Joan Baez

Joan Baez

The folk/rock sing and songwriter Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York. Her father was Mexican, and her mother was British, when they were married they moved to California. Baez was raised in various parts of California and New York. She began her musical by singing and playing at her school for other students. Then, she performed her very earliest public performance in Saratoga for a youth group. She grew up through the years playing in college, then making her first albums, and then making various albums and songs throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s, and now.

Joans college life was where she may have began developing her musical style. In 1958, Joans father accepted a job in Massachusetts and the Baez family moved to Belmont, a suburb of Boston. This area was well known for folk music at the time, and probably was a great influence on Joan and her style. Then Joan began performing live at clubs in Boston and nearby cities. Joan was attending Boston University for a while, but later quit to concentate on her musical career. When performing her first concert, she was tempted to change her “performance name” so she would be more popular. But, she chose not to because she thought people would accuse her of changing it because it was a spanish/mexican last name.

A while later, after her first concert, she and a few other friends, and musicians planned an album. The album was recorded in a friends cellar, and the album was later released as Folksingers 'Round Harvard Square. Then, Baez met some legends, Bob Gibson, and the “queen of folk” Odetta. Then Gibson and Baez performed together, two duets. This performance led to Baez being signed by Vanguard Records the next year.

After her college expierience, and her signing with Vanguard Records, Joan began gaining popularity. Joan made a few albums, first was