joining theBuddy Miller Band in 1980^[3] and later became involved in theFast Folk cooperative ofGreenwich Village.^[8]

While participating inoff-Broadway shows such asPump Boys and Dinettes,^[2] she was featured inFast Folk magazine, and in 1987, producerSteve Addabbo hired her to sing backup vocals on the song "Luka" bySuzanne Vega.^[2][6]

After touring with Vega,^[6] Colvin signed a recording contract withColumbia Records^[2][6] and released her debut albumSteady On in 1989. The album won aGrammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.^[2] Colvin's second albumFat City was released in 1992 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Recording. Her song "I Don't Know Why" was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Female Pop Vocal category.^[2] In 1993, she moved back to Austin and, in 1994, released the albumCover Girl.^[6] In 1995, Colvin released her albumLive 88 a collection of live recordings from 1988.^[9]

In 1996, Colvin released her albumA Few Small Repairs and, in 1997, her single "Sunny Came Home" spent four weeks at the number one spot on the Adult Contemporary chart.^[2][10] The song won the 1998Grammy Awards for both Song and Record of the Year.^[2] Colvin released the albumHoliday Songs and Lullabies in 1998^[11] and in 2001 released another album calledWhole New You.^[12] In 2004, she released a compilation of past songs called,Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection.^[2]

In 2006, Colvin left Columbia Records and released a 15-song album calledThese Four Walls on her new label,Nonesuch Records, which featured contributions byPatty Griffin andTeddy Thompson.^[13] In 2009 she releasedLive, which was recorded at the jazz clubYoshi's in Oakland, California.^[14]

Colvin's eighth studio album,All Fall Down, was released in 2012 and was produced by Buddy Miller at his home studio in Nashville, Tennessee. The album featured guest appearances byEmmylou Harris,Alison Krauss andJakob Dylan.^[2] Colvin published her memoirDiamond in the Rough in 2012.^[15] In 2016, she recorded an album withSteve Earle calledColvin and Earle.^[16][17][18]A Few Small Repairs was reissued in 2017, including its first pressing on vinyl, for its 20th anniversary.^[19]

Colvin has made vocal contributions to songs byJames Taylor,Béla Fleck,Edwin McCain,Shawn Mullins,Elliott Murphy andBruce Hornsby, and collaborated withSting on the song "One Day She'll Love Me".^[2] She recorded as a duet the title track toCurtis Stigers' 1995 album "Time Was". Colvin voiced Rachel Jordan, Ned Flanders' love interest after Maude is killed, in theSimpsons episodes "Alone Again, Natura-Diddily" and "I'm Goin' to Praiseland",^[20] and lent her vocals toMary Chapin Carpenter's 1992 recordings "The Hard Way" and "Come On Come On".^[21]

Colvin has appeared in several films and television shows, including the filmsGrace of My Heart,Heartbreakers andCrazy as well as television showsThe Larry Sanders Show,Suddenly Susan,The Simpsons,Fame L.A., andBaywatch.

Colvin has been married twice, first to Simon Tassano in 1993 whom she divorced in 1995 and to photographer Mario Erwin, whom she married in 1997 and divorced in 2002. She gave birth to a daughter in July 1998.^[22]

Colvin has taken part in severaltriathlons.^[23]

Colvin says she has struggled on and off withdepression,alcoholism andanxiety. She wrote about these struggles in her 2012 memoirDiamond in the Rough, published byHarperCollins.^[24]

• Official website

• 1956 births
• American women singer-songwriters
• American folk singers
• Fast Folk artists
• Grammy Award winners
• Living people
• Musicians from London, Ontario
• Singers from Ontario
• People from Vermillion, South Dakota
• Musicians from Austin, Texas
• People from Carbondale, Illinois
• Singer-songwriters from Illinois
• 20th-century American women guitarists
• 20th-century American guitarists
• 21st-century American women guitarists
• 21st-century American guitarists
• Singer-songwriters from Texas
• Guitarists from Illinois
• Guitarists from Texas
• Guitarists from South Dakota
• 20th-century American women singers
• 21st-century American women singers
• Columbia Records artists
• Nonesuch Records artists
• Fantasy Records artists
• 20th-century American singer-songwriters
• 21st-century American singer-songwriters
• Singer-songwriters from South Dakota
• Jazz musicians from South Dakota

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