Shawn Colvin

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Carbondale IL, United States (1987 – present)

Shawn Colvin (born January 10, 1956 in Vermillion, South Dakota) is an American musician. Best known for her hit single “Sunny Came Home” from the album “A Few Small Repairs”.

Colvin’s formative years were spent in the town of Carbondale, Illinois, where she attended Southern Illinois University Carbondale. She learned to play guitar at the age of 10. Her first public concert was at age 15 at the University of Illinois campus. Colvin cites Joni Mitchell as a primary influence on her music, and her initial performances closely mirrored Mitchell’s inflections and guitar tunings.

Colvin began working in the music scene in earnest in the late 1970s, first in Austin, Texas and then nationally. She met music partner John Leventhal during this time; Leventhal would go on to be Colvin’s producer on several albums. Colvin often lends her talent to contemporaries in the music business - she can be heard singing the backing vocals on the Suzanne Vega hit, “Luka” from 1987. Vega returned the favor, singing backup on Colvin’s, “Diamond In The Rough”, from her debut album, “Steady On”. Colvin, again can be heard singing backing vocals on Mary Chapin Carpenter’s, “The Hard Way” and “Come On Come On” and Mary Chapin returns the favor on Colvin’s, “Climb On (A Back That’s Strong)”, from Colvin’s “Fat City” album.

Colvin’s first several albums were met with critical acclaim, but did not sell in substantial numbers. After several albums of original work, Colvin released “Cover Girl”, a collection of cover songs, but the work was a departure for her and was not well received.
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  • A Few Small Repairs
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  • Fat City
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  • Cover Girl
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  • Steady On
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  • cathedralheat

    Really really need her to record her cover of Tom Waites "Hold On", it's amazing.

    yesterday morning

  • right33

    sad she's not worldwidely acclaimed. although i dont know if she would want that or not. there's something so unique about her, and i wish i could pinpoint it exactly.

    March 2012

  • Metal_Ruby

    i love Sunny Came Home, me and my mom used to listen to it all the time :D

    February 2012

  • BluesAtSix

    The voice of Shawn Colvin is simply unique and her music so gentle and, nevertheless, miraculous powerfully

    December 2011

  • liquiddatura

    Matches.

    August 2011

  • leanna175

    Her (old?) manager came to my college as a guest speaker. Spoke how "Sunny Came Home" was originally "Little Red Men". Interesting. :)

    July 2011

  • zinastick

    love her. don't love that main pic.

    June 2011

  • trisweb

    Live '88. You know what I'm talkin bout.

    March 2011
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Three Girls and their Buddy on PBS's "Soundstage"

3 Feb 2010 | from blog.myspace.com/shawncolvinmusic

Exciting TV news!Three Girls and Their Buddy, featuring Shawn Colvin, Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller, will be performing on the venerated PBS program Soundstage. The show begins …

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