Emily Ann Saliers (born July 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and member of the musical duo

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

. Saliers sings

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880& ...

and plays lead guitar as well as

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

, piano,

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of ...

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

bouzouki The bouzouki (, also ; el, μπουζούκι ; alt. pl. ''bouzoukia'', from Greek ), also spelled buzuki or buzuci, is a musical instrument popular in Greece. It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body with a flat top and ...

and many other instruments.

Early life and education

Saliers was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, as the second eldest of four daughters to Don and Jane Saliers (née Firmin), a librarian. Since approximately age 11, she was raised in

Decatur, Georgia Decatur is a city in, and the county seat of, DeKalb County, Georgia, which is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. With a population of 24,928 in the 2020 census, the municipality is sometimes assumed to be larger since multiple ZIP Codes ...

(in

Metro Atlanta Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Alpharetta, GA Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and th ...

). Don Saliers was the William R. Cannon Distinguished Professor of Theology and Worship at the

Candler School of Theology Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also o ...

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

; he is currently Theologian-in-Residence and a professor emeritus. In addition to teaching theology and worship, he directed the master of sacred music program there. Emily attended Laurel Ridge Elementary School in Decatur, Georgia. She later attended Shamrock High School, which she did not like. She began her college education at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into a comprehensive pub ...

but transferred to Emory University, graduating in 1985 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to si ...

in English.

Musical career

Indigo Girls

Saliers first met her future Indigo Girls counterpart

Amy Ray Amy Elizabeth Ray (born April 12, 1964) is an American alto singer-songwriter and member of the contemporary folk duo Indigo Girls. She also pursues a solo career and has released six albums under her own name, and founded a record company, Daemo ...

when they were students at Laurel Ridge Elementary School in Decatur, Georgia. As students at Shamrock High School, they started performing music together at talent shows and local venues (including bars when she was still under age) under the band names of "Saliers & Ray" and the "B-Band". When Saliers (the elder of the duo) left Georgia for college in Louisiana, Ray frequently visited her. They would play together for tips in New Orleans' French Quarter. Saliers and Ray eventually reunited when they transferred from their respective colleges to Emory University. At Emory they settled upon the band name Indigo Girls; Ray came across the word

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...

in the dictionary and "thought it sounded cool".

Performing as Emily Saliers

In 2004, Saliers composed her first film score for the independent short film, ''One Weekend a Month''. She occasionally performs solo at benefit shows or as a guest with friends' bands. She and her father Don Saliers performed together once at the Washington National Cathedral in 2007. In 2014, she began working on her first solo album, ''Murmuration Nation,'' which was released on August 11, 2017'Murmuration Nation,' Indigo Girls' Emily Saliers Goes Solo
Georgia Music News, June 28, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2017. and was produced by longtime friend and Juilliard-trained violin player for Indigo Girls, Lyris Hung. The album was recorded in New York City and engineered by Ryan Kelly and

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, More ...

. Appearing with Saliers are drummers Robert "Sput" Searight and Will Calhoun, bassist Tim Lefebvre, and keyboardist

Rachel Eckroth Rachel Eckroth is a Grammy nominated American singer-songwriter and keyboardist from Phoenix, Arizona.Regen, Jo“Talent Scout – Rachel Eckroth” " Keyboard", San Francisco, May 25, 2018. Retrieved May 27, 2018. She is currently the keyboardi ...

, along with guest vocalists Jonatha Brooke, Jennifer Nettles, and Lucy Wainwright Roche.Emily Saliers of Indigo Girls to Release Solo Album
Georgia Music News, June 28, 2017. Retrieved July 24, 2017.

Non-performance career

Saliers was a co-owner of Watershed, a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, from its founding until she sold her share in April 2018. Emily was one of the initial investors in the Flying Biscuit Cafe. She was a co-founder of the (now-defunct) Common Pond environmental gift shop in Atlanta, Georgia. Saliers has co-written a book with her father, Don Saliers, a retired theology professor at

at Emory University, called ''A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice''. Emily and her father attended book signings and church appearances around the US in support of the book, including the

National Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington, commonly known as Washington National Cathedral, is an American cathedral of the Episcopal Church. The cathedral is located in Washington, D.C., the ca ...

in Washington, D.C. in May 2005 and October 2007.

Personal life

Saliers married her longtime girlfriend, former Indigo Girls tour manager Tristin Chipman at

New York City Hall New York City Hall is the seat of New York City government, located at the center of City Hall Park in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, between Broadway, Park Row, and Chambers Street. Constructed from 1803 to 1812, the building i ...

on August 20, 2013. Chipman, a Canadian, is from

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

, but she spent most of her adult life in Toronto, according to Saliers between songs when performing onstage in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...

in 2013. The couple already had a daughter, Cleo, born in November 2012 Saliers had a passion for wine collecting, with a wine cellar that was reported to be at 2,000 bottles, but in 2015 she announced that she had given up drinking. She has since disclosed that she became sober in 2011, calling it her "biggest challenge." Saliers assisted in funding a music room at Emory University's Schwartz Center for Performing Arts which was named for her parents Don and Jane Saliers.

References

External links

*
Watershed
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saliers, Emily 1963 births 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American women guitarists 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people American banjoists American folk singers American multi-instrumentalists American women pianists Songwriters from Connecticut American spiritual writers Bouzouki players Emory University alumni American women rock singers Indigo Girls members American lesbian musicians LGBT Christians LGBT singers from the United States LGBT songwriters LGBT people from Connecticut Living people American mandolinists Musicians from New Haven, Connecticut American ukulele players Feminist musicians Guitarists from Connecticut