Joan Osborne is an 8-time Grammy nominee and multi-platinum selling recording artist. A native of Kentucky, she moved to NYC to attend NYU Film School, but dropped out after becoming involved in New York’s downtown music scene.
Her 1995 album Relish was a critical and commercial success and spawned the international hit single and video “What If God Was One Of Us“. She directed the video for Relish’s second single St. Teresa and created the artwork for the album’s physical package. She has traveled the U.S. and the world for over twenty-five years performing in clubs, theaters, arenas and stadiums, with her own band and as a featured vocalist.
Career highlights include:
-Founded her own independent label, Womanly Hips Records, in 1991
-Duets with Luciano Pavarotti, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Patti Smith, Emmylou Harris, Isaac Hayes and many others
-Touring with the post-Jerry Garcia Grateful Dead and with Motown’s Funk Brothers
-Co-headliner for Lilith Fair tour
-Performing for The Dalai Lama at his monastery in Dharmsala, India
-Featured artist at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway
-Opening for The Who at NY’s Madison Square Garden
-Producing two critically-acclaimed albums for Americana stalwarts The Holmes Brothers
-Performing before a crowd of 100,000 at the Olympic Games in Atlanta
-Touring the U.S. as co-headliner with Mavis Staples
-Recording and performing with side project band Trigger Hippy, founded by Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman
Katherine Yeske Taylor began her career as a rock critic in Atlanta in the 1990s, interviewing Georgia musical royalty such as the Indigo Girls, R.E.M., and the Black Crowes while still a teenager. Since then, she has conducted several hundred interviews and contributes regularly to Billboard, Spin, and American Songwriter, among others. She is a longtime New York City resident and is extremely active in the downtown rock scene.
You can buy Katherine’s book “She’s a Badass : Women in Rock Shaping Modern Feminism” on Google Books HERE and Amazon HERE
About the book via Amazon
Feminism has always been a complex and controversial topic, as female rock musicians know especially well. When they’ve stayed true to their own vision, these artists have alternately been adored as role models or denounced as bad influences. Either way, they’re asked to cope with certain pressures that their male counterparts haven’t faced. With each successive feminism movement since the 1960s, women in rock have been prominent proponents of progress as they’ve increasingly taken control of their own music, message, and image. This, in its way, is just as revolutionary as any protest demonstration.
In She’s a Badass, music journalist Katherine Yeske Taylor interviews twenty significant women in rock, devoting an entire chapter to each one, taking an in-depth look at the incredible talent, determination—and, often, humor—they needed to succeed in their careers (and life). Interviewees range from legendary artists through notable up-and-comers, including Ann Wilson (Heart), Gina Schock (The Go-Go’s), Suzanne Vega, Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Orianthi, Amanda Palmer, and more. Their experiences reveal the varied and unique challenges these women have faced, how they overcame them, and what they think still needs to be done to continue making progress on the equality front. Their stories prove that promoting feminism—either through activism or by living example—is undeniably badass.
The women interviewed for the 20 chapters are: Suzi Quatro, Ann Wilson (Heart), Exene Cervenka (X), Gina Schock (the Go-Go’s), Lydia Lunch, Suzanne Vega, Cherie Currie (the Runaways), Joan Osborne, Donita Sparks (L7), Amy Ray (Indigo Girls), Tanya Donelly (Throwing Muses, the Breeders, Belly), Paula Cole, Tobi Vail (Bikini Kill), Laura Veirs, Catherine Popper, Amanda Palmer, Bonnie Bloomgarden (Death Valley Girls), Orianthi, Fefe Dobson, and Sade Sanchez (L.A. Witch).