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Joan Baez

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Joan Chandos Baez (born on January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York), also known as Joan Baez, is an American folk music singer often called “The queen of the protest song”. She has a very powerful high pitched voice near to a soprano, and with a controlled vibrato that lets her power the drama in the lyrics of her songs. Joan Baez is the most important figure in the protest song from the sixties. However, her repertoire also includes the purely traditional, the country, and the pop-rock.

Daughter of a Mexican physician and a literature professor, sister of Physicist John Baez, Joan’s career begins in Boston, where she had a great success with ther performing in the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. As a result, she recorded “Joan Baez” her debut album in October, 1960 for the label Vanguard.

Between 1962 and 1964, Baez was the popular face of folk music, participating in tours and festivals, and singing in political ceremonies such as the March on Washington in 1963 for civil rights. Akin to other folk performers, Baez was influenced by the Beatles in the United States and the folk-rock of Bob Dylan.

In the late 60s and early 70s, Joan Baez focused on pop-rock and started to write her own songs, which ultimately produced her best selling album, Diamonds & Rust (1975), followed by Gulf Winds (1976), an album entirely written by her.

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