Anne Feeney (July 1, 1951 – February 3, 2021) was an American
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
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*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
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Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fo ...
musician, singer-songwriter, political activist and attorney. She began her career in 1969 as a student activist playing a
Phil Ochs song at a
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
protest, one of many causes she embraced.
As an undergraduate she cofounded Pittsburgh's first rape crisis center and went on to earn a
Juris Doctor degree in 1978, seeking to effect social change through the legal system. She worked as a lawyer for 12 years while also pursuing music and activism, and ultimately decided engaging through music was her calling. Blending Irish music with American folk and bluegrass, as well as her political message, she recorded twelve albums and toured most of the period from 1991 to 2015, attending protest rallies and joining the concerts of groups like
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...
. The latter also recorded a version of Feeney's anthem for
civil disobedience, "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?"
Early life
Feeney was born July 1, 1951, in
Charleroi, Pennsylvania
Charleroi ( ) is a borough in Washington County, Pennsylvania, along the Monongahela River, 21 miles south of Pittsburgh. Charleroi was settled by Walloons in 1890 and incorporated in 1891. The 2020 census recorded a population of 4,210.
There has ...
,
to Annabelle (née Runner) and Edward J. Feeney.
Her mother was a homemaker and her father a chemical engineer at
Westinghouse Electric Co.
She had one sister, Kathleen.
The family moved to the nearby
Brookline neighborhood of the city of
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
in 1954.
Feeney's grandfather, William Patrick Feeney, was a significant early influence on her, as
mineworkers'
organizer and violinist who also used his music in the service of political and labor causes.
Feeney graduated from Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic girls' high school in
Bethel Park, Pennsylvania
Bethel Park, officially the Municipality of Bethel Park, is a borough with home rule status in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, located approximately southwest of Pittsburgh. The pop ...
, in 1968.
Higher education and beginnings in music and activism
As a high school student, Feeney purchased a
Martin Martin may refer to:
Places
* Martin City (disambiguation)
* Martin County (disambiguation)
* Martin Township (disambiguation)
Antarctica
* Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land
* Port Martin, Adelie Land
* Point Martin, South Orkney Islands
Austr ...
D-28 guitar in 1968 and gave her first performance at an
anti-war protest in 1969, playing a song by
Phil Ochs.
She played the same guitar for 40 years.
She enrolled in college at the
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...
(Pitt) and joined Thinking Students for Peace, a group that protested the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
and
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
In 1972, while an undergrad, she was arrested in Miami at the
Republican National Convention where she was protesting
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's re-nomination for President of the United States.
That same year, Feeney attended the annual Conference on Women and the Law.
Inspired by the group that founded "Women Organized Against Rape" in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, Feeney began a campaign for a rape crisis center in Pittsburgh.
This effort became Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR), which still provides services to rape survivors in the Pittsburgh area as of 2021.
Feeney graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
She enrolled in law school, also at Pitt, and in 1976, she joined a bluegrass band, Cucumber Rapids. The group disbanded in 1977, but Feeney carried on performing locally.
Legal career
Feeney graduated from the
University of Pittsburgh School of Law
The University of Pittsburgh School of Law (Pitt Law) was founded in 1895. It became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1900. Its primary home facility is the Barco Law Building. The school offers four degrees: Master ...
in 1978.
She worked for 12 years as a trial attorney, something she said had interested her as way to effect social change, although later she found her music to be a better route for that goal.
While a lawyer, Feeney's clients were mainly refugees and domestic violence survivors.
She was a member of the Gender Bias Committee of the
Allegheny County Bar Association.
From the early 1980s through the 2010s, Feeney served on the board of Pittsburgh's
Thomas Merton Center, devoted to advocating for peace and justice causes.
She was also chapter president of
NOW
Now most commonly refers
to the present time.
Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to:
Organizations
* Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization
* National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization
* Now ...
and served on the organization's state executive board in Pennsylvania.
Music career
In 1989, Feeney's music career became an increasing focus after she won a national song writing contest,
the Kerrville New Folk contest.
Beginning in 1991, Feeney toured North America and the world to perform and participate in political and labor rallies and events.
In 2008, she said in an interview, "I think music is a fantastic way of empowering people and giving them strength and energy. I've spent a good part of my life trying to find and write music that will empower people to resist and stand up for what's right."
Feeney's music is frequently featured on the broadcast radio program ''
Democracy Now!
''Democracy Now!'' is an hour-long American TV, radio, and Internet news program hosted by journalists Amy Goodman (who also acts as the show's executive producer), Juan González, and Nermeen Shaikh. The show, which airs live each weekday at ...
'' and her anthem "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" is featured in the documentaries ''This is What Democracy Looks Like'', ''Isn't This a Time: A Tribute to Harold Leventhal'' and ''Get Up/Stand Up: The History of Pop and Protest''.
The song is an ode to
civil disobedience, beginning, "Was it
Cesar Chavez? Maybe it was
Dorothy Day
Dorothy Day (November 8, 1897 – November 29, 1980) was an American journalist, social activist and anarchist who, after a bohemian youth, became a Catholic without abandoning her social and anarchist activism. She was perhaps the best-known ...
/ Some will say
Dr. King or
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
set them on their way / No matter who your mentors are it's pretty plain to see / That, if you've been to jail for justice, you're in good company."
Feeney served as president of the Pittsburgh
Musicians' Union from 1997 to 1998, the first and only woman ever elected to this position, as of 2021.
She was a member of the
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...
as well as the American Federation of Musicians.
In 2005, she was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the
Labor Heritage Foundation.
Her business cards described her as "Performer, Producer, Hellraiser."
Her first recording, ''Look to the Left'', was released in 1992.
She put out 12 albums in all,
including ''Union Maid'', ''If I Can't Dance'', ''Have you Been to Jail for Justice?'', and ''Dump the Bosses Off Your Back.''
Fenney's last album was ''Enchanted Way'' in 2010.
Feeney and her daughter, Amy Berlin, performed Feeney's song "Ain't I a Woman" at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. on April 25, 2004. Feeney's song "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" was recorded by
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...
and she also worked with
John Prine
John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...
and
Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notably ...
.
Political cartoonist
Mike Konopacki included her recording of "
Union Maid
"Union Maid" is a union song, with lyrics written by Woody Guthrie in response to a request for a union song from a female point of view. The melody is the 1907 standard " Red Wing" by Kerry Mills, which was in turn adapted from Robert Schumann ...
" in a flash animation in 2003. She also collaborated with spoken word artist Chris Chandler, whom ''
Sing Out!
''Sing Out!'' was a quarterly journal of folk music and folk songs that was published from May 1950 through spring 2014. It was originally based in New York City, with a national circulation of approximately 10,000 by 1960.
Background
''Sing Out ...
'' said "finally met his match with the powerful, radical singer-songwriter" Feeney, and called their performances together "highly entertaining."
''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' described her music as "blend
ngelements of Irish, bluegrass, folk and pop music while coupling many of her melodies with political lyrics, sometimes tinged with satire and humor, that were reminiscent of the '60s protest songs."
In 1989,
Peter Yarrow
Peter Yarrow (born May 31, 1938) is an American singer and songwriter who found fame for being in the 1960s folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary. Yarrow co-wrote (with Leonard Lipton) one of the group's best known hits, " Puff, the Magic Dragon". H ...
of
Peter, Paul and Mary
Peter, Paul and Mary was an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival phenomenon. The trio consisted of tenor Peter Yarrow, baritone Paul Stookey, and contralto Mary Travers. The group's reper ...
wrote expressing his enthusiasm for her music, which he saw as a continuation of his own efforts: "I think your songs are wonderful, your group is terrific and your music rings with resonance of all that Peter, Paul and Mary has attempted to share throughout the last 28 years. It is comforting and exciting to know that the torch of folk music is being passed on to people as concerned, artful and decent as yourselves."
Personal life and death
On November 19, 1977, Feeney married labor attorney Ron Berlin.
She and Berlin had two children, Dan and Amy.
The marriage ended in divorce in 1995. In 2002, she married Swedish political artist
Julie Leonardsson.
In August 2010, while touring in Sweden, Feeney was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. She underwent treatment, recovered and returned to touring, but the cancer returned in 2015.
Feeney was in rehabilitation for a fracture in her back when she contracted
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
-related pneumonia.
She died with her family by her side at
UPMC Shadyside
UPMC Shadyside is a nationally ranked, 520-bed non-profit, tertiary, teaching hospital located in the Shadyside neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. UPMC Shadyside is a part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC), and grouped ...
hospital in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...
on February 3, 2021, at age 69.
Discography
Solo albums
*''Grafton Street'', 1987
*''If I Can't Dance It's Not My Revolution'', 1987
*''United We Bargain, Divided We Beg!'', 1990
*''There's a Whole Lot More of Us Than They Think'', 1990
*''Look to the Left'', 1992
[
*''Heartland (Live)'', 1994
*''Have You Been to Jail for Justice?'', 2001][
*''Union Maid'', 2003 (Anthology)
*''If I Can't Dance'', 2006]
*''Dump the Bosses Off Your Back'', 2008[
*''Enchanted Way'', 2010]
With Chris Chandler
*''Flying Poetry Circus'', 2001
*''Live from the Wholly Stolen Empire'', 2003
Other Appearances
*''The Great Peace March – Songs From The Road'' (1986) - As part of the ensemble, also producer
*''Vote in November: Election 2004 Anti-Theft Device'' (Various Artists) 2004 - includes "Carnivals #3" (with Chris Chandler)
*''Hail To The Thief & His Daddy's Judges: Songs for the Bush
Bush commonly refers to:
* Shrub, a small or medium woody plant
Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to:
People
* Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name
**Bush family, a prominent American family that includes:
*** ...
Years'' (Various Artists) 2001 - includes "Carnivals" (with Chris Chandler), "Beady Eyes" (with George Mann), "Corporate Welfare Song"
*''Hold Me Up to the Light: A Tribute To Peter Wilde (Various Artists) 2003'' - includes "Sourmouth Sprout" (with Chris Chandler)
*''Stoking the Fires of Resistance: A Musical History Of The US War On The Iraqi People'' (Various Artists) - includes "Shell Game"
*''Hail to the Thieves Volume III: Songs to Take Our Country Back!'' (George Mann, Julius Margolin and Friends) 2006 - includes "Defenders of Marriage"
*''Classic Labor Songs From Smithsonian Folkways'' (Various Artists), 2006 - includes "We Just Come To Work Here, We Don't Come To Die"
*''Farewell to the Thief! Vol. IV'' (George Mann, Julius Margolin and Friends) 2008 - includes "Dump the Bosses Off Your Back", "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"
*''Never Surrender'' (Evan Greer
Evan Greer (born May 18, 1985) is an American activist, writer, and musician from Boston, Massachusetts. They are the deputy director of the nonprofit advocacy group Fight for the Future. Greer identifies as nonbinary.
Writing and activism
Greer ...
) 2009 - Featured on "The Picketline Song"
*''Hugs For Chelsea: Benefit For Chelsea Manning
Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (born Bradley Edward Manning; December 17, 1987) is an American activist and whistleblower. She is a former United States Army soldier who was convicted by court-martial in July 2013 of violations of the Espionage A ...
(Various Artists) 2017 - includes "Whatever You Say, Say Nothing"
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feeney, Anne
1951 births
2021 deaths
American women activists
American women singer-songwriters
American folk singers
Pennsylvania lawyers
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania
Industrial Workers of the World members
People from Charleroi, Pennsylvania
Political music artists
Singer-songwriters from Pennsylvania
Activists from Pittsburgh
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American women lawyers
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers