Suzanne Nadine Vega (born July 11, 1959) is an American songwriter and singer known for her eclectic folk-inspired music.
Two of Vega's songs (both from her second album Solitude Standing, 1987) reached the top 10 of various international chart listings: "Luka" and "Tom's Diner". The latter was originally an a cappella version on Vega's album, which was then remade in 1990 as a dance track produced by the British dance production team DNA.
Vega was born July 11, 1959 in Santa Monica, California.[1] Her mother, Pat Vega, is a computer systems analyst of German-Swedish heritage. Her father, Richard Peck, is of Scottish-English-Irish origin. They divorced soon after her birth.[2] Her stepfather, Ed Vega, also known as Edgardo Vega Yunque, was a writer and teacher from Puerto Rico.[3]
When Vega was two and a half, the family moved to New York City. She grew up in Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side.[4] At the age of nine she began to write poetry; she wrote her first song at age fourteen. Later she attended New York's prestigious High School of Performing Arts (now called LaGuardia High School). There she studied modern dance and graduated in 1977.
While majoring in English literature at Barnard College,[5] she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village, where she was a regular contributor to Jack Hardy's Monday night songwriters' group at the Cornelia Street Cafe and had some of her first songs published on Fast Folk anthology albums.[6] In 1984, she received a major label recording contract, making her one of the first Fast Folk artists to break out on a major label.
Vega's self-titled debut album was released in 1985 and was well-received by critics in the U.S.;[4] it reached platinum status in the United Kingdom. Produced by Lenny Kaye and Steve Addabbo, the songs feature Vega's acoustic guitar in straightforward arrangements. A video was released for the album's song "Marlene on the Wall", which went into MTV and VH1's rotations. During this period Vega also wrote lyrics for two songs on Songs from Liquid Days by composer Philip Glass.
Her next effort, Solitude Standing (1987), garnered critical and commercial success including the hit single "Luka", an international success. "Luka" is written about, and from the point of view of, an abused child—at the time an uncommon subject for a pop hit. While continuing a focus on Vega's acoustic guitar, the music is more strongly pop-oriented and features fuller arrangements. The a cappella "Tom's Diner" from this album was later a hit, remixed by two British dance producers under the name DNA, in 1990. The track was originally a bootleg, until Vega allowed DNA to release through her record company, and it became her all-time biggest hit.
Vega's song "Tom's Diner" was used as the reference track in an early trial of the MP3 compression system, thus earning her the distinction of being named "The Mother of the MP3". Because it is an a cappella vocal with relatively little reverberation, it was used as the model for Karlheinz Brandenburg's sound compression algorithm.[7] Brandenburg heard “Tom's Diner” on a radio playing the song and was excited and at first convinced it would be “nearly impossible to compress this warm a cappella voice.”
"Tom's Diner" takes place in Tom's Restaurant at 112th Street and Broadway in New York City. Exterior shots of the same restaurant appear in the television sitcom Seinfeld as Monk's, which is the eatery where Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer hang out. The DNA remix of the track was so popular that it inspired many cover versions—the best of which were eventually collected by Vega on an album titled Tom's Album.[7] The remixed version of "Tom's Diner" was later sampled by hip hop artist Nikki D in her single "Daddy's Little Girl". Rapper Tupac Shakur sampled the track in "Dopefiend's Diner".
On a 1987 Swedish television special, Vega said this about her song "Luka":
| “ |
A few years ago, I used to see this group of children playing in front of my building, and there was one of them, whose name was Luka, who seemed a little bit distinctive from the other children. I always remembered his name, and I always remembered his face, and I didn't know much about him, but he just seemed set apart from these other children that I would see playing. And his character is what I based the song Luka on. In the song, the boy Luka is an abused child — in real life I don't think he was. I think he was just different.[8] |
” |
Also, in an ASCAP interview, she responded to a question about "Luka":
| “ |
Interviewer: When you can touch so many people with songs like 'Luka', it must be pretty rewarding.
Vega: Yeah. It’s an amazing feeling. Especially since that particular song is a very special song. It’s a song about child abuse, so therefore it does touch a lot of people in a different way than if it were, say, a love song or some other kind of song.[9]
|
” |
"Luka" was covered by The Lemonheads on the 1989 album Lick, shortly before the band was signed by Atlantic Records, and was a minor college-airplay hit.
Vega's third album, Days of Open Hand (1990) continued in the style of her first two albums.
In 1992 she released the album 99.9F°. It consists of a mixture of folk music, dance beats and industrial music.
Her fifth album, Nine Objects of Desire, was released in 1996. The music varies between a frugal, simple style and the industrial production of 99.9F°. This album contains "Caramel", featured in the movie The Truth About Cats & Dogs and, later, the trailer for the movie Closer. A song not included on that album, "Woman on the Tier", was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Dead Man Walking.
In 1997 she took a singing part on the concept album Heaven and Hell, a musical interpretation of the Seven deadly sins by her colleague Joe Jackson, with whom she had already collaborated in 1986 on "Left of Center" from the Pretty in Pink soundtrack (with Vega singing and Jackson playing piano).
In 1999, Avon Books published Vega's book "The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings Of Suzanne Vega"; a volume of poems, lyrics, essays and journalistic pieces.
September 2001 saw the release of a new album, Songs In Red and Gray. Three songs deal with Vega's divorce from first husband Mitchell Froom.
At the memorial concert for her brother Tim Vega in December 2002, she began as the long-term subject of a direct cinema documentary, Some Journey, by director Christopher Seufert of Mooncusser Films. This has not been completed.
In 2003, the twenty-one-song greatest hits compilation Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega was released. (The UK version of Retrospective included an eight-song bonus CD as well as a DVD containing twelve songs.) In the same year she was invited by Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, to play at the Century of Song concerts at the famed RuhrTriennale in Germany.
In 2003, she hosted the American Public Media radio series American Mavericks, about 20th century American composers, which received the prestigious Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.
On August 3, 2006, Vega became the first major recording artist to perform live in the Internet-based virtual world, Second Life. The event was hosted by John Hockenberry of public radio's The Infinite Mind.
On September 17, 2006, she performed in Central Park, as part of a benefit concert for The Save Darfur Coalition.[10] During the concert she highlighted her support for Amnesty International, of which she has been a member since 1988.[11] [12]
In early October 2006, Vega took part in the Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) in Olomouc, the Czech Republic, the oldest festival of documentary films in Europe, in which she appeared as a main guest. She was invited there as the subject of the documentary film by director Christopher Seufert, that had a test screening at the festival. At the end of the festival she performed her classical songs, and added one brand new piece called "New York Is a Woman".
Vega is also interviewed in the book Everything Is Just a Bet which was published in Czech in October 2006. The book contains twelve interview transcriptions from the talk show called Stage Talks that regularly runs in the Švandovo divadlo (Švandovo Theatre) in Prague. Vega introduced the book to the audience of the Švandovo divadlo (Švandovo Theatre), and together with some other Czech celebrities gave a signing session.
She signed a new recording contract with Blue Note Records in the spring of 2006, and released Beauty & Crime on July 17, 2007. The album was produced by Jimmy Hogarth, which won a Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. Her contract was not renewed and she was dropped in June 2008.[13]
In 2007, Vega followed the lead of numerous other mainstream artists and released her track "Pornographer's Dream" as podsafe. The song spent two weeks at #1 during 2007 and finished as the #11[14] hit of the year on the PMC Top10's annual countdown. Vega joined the 10th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers.[15] [16] [17] She was also a judge for the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th Independent Music Awards.[18]
A partial cover version of her song "Tom's Diner" is used to introduce the 2010 British movie 4.3.2.1, with its lyrics largely rewritten to echo the plot. This musical hybrid was released as "Keep Moving".
Vega is included in the Danger Mouse/Sparklehorse/David Lynch collaboration "Dark Night of the Soul". She wrote both melody and lyrics for her song, which is titled "The Man Who Played God", inspired by a biography of Pablo Picasso.
Vega is rerecording her back-catalogue,[19] both for artistic and commercial (and control) reasons,[20][21] in the Close-up series. Vol.1 (Love Songs) and Vol. 2 (People & Places) appeared in 2010 while Vol. 3 (States of Being) was released in July 2011 [22] and 4 (Songs of Family) is planned for the near future.
Vega sang lead vocals on the song "Now I Am an Arsonist" with singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton on his 2011 album, Artificial Heart.
Vega co-wrote (with Duncan Sheik) a play “Carson McCullers Talks About Love”, about the life of the writer Carson McCullers. In the play, which premiered in 2011, Vega alternates between monologue and songs. [23][24][25]
On March 17, 1995, Vega married Mitchell Froom, a musician and a record producer (who played in and produced 99.9F° and Nine Objects of Desire). They have a daughter, Ruby Froom (born July 8, 1994). The band Soul Coughing's Ruby Vroom album was named after her, with Vega's approval, though she requested a slight change.[7] Recently Ruby sang with her mother on a couple of occasions.[26][27][28] Vega and Froom separated in 1998.
On February 11, 2006, Vega married Paul Mills, a lawyer and poet. They originally met each other at Folk City on West 4th Street when singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky, a friend of both, introduced them. In the words of her website, "The couple met at Folk City on West 4th Street in 1981. Mr. Mills proposed to Miss Vega in May, 1983, and she accepted his proposal on Christmas Day, 2005."[29]
- Tried & True: The Best of Suzanne Vega, 1998 – UK #46, AUS #96, GER #58
- Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega, 2003 – UK #27[30]
| Year |
Single |
Chart positions |
Album |
| UK[30] |
U.S.
Hot 100 |
AUS |
IRE[31] |
GER |
SWI[32] |
AUT |
NZ[33] |
CAN |
SWE |
FR |
NL |
| 1985 |
"Marlene On The Wall" |
85
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
Suzanne Vega |
| "Small Blue Thing" |
65
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| "Knight Moves" |
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| 1986 |
"Marlene On The Wall"(re-release) |
21
|
—
|
39
|
9
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
27
|
| "Left Of Center"Feat.Joe Jackson |
32
|
—
|
35
|
28
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
Pretty in Pink (soundtrack) |
| "Gypsy" |
77
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
Solitude Standing |
| 1987 |
"Luka" |
23
|
3
|
21
|
11
|
—
|
—
|
9
|
8
|
5
|
2
|
24
|
40
|
| "Tom's Diner" |
58
|
—
|
—
|
26
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| "Solitude Standing" |
79
|
94
|
91
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
45
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| 1990 |
"Book Of Dreams" |
66
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
Days of Open Hand |
| "Tired of Sleeping" |
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| "Men in a War" |
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| "Tom's Diner"(DNA remix) |
2
|
5
|
8
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
8
|
—
|
—
|
16
|
4
|
Taste This |
| 1992 |
"In Liverpool" |
52
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
99.9F° |
| "99.9F°" |
46
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| "Blood Makes Noise" |
60
|
—
|
61
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
42
|
27
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| 1993 |
"When Heroes Go Down" |
58
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
| 1996 |
"No Cheap Thrill" |
40
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
—
|
24
|
20
|
Nine Objects of Desire |
- "Rusted Pipe (DNA remix)", promotional, 1991
- "Caramel", 1996
- "Birth-day", promotional, 1997
- "World before Columbus", 1997
- "Headshots", promotional, 1997
- "Book & a Cover", 1998
- "Rosemary / Remember me", 1999
- "Widow's Walk", promotional, 2001
- "Last Year's Troubles", promotional, 2001
- "Penitent", promotional, 2001
- "(I'll Never Be) Your Maggie May", promotional, 2002
- "Frank & Ava", promotional, 2007
- "Ludlow Street", promotional, 2007
- "Unbound", promotional, 2007
- "Pornographer's Dream", podsafe, 2007 – PMC #1
- ^ Curtis, Kim (September 28, 2001), "Softer, earthier Vega releases new album", Reading Eagle (Reading Eagle Company), http://news.google.co.uk/newspapers?id=2fghAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rKIFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2114,7530185, retrieved April 30, 2010
- ^ Huey, Steve, "Suzanne Vega > Biography", Allmusic (Rovi Corporation), http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p5751/biography, retrieved April 30, 2010
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ a b "Suzanne Vega: A Life in Music". Official Community of Suzanne Vega. Archived from the original on 2008-04-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20080419032844/http://www.suzannevega.com/suzanne/biography/detailed.aspx. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ "Biography". Official Community of Suzanne Vega. Archived from the original on 2008-04-30. http://web.archive.org/web/20080430145005/http://www.suzannevega.com/suzanne/biography/brief.aspx. Retrieved 2008-05-26.
- ^ Fricke, David. Suzanne Vega Album Review, Rolling Stone, July 4, 1985. Accessed June 5, 2009.
- ^ a b c "Fun Facts Music". Official Community of Suzanne Vega. Archived from the original on 2008-05-15. http://web.archive.org/web/20080515164214/http://www.suzannevega.com/suzanne/funfacts/music.aspx. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ "Luka by Suzanne Vega Songfacts". http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=3528. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ "ASCAP". http://www.ascap.com/poprock/memberprofiles/suzannevega.html. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
- ^ "American Jewish World Service". Ajws.org. http://www.ajws.org/who_we_are/news/archives/features/thousands_rally_for_darfur_.html. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ The Official Suzanne Vega Website .::. By Suzanne: Articles, Poetry and Essays. Web.archive.org (2006-11-11). Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ http://www.suzannevega.com/cgi-bin/discus/show.cgi?4160/5619[dead link]
- ^ Doelle, Chris (2008-01-05). "PMC Top10–010408 – Top Hits of 2007!!!". PMC Top10. Archived from the original on 2008-03-25. http://web.archive.org/web/20080325200052/http://www.podmusiccountdown.com/archives/2008/01/pmc_top10_01040.html. Retrieved 2007-04-01.
- ^ "Independent Music Awards". Independent Music Awards. http://www.independentmusicawards.com/judges. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ MicControl[dead link]
- ^ "Top40-Charts.com". Top40-Charts.com. http://top40-charts.com/news/Charts-Awards/She-&-Him-The-Black-Keys-Mark-Hoppus-Aimee-Mann-And-Bettye-LaVette-Join-Judging-Panel-For-The-9th-Annual-Independent-Music-Awards/48785.html. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ "Independent Music Awards – Past Judges". Independentmusicawards.com. http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/pastjudges.asp. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ Suzanne Vega | Brief Bio 2010. Suzannevega.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-07.
- ^ "Suzanne Vega’s Close-Up series more than meets the eye". Mbbarton.wordpress.com. 2010-03-17. Archived from the original on 2010-07-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20100720075436/http://mbbarton.wordpress.com/2010/03/17/suzanne-vegas-close-up-series-more-than-meets-the-eye/.
- ^ Theo Spielberg (4 November 2011). "Suzanne Vega Proudly Embraces Her Role as 'The Mother of the MP3'". spinner.com. http://www.spinner.com/2011/11/04/suzanne-vega-close-up-vol-3/.
- ^ Twitter / Suzanne Vega: Vol 3 of Close-Up coming out in July of this year - States of Being. Twitter.com. Retrieved on 2011-05-24.
- ^ Alan Light (2011-04-27). "Suzanne Vega’s ‘Carson McCullers Talks About Love’". NYTimes.com. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/theater/suzanne-vegas-carson-mccullers-talks-about-love.html?_r=2. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
- ^ Charles Isherwood (May 5, 2011). "The Alienated Souls Whisperer". NYTimes.com. http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/theater/reviews/suzanne-vegas-carson-mccullers-talks-about-love-review.html. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
- ^ Dan Bacalzo (May 6, 2011). "Carson McCullers Talks About Love". http://www.theatermania.com/off-broadway/news/05-2011/carson-mccullers-talks-about-love_36840.html. Retrieved 27 May 2011.
- ^ "Suzanne Vega and Ruby Froom at the City Winery 06-May-2010". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdaRH_fyYA0.
- ^ "Mother & Daughter Vega". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rU3Kd57XnF4.
- ^ "Ruby singing with me tonight.". 2011-01-08. http://twitter.com/suzyv/statuses/23906685160521728.
- ^ "The Official Suzanne Vega website". Suzanne Vega. 2006-05-06. Archived from the original on 2006-05-06. http://web.archive.org/web/20060506193929/http://www.suzannevega.com/. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 584. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Jaclyn Ward. "Irish Charts". Irishcharts.ie. http://www.irishcharts.ie/search/placement. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "Swiss Charts". Swiss Charts. http://swisscharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Suzanne+Vega&titel=In+Liverpool&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ Steffen Hung. "New Zealand Charts". Charts.org.nz. http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Suzanne+Vega&titel=In+Liverpool&cat=s. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
- ^ "Grammy's Greatest Moments, Volume III: Various Artists". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000002IY3/. Retrieved 2011-11-23.
|
Suzanne Vega
|
|
| Studio albums |
|
|
| Compilations |
- Tried and True: The Best of Suzanne Vega
- Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega
|
|
| Persondata |
| Name |
Vega, Suzanne |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
|
| Date of birth |
July 11, 1959 |
| Place of birth |
Santa Monica, California, United States |
| Date of death |
|
| Place of death |
|
