Joanna Connor (born August 31, 1962)] is an American

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

and virtuosa

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Early life

Connor was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, and raised in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

. After moving to Chicago in 1984, she was drawn to the Chicago blues scene, eventually sharing the stage with James Cotton, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and

A.C. Reed Aaron Corthen, better known as A.C. Reed (May 9, 1926 – February 24, 2004) was an American blues saxophonist, closely associated with the Chicago blues scene from the 1940s into the 2000s. Biography Reed was born in Wardell, Missouri, ...

Music career

By 1987, Connor had started her own band, and recorded her first album for Blind Pig Records in 1989.] In 2002, Connor left Blind Pig Records, and signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with M.C. Records (a small

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

).] In 2021, Connor released the No. 1 blues album ''4801 South Indiana Avenue'', via

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

's Keeping the Blues Alive Records. While on tour in 2022, Connor performed live at

Kingston Mines Kingston Mines is a village in Peoria County, Illinois, United States. The population was 259 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Peoria, Illinois Metropolitan Statistical Area. Located on the Illinois River, it was a shipping port, loading co ...

, a blues club.

Discography

Albums

* ''Believe It!'' ( Blind Pig Records) (1989) * ''Fight'' (Blind Pig Records) (1992) * ''Living On The Road'' (1993) * ''Rock & Roll Gypsy'' (

Ruf Records Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career. The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in Lin ...

) (1995) * ''Big Girl Blues'' (Blind Pig Records) (1996) * ''Slidetime'' (Blind Pig Records) (1998) * ''Nothing But The Blues'' (live in Germany) (2001) * ''The Joanna Connor Band'' (M.C. Records) (2002) * ''Mercury Blues'' (M.C. Records) (2003) * ''Unplugged at Carterco'' with Lance Lewis (Bluesblaster Records) (2008) * ''Live 24'' (live at

) (2010) * ''Six String Stories'' (M.C. Records) (2016) * ''Rise'' (M.C. Records) (2019) * ''4801 South Indiana Avenue'' ( KTBA Records) (2021)

Singles

* "Slippin' Away" (Da Music/Deutsche Austrophon) (1995) * "I Feel So Good" (KTBA Records) (2021)

References

External links

Official Joanna Connor website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Connor, Joanna 1962 births Living people American blues guitarists American blues singers American women singers Songwriters from New York (state) Musicians from Brooklyn Guitarists from New York (state) 20th-century American guitarists Ruf Records artists Blind Pig Records artists 20th-century American women guitarists 21st-century American women