Meg Christian (born 1946 in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

) is an American

folk singer Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

associated with the

women's music Women's music is music by women, for women, and about women. The genre emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement as well as the labor, civil rights, and peace movements. The movement (in the USA) was started by lesbian ...

movement.

Early life and career

Christian was born in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1946 and raised in

. She has spoken about being an only child, learning

stringed instruments String instruments, stringed instruments, or chordophones are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Musicians play some string instruments by plucking the st ...

while spending a lot of time alone and later being influenced by

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

The Kingston Trio The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and ...

and

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...

to organize folk groups in the '60s. Christian graduated from the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

with a double degree in English and music. She moved to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

in 1969, where she performed in bars covering

easy listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

material by artists such as

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

and

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

. Christian has said that her "entrance to sexual politics" began after witnessing the way

David Frost Sir David Paradine Frost (7 April 1939 – 31 August 2013) was a British television host, journalist, comedian and writer. He rose to prominence during the satire boom in the United Kingdom when he was chosen to host the satirical programme ' ...

during an interview, showed little respect for two women authors Ti Grace and

Robin Morgan Robin Morgan (born January 29, 1941) is an American poet, writer, activist, journalist, lecturer and former child actor. Since the early 1960s, she has been a key radical feminist member of the American Women's Movement, and a leader in the ...

, and she began writing material from an explicitly political and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

perspective. For a time in the 1970s, Christian, who is openly lesbian, embraced

women's separatism Feminist separatism is the theory that feminist opposition to patriarchy can be achieved through women's separation from men.Christine Skelton, Becky Francis, ''Feminism and the Schooling Scandal'', Taylor & Francis, 2009 ,p. 104 Because much of ...

and sometimes played at women-only venues. She has acknowledged that the "feminist tag...makes women's music seem limited in appeal" but that the common denominator is that "we all make make music out of a consciousness of being a woman...some of us would rather play only to an audience of women...some want to play to the universe." Christian was one of the performers at the second Boston Women's Music Festival in 1977 and agreed with

Holly Near Holly Near (born June 6, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, teacher, and activist. Early years Holly Near was born in Ukiah, California, United States, and was raised on a ranch in Potter Valley, California. She was eight years o ...

, that the purpose of their music was to make women more aware of political issues. She explained how discovering the gay and women's movement in 1969 had resulted in her writing new material, noting "I couldn't believe what was coming out of my mouth... nd..I started trying to find songs that said something to women."

Olivia Records

Christian, along with other feminist and lesbian activists founded

Olivia Records Olivia Records is a women's music record label founded in 1973 by lesbian members of the Washington D.C. area. It was founded by Ginny Berson, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, Judy Dlugacz, and six other women. Olivia Records sold more than one ...

in 1973. The label began by releasing a single of Christian's version of the

Gerry Goffin Gerald Goffin (February 11, 1939 – June 19, 2014) was an American lyricist. Collaborating initially with his first wife, Carole King, he co-wrote many international pop hits of the early and mid-1960s, including the List of Billboard number-one ...

Carole King Carole King Klein (born Carol Joan Klein; February 9, 1942) is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who has been active since 1958, initially as one of the staff songwriters at 1650 Broadway and later as a solo artist. Regarded as one ...

song ''Lady,'' and the first LP was Christian's debut album, ''I Know You Know'' in 1974. A reviewer said

hat A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

"the album's core is found in its romantic woman-to-woman folk-pop ballads, such as Christian's own ''Valentine Song''... nd..the arrangements, generally keyed to Christian's classical or steel-string guitar, are very much in the singer/songwriter style of

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

and

. Christian's second album ''Face the Music'' (1977) was said in one review to reflect

he conflict He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

"between the value of the music-as-message and the music's value regardless of what it is about lyrically", while in another, as being "worth the attention of anyone interested in women's music and an absolute must for Meg Christian fans. Christian has said that the songs on her third album ''Turning it Over'' released in 1981, "had gone places that she had never imagined they would go musically and they are so beautiful that they made me cry." 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 ...

noted of ''Turning it Over'', that "every major performer in women's music (

Cris Williamson Cris Williamson (born 1947) is an American feminist singer-songwriter and recording artist. She was a visible lesbian political activist, during an era when few who were unconnected to the lesbian community were aware of Gay and Lesbian issues ...

Mary Watkins Mary D. Watkins (born 1939, Denver, Colorado) is an American composer and pianist in jazz and classical music. Watkins graduated from Howard University in 1972 and began performing in jazz ensembles in Washington, D.C. shortly after. Watkins rele ...

Teresa Trull Teresa Trull is an American female singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer from Durham, North Carolina. She is recognized as a pioneer in Women's music, with her debut album ''The Ways a Woman Can Be'' released on Olivia Records in 19 ...

Margie Adam Margie Adam (born 1947) is an American musician and composer. Early life and education Margie Adam was born in 1947 in Lompoc, California. Her father was a newspaper publisher who composed music on the side, and her mother was a classical piani ...

) appeared as a musician or backup singer... nd..it was a sign of love and respect for Christian, who has been at the cultural heart of the women's movement for more than a decade." She ceased giving live performances in 1984, and began studying

Siddha Yoga Siddha Yoga is a spiritual path founded by Swami Muktananda (1908–1982). The organization states in its literature that the Siddha Yoga tradition is "based mainly on eastern philosophies". It also states that it "draws many of its teachings f ...

with

Gurumayi Chidvilasananda Gurumayi Chidvilasananda (or Gurumayi or Swami Chidvilasananda), born Malti Shetty on 24 June 1955, is the guru or spiritual head of the Siddha Yoga path, with ashrams in India at Ganeshpuri and the Western world, with the headquarters of the ...

. The result of these explorations were the albums ''The Fire of My Love'' and ''Songs of Ecstasy''. She changed her first name to Shambhavi during this time and lived in an

ashram An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or a ...

in New York. In 2002, Christian restarted her association with Olivia Records, and began performing again for label events; her first appearance since 1984 was on a

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as "s ...

arranged by Olivia. She also performed on two weeklong Caribbean cruises to celebrate Olivia's 40-year anniversary in 2013.

Personal issues

Christian has said that working with Olivia Records assisted her as a recovering alcoholic. She noted that writing songs as a "woman-identified-woman" was not only consistent with her concept of feminism, but had also developed an awareness of how music enabled emotional changes to be made without compromising her art. Christian described the emotions and moods of women's music, as helping women "know all that we are" and it helped her to deal with her anger and "listen to my inner voice, to what I truly want for myself, beyond all the shoulds and oughts." She later shared her experiences about time spent in the Alcoholism Centre for Women in Los Angeles and said that she had been validated by meeting other women dealing with same issue.

Discography

*''I Know You Know'' (

, 1974) *''Face the Music'' (Olivia, 1977) *''Turning it Over'' (Olivia, 1981) *''Meg & Cris at Carnegie Hall'' (live with

, Olivia, 1983) *''From the Heart'' (Olivia, 1984) *''Scrapbook'' (Olivia, 1986) *''The Fire of My Love'' (Syda Records, 1986) *''The Best of Meg Christian'' (Olivia, 1990) *''Songs of Ecstasy'' (Syda, 1995)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, Meg 1946 births American women singers American Hindus Converts to Hinduism LGBT Hindus Singers from Virginia Feminist musicians American folk singers Living people Musicians from Lynchburg, Virginia Lesbian feminists American lesbian musicians LGBT people from Virginia Women's music University of North Carolina alumni Lesbian separatists 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people