Christine Lavin
Encyclopedia
Christine Lavin is a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

-based singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and promoter of contemporary folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

. She has recorded numerous solo albums, and has also recorded with other female folk artists under the name Four Bitchin' Babes
Four Bitchin' Babes
The Four Bitchin' Babes is a group of female singer-songwriters with rotating membership, performing mainly humorous, satirical or light-hearted songs in the folk genre. The group was described as "slyly outre" writing songs about the "humorous satire of everyday life" with an "inherent charm"...

. She has also put together several compilation albums of contemporary folk artists, including her latest JUST ONE ANGEL, 22 singer/songwriters singing Christmas/Hanukah/Solstice/New Year's songs including actor Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels
Jeffrey Warren "Jeff" Daniels is an American actor, musician and playwright. He founded a non-profit theatre company, the Purple Rose Theatre Company, in his home state of Michigan...

, Grammy-winners Janis Ian
Janis Ian
Janis Ian is an American songwriter, singer, musician, columnist, and science fiction author. Ian first entered the folk music scene while still a teenager in the mid-sixties; most active musically in that decade and the 1970s, she has continued recording into the 21st century...

 and Julie Gold
Julie Gold
Julie Gold is a New York singer-songwriter. She is best known for Bette Midler's version of her song "From a Distance" which won the Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991....

, and the Guitar Man Of Central Park David Ippolito
David Ippolito
David Ippolito is an American singer/songwriter/playwright who lives in New York City. He has self-released eight albums and is best known for his weekly summer performances in Central Park, which are attended by thousands of people...

.

She is known for her sense of humor, which is expressed in both her music and her onstage performances. Many of her songs alternate between emotional reflections on romance and outright comedy. Two of her more famous songs include "Sensitive New Age Guys" and "Bald Headed Men."

One of Lavin's songs, "Regretting What I Said to You When You Called Me 11:00 On a Friday Morning to Tell Me that at 1:00 Friday Afternoon You're Gonna Leave Your Office, Go Downstairs, Hail a Cab to Go Out to the Airport to Catch a Plane to Go Skiing in the Alps for Two Weeks, Not that I Wanted to Go With You, I Wasn't Able to Leave Town, I'm Not a Very Good Skier, I Couldn't Expect You to Pay My Way, But After Going Out With You for Three Years I DON'T Like Surprises!! Subtitled: A Musical Apology" is notable for having the longest known song title. It is the eighth song on her 1984 album Future Fossils, and is 3:04 (3 minutes and 4 seconds) long.

In her youth, Lavin was a cheerleader
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...

 in Peekskill, New York
Peekskill, New York
Peekskill is a city in Westchester County, New York. It is situated on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across from Jones Point.This community was known to be an early American industrial center, primarily for its iron plow and stove products...

, and she still has impressive baton-twirling skills; she often ends a concert by twirling a glow-in-the-dark baton with the house lights turned off as she leaves the stage.

Lavin worked at Caffe Lena
Caffè Lena
Located in Saratoga Springs, New York, Caffè Lena is the oldest continually running coffee house in the United States. Founded in 1960 by Bill and Lena Spencer, it features acoustic concerts and cultural events showcasing folk music, traditional music, and singer-songwriters of a wide range...

 in Saratoga, New York, until Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk
Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer, born in Brooklyn, New York, who settled in Greenwich Village, New York, and was eventually nicknamed the "Mayor of MacDougal Street" ....

 convinced her to move to New York City and make a career as a singer-songwriter. She followed his advice and accepted his offer of guitar lessons. She has lived in the City ever since.

Lavin was the original host of "Sunday Breakfast" on WFUV
WFUV
WFUV, 90.7 FM in New York City, is Fordham University's 50,000-watt, non-commercial radio station, with studios on campus and its antenna atop nearby Montefiore Medical Center. First broadcast in 1947, WFUV has an airstaff which includes such New York radio veterans as Pete Fornatale , Dennis...

 in New York City.

Lavin was a founding member of the Four Bitchin' Babes
Four Bitchin' Babes
The Four Bitchin' Babes is a group of female singer-songwriters with rotating membership, performing mainly humorous, satirical or light-hearted songs in the folk genre. The group was described as "slyly outre" writing songs about the "humorous satire of everyday life" with an "inherent charm"...

 when they were formed in 1990.

In recent years Lavin has been known to host knitting circles before her shows, inviting any knitters, hookers (people who crochet), or other crafters to join her.

Awards

  • The ASCAP 43rd Annual Deems Taylor Award for her book Cold Pizza For Breakfast: A Mem-Wha??, 2011
  • The ASCAP Foundation Jamie deRoy and Friends Award, 2010
  • Top 100 of the Most Influential Artists in the Last 15 Years, Singer Songwriter Magazine
  • Top 30 I-Pod Singer/Songwriters of Choice, WUMB, Boston 2006
  • ASCAP Composer Award 1992, 1993, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • Singer/Songwriter of the Year, Back Stage
    Back Stage
    Back Stage is an entertainment-industry brand aimed at people working in film and the performing arts, with a special focus on casting, job opportunities, and career advice.Back Stage publishes a weekly tabloid-sized trade magazine in the U.S...

     Magazine
    , NYC 2001
  • Honorable Mention, NAIRD
    American Association of Independent Music
    The American Association of Independent Music, or A2IM, is a not-for-profit trade organization serving the Independent music community as a unified voice representing a sector that comprises over 30% of the music industry's market share in the United States...

    Singer / Songwriter Album of the Year, 1996: Please Don’t Make Me Too Happy
  • New York Music Award Folk Artist of the Year 1990, 1992
  • World Folk Music Association Kate Wolf Memorial Award 1990
  • NAIRD Folk Album of the Year, 1988: Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind

Discography

  • Absolutely Live (1981; re-issued by Winthrop, 2000)
  • Future Fossils (Philo, 1984)
  • Beau Woes and Other Problems of Modern Life (Philo, 1986)
  • Another Woman's Man (Philo, 1987)
  • Good Thing He Can't Read My Mind (Philo, 1988)
  • Attainable Love (Philo, 1990)
  • Compass (Philo, 1991)
  • Live at the Cactus Cafe: What Was I Thinking? (Philo, 1993)
  • Please Don't Make Me Too Happy (Shanachie, 1995)
  • Shining My Flashlight on the Moon (Shanachie, 1997)
  • One Wild Night in Concert (1998)
  • Getting in Touch With My Inner Bitch (Christine Lavin, 1999)
  • The Bellevue Years (Philo, 2000)
  • The Subway Series (Christine Lavin, 2001)
  • Final Exam (2001)
  • I Was in Love With a Difficult Man (Redwing, 2002)
  • The Runaway Christmas Tree (2003)
  • Sometimes Mother Really Does Know Best [Live] (Appleseed, 2004)
  • Folkzinger (Appleseed, 2005)
  • Happydance of the Xenophobe (2007)
  • I Don't Make This Stuff Up, I Just Make It Rhyme (2008)
  • Cold Pizza for Breakfast (Yellow Tail Records, 2009)

External links

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