When I mention Laura Nyro (1947-1997), the composer/singer/pianist who was favorably compared to Joni Mitchell, some people react enthusiastically, but some fail to recall her until I mention some of her songs, like "And When I Die", "Eli's Comin'", "Stoned Soul Picnic", or "Wedding Bell Blues", all huge hits in the late 60s/early 70s as covers by artists like Blood Sweat and Tears, Three Dog Night, and The Fifth Dimension. Barbra Streisand, whose highly successful 1971 "Stoney End" album updated her image and appealed to younger generations looking for contemporary music, also included Nyro's "Time and Love". Nyro released multiple albums of her own, including "Eli and the Thirteenth Confession" and "New York Tendabury". In 2014, Billy Childs and Allison Kraus revisited Nyro's work with "Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro", with help from Chris Botti, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, among others.
Nyro was born in The Bronx, New York. Her father was also a musician. She began her idiosyncratic career when she was still a teenager, but in time became something of a legend, as a friend and protégé of then talent agent David Geffen, who was a huge force in popular music before he moved on to film production. She died of uterine cancer at forty-nine, which had also claimed her grandmother and mother.
Michele Kort's book is a well-researched biography of Nyro, and celebrates not just her legacy, but the music scene of the era when her career began, and brings it back to life. It was wonderful to imagine her performances at sadly now-defunct clubs like New York's The Bottom Line, where I went often. Just a little more careful editing would have made it a five-star effort, but it is truly compelling reading for fans of both Nyro and those interested in the singer/songwriter movement, and the music of the 60s and 70s that lives on in many of our memories.
No comments:
Post a Comment