Profile of Suzanne Vega on Famous Like Me

Suzanne Vega (born July 11, 1959) is an American songwriter and singer. She was born in Santa Monica, California, but, at the age of one moved with her mother, a computer systems analyst, and her stepfather, a Puerto Rican writer, to New York City, where she grew up in a socially problematic area (Spanish Harlem and the Upper West Side). At the age of nine she began to write poems; she wrote her first song at 14. Later she attended the New York High School of Performing Arts (the school seen in the film musical Fame), where she studied modern dance.

Music, however, was her first love. While majoring in English literature at Columbia University's Barnard College, she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village. In 1984 she received a major label record contract.

Vega's eponymous debut album was released in 1985 and was well received by critics. The songs are straightforward and oppose the "bigger is better" ethos of the mid-1980s. They are not typical protest songs, but are introspective, in the manner of the singer-songwriters of the 1970s, such as Leonard Cohen.

Her sophomore effort, Solitude Standing (1987), contained two successful singles: "Tom's Diner" (a hit later remixed by two British dance producers under the name DNA, not to be confused with the no wave band DNA) and "Luka". "Luka" is written from the point of view of an abused child—uncommon for a pop hit. The music is more strongly pop-oriented compared with her first album.

Vega's third album, Days of Open Hand (1990) signified a change in style: the music became more experimental and the lyrics expressed greater emotion. The album lacked hit single material and is best considered as a whole.

In 1992 she released the album 99.9F° ("ninety-nine point nine Fahrenheit degrees"). It consists of an eclectic mixture of folk music, dance beats and industrial music. This gives a sunny quality to the work in contrast to the previous album. The songs are short and the lyric style compressed.

The fifth album, Nine Objects of Desire, was released in 1996. The music varies between a frugal, simple style and the industrial production of 99.9F°. This album contains "Caramel", featured in the movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs and, later, the trailer for the movie Closer. "Dead Man Walking" was featured on the soundtrack of the movie of the same name.

September 2001 saw the release of a new album, Songs In Red and Gray. The lyrics deal with Vega's divorce from record producer Mitchell Froom.

At the memorial concert for the death of her brother Timothy Vega in December, 2002 she began as the subject of a cinema verite documentary, Some Journey, by documentary director Christopher Seufert. This is rumoured to be released in 2006.

In 2003, the 21-song greatest hits compilation Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega was released. (The UK version of Retrospective included an eight-song bonus CD as well as a DVD containing twelve songs.)

She is planning to go into the recording studios in the autumn 2005, with the aim of releasing a new studio album in early 2006.

Vega has a daughter, Ruby Froom.

Discography

• Suzanne Vega, 1985
• Solitude Standing, 1987
• Days of Open Hand, 1990
• 99.9F°, 1992
• Nine Objects of Desire, 1996
• Songs in Red and Gray, 2001
• Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega, 2003 (Featuring several non-album tracks)

Singles

Trivia

In computing circles, Suzanne Vega is known for her song Tom's Diner, which was used as the reference track in an early trial of the MP3 compression system.

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