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42-419: Verve Remixed is a series of albums released by Verve Records centered on the concept of classic Verve tracks, remixed by contemporary electronic music producers and DJs . The series has proven to be very popular, both with fans of the original recordings and with younger generations of music listeners, many of whom are exposed to the classic jazz and blues artists for the first time. In addition to

84-544: A one-hit wonder until her most successful US single, " At Seventeen ", was released in 1975. "At Seventeen" is a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity and teenage angst, from the perspective of a narrator looking back on her earlier experience. The song was a major hit as it charted at no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, hit number one on the Adult Contemporary chart and won

126-406: A handshake deal, but negotiations broke down over price and Sinatra's desire that Granz remain head of the label. Granz sold Verve to MGM in 1960. Sinatra established Reprise Records and hired Mo Ostin , an executive at Verve, to run it. At Verve, Creed Taylor was made head producer. Taylor adopted a more commercial approach, terminating several contracts. He brought bossa nova to America with

168-461: A lesbian. Other artists have recorded Ian's compositions, including Roberta Flack , who had a hit in 1973 with Ian's song "Jesse", which peaked at #30 on the Hot 100 on October 27, 1973. Ian's own version is included on her 1974 album Stars (the title song of which has also been oft-covered, including versions by Joan Baez , Shirley Bassey , Cher , Nina Simone and Barbara Cook ). "At Seventeen"

210-673: A master's degree. After Fink's death in 1997, Ian decided to auction off memorabilia to raise money to endow a scholarship at Goddard specifically for older continuing education students, which became the Pearl Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity. At the end of each year, 90% or more of funds raised from sale of merchandise, donations from fans and contributions from Ian herself are disbursed to various educational institutions to fund scholarships. By 2020, it had endowed more than $ 1,250,000 in scholarship funds at four schools. Ian married Portuguese filmmaker Tino Sargo in 1978 and

252-465: A music teacher, and Pearl, a college fundraiser, were Jewish-born liberal atheists who ran several summer camps in upstate New York . As a child, Ian admired the work of folk musicians such as Joan Baez and Odetta . Starting with piano lessons at the age of two (at her own insistence), Ian, by the time she entered her teens, was playing the organ, harmonica, French horn, and guitar. At the age of 12, she wrote her first song, "Hair of Spun Gold", which

294-409: A national hit upon its third release after Leonard Bernstein featured it in a late-April 1967 CBS TV special titled Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution . The song's theme of interracial relationships was considered taboo by some radio stations, who withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly. In her 2008 autobiography Society's Child , Ian recalls receiving hate mail and death threats as

336-521: A response to the song and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down. In July 1967, "Society's Child" reached no. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 . The single sold 600,000 copies and the album sold 350,000 copies. At the age of 16, Ian met comedian Bill Cosby backstage at a Smothers Brothers show where she was promoting "Society's Child". Since she was underage, she

378-648: A variety of MGM labels: Janis Ian , Dave Van Ronk , Richie Havens , the Cowsills , Lovin' Spoonful and more. Meanwhile, the program's conversations and advertisements pitched everything from Nico and the Velvet Underground (produced by Wilson) and the Bosstown Sound bands ( Beacon Street Union , Ultimate Spinach and Orpheus ), to MGM movie-soundtrack LPs like Gone with the Wind . While

420-466: Is Ian's most covered composition with 50 versions by artists including Celine Dion , Miki Howard and Julia Fordham . Ian's song "In The Winter" has also been covered many times by singers including Dusty Springfield and Sheena Easton . Richard Barone recorded Ian's song "Sweet Misery" on his album Sorrows & Promises: Greenwich Village in the 1960s in 2016. She continues to tour worldwide, though she stated that her 2022 North-American tour, which

462-692: Is also a columnist and science fiction author . Born in Farmingdale, New Jersey , Ian was raised on a farm and attended East Orange High School in East Orange , New Jersey, and the New York City High School of Music & Art . Both sets of grandparents (from Poland , Ukraine , and Tashkent, Uzbekistan ) lived in the New York-New Jersey area, having emigrated via England around 1918. Her parents, Victor,

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504-512: Is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking) " and the 1975 Top Ten single " At Seventeen ", from her seventh studio album Between the Lines , which in September 1975 reached no. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. Born in Farmingdale, New Jersey , Ian entered

546-658: Is the American contemporary, classic and jazz division of Universal Music Group in the US. Labels in the group include Verve and Impulse! Records labels and Universal Music Classics . Verve labels are Verve Records and Verve Forecast . Universal Music Classical consists of Decca Gold label plus represents the European imprints Decca Records , Decca Classics , Deutsche Grammophon , Philips Classics and Mercury KX plus ECM Records distributed label. On May 20, 2016,

588-609: The Impulse! Records imprint manages the portion of Universal's catalog that was acquired from ABC Records , which itself includes the jazz catalog of the Famous Music Group, which was once owned by Paramount Pictures / Gulf+Western , but which was sold to ABC in 1974. Meanwhile, GRP manages the rest of MCA/Universal's jazz catalog, including some releases once issued on the Decca and Chess labels. The Verve Label Group

630-553: The 1976 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female , beating out Linda Ronstadt , Olivia Newton-John , Judy Collins and Helen Reddy . Ian appeared as the second musical guest on the series premiere of Saturday Night Live on October 11, 1975, performing "At Seventeen" and "In the Winter". The album Between the Lines was also a smash and reached number one on Billboard ′s album chart. The album would be certified platinum for sales of over one million copies sold in

672-842: The 2009 Nebula Award Conference in Los Angeles, where she sang "Welcome Home," a version of her song "At Seventeen" with the lyrics changed to talk about the acceptance she found by reading science fiction. Ian was a regular columnist for the LGBT news magazine The Advocate and contributed to Performing Songwriter magazine from 1993 to 2006. On July 24, 2008, Ian released her positively-received autobiography Society's Child (published by Penguin Tarcher ). An accompanying double CD, The Autobiography Collection , has been released with many of Ian's best loved songs. Ian took acting lessons and script interpretation classes from Stella Adler in

714-409: The American folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-1960s. Most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century. She has won two Grammy Awards , the first in 1975 for "At Seventeen" and the second in 2013 for Best Spoken Word Album , for her autobiography, Society's Child , with a total of ten nominations in eight different categories. Ian

756-813: The Japanese market, including 1998's "The Last Great Place". In the US, Ian did not chart in the Top 40 on the pop charts after "At Seventeen", though she had several songs reach the Adult Contemporary singles chart through 1980 (all failing to make the Top 20). Ian started Rude Girl Records, Inc., and its publishing arm, Rude Girl Publishing, on January 2, 1992. Since then, RGR has steadily grown, with its ownership of more than twenty-five Janis Ian albums and DVDs overseas, as well as hundreds of unreleased recordings and videos, including unreleased songs, concerts, demos, and rehearsal tapes. The Rude Girl label oversees

798-673: The Netherlands, and going gold or platinum in those countries and others. Another country where Ian has achieved a high level of popularity is Japan: Ian had two Top 10 singles on the Japanese Oricon charts, "Love Is Blind" in 1976 and "You Are Love" in 1980. Ian's 1976 album Aftertones also topped Oricon's album chart in October 1976. "You Are Love (Toujours Gai Mon Cher)" is the theme song of Kinji Fukasaku 's 1980 movie Virus . Ian cut several other singles specifically for

840-757: The Righteous Brothers , the Velvet Underground , Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention , Rare Earth , and the Blues Project , as well as a series of "Sound Impressions of an American on Tour" records which was produced in cooperation with Esquire Magazine. The late 1960s relationship between Verve and other MGM labels is illustrated in the promotional "Music Factory" radio series for college stations hosted by A&R man Tom Wilson (record producer) , with studio guests from

882-610: The US. Another measure of her success is anecdotal: on Valentine's Day 1977, Ian received 461 valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to "At Seventeen" that she never received one as a teenager. "Fly Too High" (1979), produced by disco producer Giorgio Moroder , was Ian's contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster film Foxes and was also featured on Ian's 1979 album Night Rains . It also became another international hit, reaching number one in many countries, including South Africa, Belgium, Australia, Israel and

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924-460: The Velvet Underground's first records did not initially sell well, the band became a major influence in independent rock music. See The Velvet Underground & Nico and their second album, White Light/White Heat . In the 1970s, Verve became part of PolyGram , incorporating the Mercury / EmArcy jazz catalog, which Philips , part owners of PolyGram had earlier acquired. Verve Records became

966-476: The Verve Music Group after PolyGram was merged with Seagram 's Universal Music Group in 1999. The jazz holdings from the merged companies were folded into this sub-group. In 1990, British group Talk Talk signed to Polydor after conflicts with their previous label EMI regarding a lack of commercial allure on their fourth album, Spirit of Eden . Their fifth and final album, Laughing Stock ,

1008-451: The albums that include the remixes, each volume of the series has a companion album titled Verve Unmixed , containing all of the music in its original form. The three original Verve Remixed albums are also available as a boxed set, The Complete Verve Remixed Deluxe Box , along with a bonus album, Verve Remixed Plus . A Christmas music edition of the series was released in late 2008. Verve Records The label has continued to be

1050-477: The aughts (including stints by Danny Bennett and David Foster) before Jamie Krents took over with a revamped label team in 2019. Notable moments during this period include the signing of Jon Batiste , Samara Joy , Kurt Vile and Arooj Aftab . Verve has had particularly strong showings at the Grammy's since 2019 with Jon Batiste leading the music industry in 2022 with 11 nominations and 5 wins, including album of

1092-616: The claims of RIAA and NARAS . Ian writes science fiction. A long-time reader of the genre, she became involved in science fiction fandom in 2001 by attending the Millennium Philcon . Her short stories have been published in anthologies and she co-edited, with Mike Resnick , the anthology Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian , published in 2003 ( ISBN   978-0-7564-0177-1 ). She continues to occasionally attend science fiction conventions . Ian performed at

1134-628: The early 1980s to help her feel more comfortable on stage, and she and Adler remained close friends until Adler's death in 1992. In December 2015, Ian appeared in the series finale of HBO comedy series Getting On playing a patient who refused to stop singing. Ian's mother, Pearl Yadoff Fink, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1975. Because of this, Ian and her brother persuaded their mother to pursue her lifelong dream of going to college. Fink eventually enrolled in Goddard College 's adult education program and ultimately graduated with

1176-476: The first album the label released was Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book . The catalog grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s to include Charlie Parker , Bill Evans , Stan Getz , Billie Holiday , Oscar Peterson , Ben Webster , and Lester Young . By 1960 Milton Rudin, Granz' attorney, represented Frank Sinatra and knew that Sinatra wanted his own label. Sinatra and Granz made

1218-558: The group with Bennett exiting his post. The Decca Broadway label for original cast recording was relaunched in May 2019. The Verve Label Group has expanded its output beyond jazz to include crossover classical music, progressive pop, and show tunes (by absorbing Decca Records ' Broadway label and taking over ownership of the label's library including EMI 's, MGM Records ', and MCA Records ' musical theater catalogs). Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink ; April 7, 1951)

1260-565: The home to an eclectic mix of modern artists, including Kurt Vile , Everything But the Girl , Samara Joy and Arooj Aftab . The restructured Verve Records is now part of the Verve Label Group ( VLG ), a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. This company is also home to historic imprints including Verve Forecast , Impulse! and Decca Records . Norman Granz created Verve to produce new recordings by Ella Fitzgerald , whom he managed;

1302-510: The newly-formed Verve Label Group appointed industry veteran Danny Bennett as its president and CEO. Besides Verve, the label group was formed with Decca Records, Decca Classics, Deutsche Grammophon, Mercury Classics, and distributed label ECM. The group relocated to New York City. The label group in March 2019 was further restructured to its global classical and jazz unit. Dickon Stainer, President and CEO of Universal Classics and Jazz, would lead

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1344-403: The production of Ian's newer work, and in the case of older work, its re-mastering and the re-creation of the original artwork. From 1982–92, Ian continued to write songs, often in collaboration with then songwriting partner Kye Fleming , some of which have been covered by Amy Grant , Bette Midler , Marti Jones and other artists. She released Breaking Silence in 1993 and also came out as

1386-621: The release of Jazz Samba by Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd , Getz/Gilberto , and Rain Forest by Walter Wanderley . Verve's arrangers included Claus Ogerman and Oliver Nelson . According to Ogerman in Jazzletter , he arranged 60–70 albums for Verve from 1963 to 1967. In 1964, Taylor supervised the creation of a folk music subsidiary named Verve Folkways which was later renamed Verve Forecast . Taylor left Verve in 1967 to form CTI Records . Aside from jazz, Verve's catalogue included

1428-427: The time of the encounter with Cosby she had only been kissed once, by a boy she had a crush on, in broad daylight at summer camp. Ian relates on her website that, although "Society's Child" was originally intended for Atlantic Records and the label paid for her recording session, Atlantic subsequently returned the master to her and quietly refused to release it. Ian relates that years later, Atlantic's president at

1470-537: The time, Jerry Wexler , publicly apologized to her for this. The single and Ian's 1967 debut album (which reached no. 29 on the charts) were finally released on Verve Forecast . In 2001, "Society's Child" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame , which honors recordings considered timeless and important to music history . Her first four albums were released on a double CD entitled Society's Child: The Verve Recordings in 1995. "Society's Child" stigmatized Ian as

1512-507: The year, as well as a win for Aftab in Best Global Performance, and Samara Joy winning Best New Artist in 2023, a first in the label's 67-year history. The Verve imprint itself manages much of the jazz catalog that once belonged to PolyGram (not including recordings by Herb Alpert for his A&M Records label which Alpert acquired in a legal settlement with Universal Music and are licensed to Shout! Factory ), while

1554-598: Was a little backlash here and there. I was scheduled to appear on a panel somewhere and somebody from a record company said if I was there they would boycott it. But that's been pretty much it. In general, the entire reaction has been favorable. I hear from a lot of people in my industry who don't want to be quoted, but say 'yeah, we're aware of this and we'd like to see a change too.'" Along with science fiction authors Eric Flint and Cory Doctorow , she has argued that their experience provides conclusive evidence that free downloads dramatically increased hard-copy sales, contrary to

1596-560: Was accompanied by a chaperone while touring. After her set, Ian had been sleeping with her head on the lap of her chaperone (an older female family friend). According to Ian in a 2015 interview, she was told by her then manager that Cosby had interpreted their interaction as " lesbian " and as a result "had made it his business" to warn other television shows that Ian wasn't "suitable family entertainment" and "shouldn't be on television" because of her sexuality, thus attempting to blacklist her. Although Ian would later come out, she states that at

1638-648: Was cancelled when a laryngitis diagnosis became severe, would be her "last full tour". In August 2018 Ian performed at the UK's Cambridge Folk Festival . Ian is an outspoken critic of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which she sees as acting against the interests of musicians and consumers. Consequently, she has released several of her songs for free download from her website. "I've been surprised at how few people are willing to get annoyed with me over it," she laughs. "There

1680-479: Was corporately aligned with Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) in 2006 and was no longer a stand-alone label within UMG during that time. Under this regime, led by UMe's President, Bruce Resnikoff, Verve won the Grammy for album of the year, the first time a jazz record had garnered this award since another Verve album, Stan Getz's Getz/Gilberto, won in 1965. Verve Records went through several other leadership changes in

1722-657: Was released through Verve on September 16, 1991 and, while being slightly divisive at the time, has since been reconsidered by critics and fans as their masterpiece and a precursor to the post-rock movement. In the 1990s, as part of PolyGram Classics and Jazz, Verve signed Herbie Hancock , Wayne Shorter , Joe Henderson , Roy Hargrove , John Scofield , Shirley Horn , Betty Carter , Abbey Lincoln , Chris Botti , Jeff Lorber , Gino Vannelli , Art Porter , Will Downing , and Incognito . When Universal and Polygram merged in 1998, Verve's holdings were merged with Universal's GRP Recording Company to become Verve Music Group. Verve

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1764-551: Was subsequently published in the folk publication Broadside and was later recorded for her eponymous debut album. In 1964, she legally changed her name to Janis Ian, taking her brother Eric's middle name as her new surname. At the age of 14, Ian wrote and recorded her first hit single, " Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking) ", about an interracial romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers. Produced by George "Shadow" Morton and released three times from 1965 to 1967, "Society's Child" became

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