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Current Work
Although she spends the major part of her time writing music, recording, and offering her work in concert, Cris Williamson also loves to teach and provide "enlightening" entertainment for adults and children of all ages.
Offerings include conference presentations , workshops, artist-in-residencies, school programs and children's performances.
Recent performances include: The Fenway Women's Dinner Party, Paramount Center for the Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, The Night Eagle Café, Songwriting Workshop - Song and Word, March for Women's Lives - Official Kick-off Celebration, SOHO Music Club, Oregon Country Fair, NOW National Conference, National Women's Music Festival, and Omega Workshop.
Cris Williamson has some 17 albums to her credit, including her Parents' Choice award-winning musical narrative, "Lumiere," an anthem of hope in a harsh world. |
Short Bio
Decades before the alternative music market was formally coined, and light-years before women enjoyed access to and influence in the recording industry, Cris Williamson was busy making her mark and changing the face of popular music.
Born in South Dakota and educated as a teacher,
she first began performing in clubs. She stirred souls and opened minds with music that celebrates human strength, tenacity, and resilience.
The ascent to legendary status began when she made a casual, revolutionary suggestion.
"I had gone to Washington, D.C. to perform at the folk circuit and met radical lesbians," she says. "I suggested that they should start a women's record company, and they did." Olivia Records was the first national all-women's record label, and Williamson recorded and released "Changer and the Changed" in 1975, which became a symbol of lesbian identity and now stands among the best selling independent albums of all time.
"The album was a coming out to the public," Williamson says. "I just thought you could love anyone you wanted to love. If you'd see that album, you'd know that the chances were pretty good that that woman was a feminist or probably a lesbian."
Because her albums were originally released by this small, independent, low-budget record company, Williamson's music was not readily available in mainstream music outlets nor given top 40s radio stations air play it deserved. Yet, the music was heard and distributed, sometimes person-to-person, city by city, state by state, handed off like a treasured gift.
Her recordings led to performances in larger more established venues, including two sold-out performances at New York's venerable Carnegie Hall.
A pioneer of women's music, it was Cris Williamson who paved the way for today's independent women artists who now regularly top the charts. Cris Williamson helped foster the birth of an entirely new genre of music.
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Contact
Booking Info:
Tam Martin
Beachfront Bookings
(503)281-3874
TamMartin@aol.com
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Artist Location
Seattle, WA
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Art forms
Music
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Type of artist
Performer, Composer, Arts Educator
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General Themes
Feminism/Gender Issues, Activism/Social Justice, Religion/Spirituality, Environment |
Keywords
Songwriter |
| Last updated on May 26th, 2004 |
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