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Heather Eatman

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Daniel kenneth (talk | contribs) at 15:46, 31 July 2016 (preparing). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

  • Comment: Someone please check to confirm whether these meet criteria to establish notability. Other sources seem okay, but I checked names of publications that I recognized and these do seem to address the subject of the article.
    #Bell, Carrie (August 21, 1999). "Eatman Offers 'Candy & Dirt' on Her Own Impossible Records". Billboard.
    #Desson, Howe (December 29, 1995). "Best of '95; Music". Washington Post.
    #Hilburn, Robert (March 7, 1996). "Talented Eatman Unveiled as Promising Prine Protege". Los Angeles Times.
    #Huey, Steve (May 22, 2016). "Heather Eatman: Artist Biography". AllMusic.
    #Farber, Jim (September 20, 1995). "A Voice For Weary Women, The News' Heather Eatman Sings Tales of Battered Hearts". New York Daily News.
    #Per WP:Interviews I see no problem with the magazine interview at Wildermuth, Kurt (June 1995). "Heather Eatman: Real Life". Perfect Sound Forever.
  • Comment: I agree this is acceptable. I don't understand why it hasn't been accepted. There is no problem including lower-quality sources at this stage so long as you have sufficient reliable sources to establish notability, and I believe you do. Please consider resubmitting this. ~Kvng (talk) 21:49, 28 July 2016 (UTC)
  • Comment: At best, could be acceptable, but please still add all additional amounts of in-depth third-party news sources overall; No press releases, interviews, social media links or trivial passing mentions. SwisterTwister talk 23:09, 27 July 2016 (UTC)
  • Comment: Also, the article must be built from information found in third-party sources (newspapers, magazines) that are independent of the subject of the article. Those sources must be referenced in-line with the text they support. No un-referenced material is allowed. Quotes by the subject of the article are not third-party and should be limited if not entirely eliminated. LaMona (talk) 13:30, 18 June 2016 (UTC)
Heather Eatman
At the Daily News, October 2012
Born (1968-11-22) November 22, 1968 (age 55)
Jacksonville, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, illustrator, designer, web developer
Websiteheathereatman.net

Heather Eatman (born Jacksonville, Texas, November 22, 1968) is a songwriter, singer, graphic artist and portraitist, whose songs are "Gothic character studies closer in spirit to the fiction of Flannery O'Connor than conventional folk music, complete with lyrics possessing a real flair for poetic physical imagery."[1] She has recorded three full-length albums, Mascara Falls (1995), Candy and Dirt (1998), and Real (2001)[2], in addition to 2015 singles "Angels in the Street," "Soul Highway," and "Gold Ring." Baby Teeth, an EP (extended play) consisting of new recordings of some of her earliest songs, also appeared in 2015.[3] She was Managing Editor/Design at the New York Daily News, where she was employed from 1991-2012.[4][5] Eatman has been called "A gifted storyteller, whose casual narratives capture the seemingly settled fates of restless small-town dreamers and big-time losers, circus freaks and social geeks, with a bracing mix of compassion and detail."[6] In May 2016 she produced "Because the Night," a multi-artist tribute to the music and poetry of one of her formative influences, Patti Smith, at Brooklyn's Union Hall.[7]

Background

Heather was born in the East Texas town of Jacksonville.[8] She grew up in a theatrical household — her father directed plays at colleges in Texas, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, and she developed a strong affinity for the tragic, weary, memorable female characters of Tennessee Williams.[1] Through her father she was exposed to the plays of both Williams and the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Their work helps account for Eatman's feel for imperiled women of a certain age.[9] In fact, Eatman credits the theater with helping her overcome her shyness by demonstrating to her that she could create her own world through her songs....once onstage, she could manipulate the way she came across.[1] In 1985, at the age of seventeen, Eatman relocated to New York City to attend Parsons School of Design, graduating with a BFA in illustration in 1990. While supporting herself at a series of odd jobs, she began singing at clubs in Manhattan's East Village and Lower East Side.[10] At one of these gigs she met Tom Lewis, an A & R rep for Oh Boy Records, an independent label owned by singer-songwriter John Prine, who signed her to the label in 1993.[8] Her first album, Mascara Falls, was released two years later in 1995.[11] Heather subsequently toured the United States, opening for Prine, Billy Bragg, John Hiatt, Crash Test Dummies, Jill Sobule, Ferron, Donovan, Richie Havens and Roseanne Cash, among others, performing at venues such as the Fillmore West in San Francisco, California and the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee,[4] and appearing on The Conan O'Brien Show on September 20.[12] Reviewing a performance in 1996, Los Angeles Times pop music writer Robert Hilburn said, "Her set was filled with an authority and individuality of vision...Unlike so many artists who walk in the thematic footsteps of obvious models [like Lou Reed, Rickie Lee Jones, and Nick Lowe], Eatman unveils new attitudes and ironies in songs that spring from such varied symbols as the King of Rock 'n' Roll and the Statue of Liberty. Most important, there is a sizable portion of Eatman originality in her music...it will be interesting to see how she expands on that freshness."[13]

Influences and Artistic Development

9" X 12" acrylic and ink on acid-free paper
True Prosperity (2016)

In a 2002 interview with Perfect Sound Forever[8], Eatman described the music she grew up listening to as "a very strange amalgam," much of which came through her parents: Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, the Mamas & the Papas, Simon & Garfunkel, classical and religious music. Her father lovedBroadway theater, so she also heard Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, Jacques Brel, Cole Porter, and Rogers and Hammerstein. As a teenager, however, she gravitated toward The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Patti Smith, Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground, and eventually Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones; she has also spoken of her deep connection to the blues, including the work of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Elmore James.[8] Known for her story-songs,[6] in her later writing Eatman "became fascinated with melody, implied stories, and economy of words."[8] Her 2015 work moved further away from linear narrative, and in the case of "Angels in the Street," released that February, toward a kind of incantatory surrealism, underlined by the accompanying video,[14] which Eatman devised and produced herself. She also produced the video for her subsequent release, "Soul Highway."[15]

Journalism and Later Career

Eatman maintained her job at the New York Daily News, a tabloid newspaper, from 1991 to 2012.[4][5] She began as an art assistant in the features department and was promoted steadily, switching over to producing breaking-news graphics in 1997 while also occasionally contributing articles.[16] In an effort to take more control of her music career, Heather made the decision to manufacture and market the 1999 Candy & Dirt on her own Impossible Records label.[17] Her May 2001 album, Real, was released on Eminent Records.[18] Alanna Nash's review concluded, "Eatman is always hypnotically original, her imagery ('muscles, bones, thrown at the sky') haunting and new. The surprise is how powerfully she sucks you into the swirl, her whispered vocals, softer than pillow talk, perfectly poised between passion and pain. Unforgettable."[19] Sales[17]never matched the critical acclaim, however, and Eatman subsequently stopped recording and performing altogether, in 2008, when the Daily News promoted her to an executive position. Promoted again in 2011, to Managing Editor/Design, Eatman left the News in late 2012[5] to renew her artistic pursuits. Today she divides her time between her design company, Heather Eatman Creative, her painting (including an ongoing series of subway portraits such as True Prosperity, shown here), and her music and videos. In 2013 she returned to live performance in New York City, appearing regularly, both solo and with her band, at venues in Manhattan,[20] Brooklyn,[21] and elsewhere.

References

  1. ^ a b c Huey, Steve (May 22, 2016). "Heather Eatman: Artist Biography". AllMusic.
  2. ^ Discogs website. Retrieved on June 6, 2016.
  3. ^ iTunes website. Retrieved on July 8, 2016.
  4. ^ a b c New York Daily New website. Retrieved on July 16, 2016.
  5. ^ a b c O'Shea, Chris (September 20, 2012). "Daily News Loses Two Managing Editors". FishbowlNY.
  6. ^ a b Desson, Howe (December 29, 1995). "Best of '95; Music". Washington Post.
  7. ^ Union Hall website. Retrieved on June 20, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c d e Wildermuth, Kurt (June 1995). "Heather Eatman: Real Life". Perfect Sound Forever.
  9. ^ Farber, Jim (September 20, 1995). "A Voice For Weary Women, The News' Heather Eatman Sings Tales of Battered Hearts". New York Daily News.
  10. ^ Pareles, John (July 23, 1993). "The Buzzwords For New-Music Fans And Budding Moguls". New York Times.
  11. ^ Verna, Paul (November 4, 1995). "Reviews & Previews". Billboard.
  12. ^ The Conan O'Brien Show (September 20, 1995). YouTube. Retrieved on June 6, 2016.
  13. ^ Hilburn, Robert (March 7, 1996). "Talented Eatman Unveiled as Promising Prine Protege". Los Angeles Times.
  14. ^ "Angels in the Street"video. YouTube. Retrieved on June 6, 2016.
  15. ^ "Soul Highway"video. YouTube. Retrieved on June 6, 2016.
  16. ^ Eatman, Heather (August 12, 2011). "Commodores Still An 'Easy' Call to See In Concert". New York Daily News.
  17. ^ a b Bell, Carrie (August 21, 1999). "Eatman Offers 'Candy & Dirt' on Her Own Impossible Records". Billboard.
  18. ^ CD Universewebsite. Retrieved on July 8, 2016.
  19. ^ Nash, Alanna (May 2, 2001). "Editorial Reviews: Real, Eatman, Heather (CD 2001)". Amazon.com. {{cite journal}}: Check |url= value (help)
  20. ^ The Museum of Folk Artwebsite. Retrieved on July 8, 2016.
  21. ^ The Living Roomwebsite. Retrieved on July 8, 2016.


Category:1968 births Category:Living people Category:People from Texas Category:American songwriters Category:Female songwriters Category:American artists

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