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Quick Facts
- NAME: Joan Baez
- OCCUPATION: Children's Activist, Civil Rights Activist, Environmental Activist, Women's Rights Activist, Anti-War Activist, Guitarist, Singer
- BIRTH DATE: January 09, 1941 (Age: 72)
- EDUCATION: Boston University
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Staten Island, New York City, New York
- Full Name: Joan Chandos Baez
- ZODIAC SIGN: Capricorn
Best Known For
Joan Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter and activist who is best known for her distinctive voice and for her role in popularizing the music of Bob Dylan.
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Joan Baez - Peace Keeping Performer
Watch a short video about Joan Baez and how she used her music to inspire peace and understanding wherever she went.
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Play NowJoan Baez. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 12:18, Jun 19, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061.
Joan Baez. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061 [Accessed 19 Jun 2013].
"Joan Baez." 2013. The Biography Channel website. Jun 19 2013, 12:18 http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061.
"Joan Baez," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061 [accessed Jun 19, 2013].
"Joan Baez," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061 (accessed Jun 19, 2013).
Joan Baez [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 Jun 19] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061.
Joan Baez, http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061 (last visited Jun 19, 2013).
Joan Baez. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/joan-baez-9195061. Accessed Jun 19, 2013.
Synopsis
Joan Baez was born in Staten Island, New York, on January 9, 1941. Baez first became known as a folk singer after performing at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival. She is known for topical songs promoting social justice, civil rights and pacifism. Baez also played a critical role in popularizing Bob Dylan, with whom she performed regularly in the mid-1960s.
Quotes
"I've never had a humble opinion in my life. If you're going to have one, why bother to be humble about it?"
Early Life
Singer, songwriter and social activist Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941, in Staten Island, New York. Baez, a singer in the folk tradition, was a crucial part of the genre's rebirth in the 1960s. She got her first guitar in 1956. Two years after her family moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, Baez delved into the city's burgeoning folk scene. Soon she became a regular performer at a local club.
Commercial Success and Activism
The 1960s were a turbulent time in American history, and Baez often used her music to express her social and political views. Her self-titled first album was released in 1960 and not long after its release she met the then-unknown singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
In the early to mid-1960s, Joan Baez became an established folk artist as well as a voice for social change. She sang "We Shall Overcome" at the March on Washington in 1963 organized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In addition to supporting civil rights, Baez also participated in the antiwar movement, calling for an end to the conflict in Vietnam.
Beginning in 1964, she would refuse to pay part of her taxes to protest U.S. military spending for a decade. Baez was also arrested twice in 1967 in Oakland, California, for blocking an armed forces induction center. Near the decade's end, her autobiography, Daybreak (1968), was released.
Baez continued to be active politically and musically in the 1970s. She helped establish the west coast branch of Amnesty International, a human rights organization, and released numerous albums, including the critically acclaimed Diamonds and Rust (1975). In addition to touring, she also performed at many benefits and fundraisers for social and political causes around the world.
Later Work
Her most recent studio album was 2003's Dark Chords on a Big Guitar. She followed up with a collection of live tracks in 2005 on Bowery Songs, which featured songs by Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie as well as some traditional folk songs.
Personal Life
Once married to David Harris, Joan Baez has a son named Gabriel from that union. She lives in California and continues to speak out for causes that are important to her.
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View groupWith simply their voices and guitars, folk singers are the unplugged artists who tell our collective stories through their songs. Their music conveys universal truths and, in turbulent times, is often a call to action in the form of protest songs. Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and other legendary folk singers have rallied audiences around historic causes such as the Civil Rights, peace and feminist movements. Here are some of the famous folk singers who were revolutionary through their songs.
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