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Holly Near

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Holly Near
Holly Near, 2006
Holly Near, 2006
Background information
Born (1949-06-06) June 6, 1949 (age 75)
Ukiah, California, U.S.
GenresSocial change music, folk, cabaret
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter, actor, producer, motivational instructor
InstrumentVocals
Years active1963 – present
LabelsCalico Tracks Music, Redwood Records, Appleseed Recordings
Websitehollynear.com

Holly Near (born June 6, 1949 in Ukiah, California) is an American singer-songwriter, actor, teacher, and activist.[1][2]

Early years

After starting high school in 1963, Holly Near began singing with the Freedom Singers, a folk group modeled on The Weavers. In 1968, she enrolled in the Theatre Arts program at UCLA; that year, she attended her first Vietnam War peace vigil and joined Another Mother for Peace.

Career

Holly Near Performs at March For Women's Lives 2004 – Photograph by Patty Mooney

Holly Near's professional career began in 1969 with a part on the television show The Mod Squad, which was followed by appearances in other shows, such as Room 222, All in the Family, and The Partridge Family. She also appeared in films such as Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, and Minnie and Moskowitz, and had a prominent role in the 1991 film Dogfight.

She was briefly a member of the musical comedy troupe, "First National Nothing", and appeared on the troupe's only album, If You Sit Real Still and Hold My Hand, You Will Hear Absolutely Nothing (Columbia Records – LP C 30006).

In 1970, Near was a cast member of the Broadway musical Hair. Following the Kent State shootings in May of that year, the entire cast staged a silent vigil in protest. The song, "It Could Have Been Me" (which was released on A Live Album, 1974), was her heartfelt response to the shootings. In 1971, she joined the FTA (Free The Army) Tour, an anti-Vietnam War road show of music, comedy, and plays, organized by antiwar activist Fred Gardner and actors Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland. In 1972, Near founded an independent record label called Redwood Records (now defunct) to produce and promote music by "politically conscious artists from around the world".[3]

During her long career in folk and protest music, Holly Near has worked with a wide array of musicians, including Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Mercedes Sosa, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Meg (Shambhavi) Christian, Cris Williamson, Linda Tillery, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Harry Belafonte, and many others, as well as the Chilean exile group Inti-Illimani. Holly Near has been recognized many times for her work for social change, including honors from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, NARAS, Ms. Magazine (Woman of the Year), and the Legends of Women's Music Award.

Near wrote a biography in the early nineties called Fire in the Rain, Singer in the Storm.[4] Later, with her sister Timothy, Near co-wrote a one-woman show based on the stories in the book. The show was presented at The San Jose Rep and in Los Angeles at The Mark Taper Forum, as well as productions in San Francisco and off Broadway in NYC. In April 2004, Holly performed at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC where she sang "We Are Gentle Angry People" and "Fired Up" a capella. The following year, Near was named among the "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize".[5] Near continues an active tour schedule and as of 2012 had a discography of 29 albums.[6] She is still active as a performer and composer, and she has begun issuing CDs available through her website that include tracks from her out-of-print albums. Her song "Singing For Our Lives" appears in Singing the Living Tradition, the official hymnal of the Unitarian Universalist Association, under the title "We Are A Gentle, Angry People" (Hymn #170).[7] The hymn was also performed by Quaker Friends in an episode of the TV series Six Feet Under. In 2015, the same song, credited as "Singing For Our Lives" appeared in the Australian independent film The Lives We Lead, alongside its theme song "I Am Willing", another rousing Near-penned protest song.

Personal life

As a result of her travels in the Pacific with the FTA show, Near became a feminist, linking international feminism and anti-war activism. In 1976, Near came out as a lesbian and began a three-year relationship with musician Meg Christian. Near was probably the first out lesbian to be interviewed in People Magazine. She added LGBT issues to her international peace work as she continued to present social change music around the world and at home. Although Holly was one of the most visible artists in the lesbian community, she was also becoming aware that "monogamous" defined her sexuality more than any other title.

Near has been in a relationship with a man since 1994. However, she does not identify as bisexual. When asked why in a 2010 interview by JD Doyle for Queer Music Heritage, she replied,

"I don't know why. Just isn't a handle I relate to. I include human and civil rights in all that I do. I am monogamous. I relate to that term. I am a feminist. If I am with a woman I am a feminist. If I am alone I am a feminist. If I am with a man I am a feminist. And until the one I am with and I part ways, then I am just what I am in that relationship and I don't much think about what I will do next. I focus more on what I bring to that relationship. It is a full-time job being honest one moment at a time, remembering to love, to honor, to respect. It is a practice, a discipline, worthy of every moment. I think my feminism and my ability to love has been highly informed by having had lesbian relationships. The quality of my life has, without question, been elevated."

"For a brief moment in time I struggled with sexual identity, somewhere in the mid-'80s. Then I realized it was the wrong question for me. That is not to say it is the wrong question for others. It just wasn't important to me. So I haven't really thought much about it since. I am going to sing lesbian love songs and support gay rights no matter what. The rest is public relations."[8]

Discography

  • Hang in There, Redwood Records (1973) (Theme: support of the people of Vietnam)
  • A Live Album, Redwood Records (1975)
  • You Can Know All I AM, Redwood Records (1976)
  • Imagine My Surprise, Redwood Records (1978) (with Meg Christian)
  • Fire in the Rain, Redwood Records (1981) produced by June Millington
  • Speed of Light, Redwood Records (1982)
  • Journeys, Redwood Records (1983)
  • Lifeline, Redwood Records (1983) (with Ronnie Gilbert)
  • Watch Out!, Redwood Records (1984) (with John McCutcheon and Trapezoid)
  • Sing to Me the Dream, Redwood Records (1984) (with Inti Illimani)
  • HARP, Redwood Records (1985) (with Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert and Arlo Guthrie)
  • Singing With You, Redwood Records (1987) (with Ronnie Gilbert)
  • Don't Hold Back, Redwood Records (1987)
  • Sky Dances, Redwood Records (1989)
  • Singer in the Storm, Chameleon Music Group (1990) (with Ronnie Gilbert)
  • Musical Highlights, Redwood Records/Calico tracks Music (1993) (from the play Fire in the Rain written by Holly Near & Timothy Near)
  • This Train Still Runs, Abbe Alice Music (1996) (with Ronnie Gilbert)
  • With a Song in My Heart, Calico Tracks Music (1997) (songs from the 30s & 40s)
  • Edge, Calico Tracks Music (2000)
  • Cris & Holly, HC Recordings (2003) (with Cris Williamson, pianist John Bucchino)
  • Show Up, Calico Tracks Music (2006)
  • Sing to Me the Dream, Calico Tracks Music (2008) (an historic live recording of the 1984 Peace in the Americas Tour with Inti Illimani)
  • We Came to Sing, Calico Tracks Music (2009) (with emma's revolution)
  • Peace Becomes You, Calico Tracks Music (2012)

Re-releases

  • Simply Love: The Women's Music Collection, Calico Tracks Music (2000) (songs focused on feminism & lesbian issues)
  • HARP: A Time to Sing, Appleseed Recordings (2001) (with Pete Seeger, Ronnie Gilbert and Arlo Guthrie, reissued as a 2-CD set from the 1985 HARP recording)
  • Early Warnings, Appleseed Recordings (2001) (selections from Sky Dances and Watch Out! combined)
  • Lifeline Extended, Appleseed Recordings (2002) (with Ronnie Gilbert)
  • And Still We Sing: The Outspoken Collection, Calico Tracks Music (2002) (with Rhiannon, Inti Illimani, Ronnie Gilbert, HARP, Mercedes Sosa, Brian Lane Green—an historic collection of songs from previous recordings focused on social change and activism)
  • Crushed: The Love Song Collection, Calico Tracks Music (2002) (a collection of love songs from earlier recordings)

Compilations

  • Michigan Live ’85: 10th Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, August Night Records (1985) “Fight Back” (solo), “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” (with Ronnie Gilbert and Linda Tillery) and “Waterfall” (with Rhiannon)
  • Ben & Jerry’s Newport Folk Festival, Alcazar Records (1988) “Step it Out Nancy”
  • Ben & Jerry’s Newport Folk Festival, Vol. 2, Alcazar Records (1988) “Once or Twice”
  • Live from El Salvador, Redwood Records (1991) “Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida” (with Barbara Higbie)
  • Rainbow Sign, Rounder Records (1992) “Oh, Mary Don’t You Weep” (with Ronnie Gilbert, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger)
  • Cabaret Noël: A Broadway Cares Christmas, Lockett Palmer Records (1993) “O Holy Night” (with Brian Lane Green)
  • The Story of the Chicken Made of Rags, Soul Vibrations, Redwood Records (1993) “Oh Me! Oh My!”
  • George & Ira Gershwin: A Musical Celebration, MCA Records (1994) “But Not for Me”
  • Lifelines, (Peter Paul & Mary) Warner Brothers (1995) “Home is Where the Heart Is” (duet with Mary Travers)
  • Winter Moon: A Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Singers and Songwriters... and Friends, Streeter Music (1995) “Change of Heart”
  • Pink Album, The Seattle Men’s Chorus (1996) “Ella’s Song”, “Our Love is Soaring Across the Land” and “The Great Peace March”
  • The Gay 90s Musical: Looking Back…Moving On… Varese Sarabande Records (1997) “Simply Love”
  • Folk Live from Mountain Stage, Blue Plate Records (1997) “Sun Won’t Stop”
  • Fruit Cocktail, Streeter Music (1997) “The Right to Love” (with Adrienne Torf)
  • Where Have All the Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Appleseed Records (1998) “Quiet Early Morning”
  • A Love Worth Fighting For: A Celebration of Gay and Lesbian Singers and Songwriters, Streeter Music (2000) “Sit With Me”
  • Change of Heart, The Women’s Chorus of Dallas (2001) “Change of Heart,” “Sun Won’t Stop” and “The Great Peace March”
  • Seeds: The Songs of Pete Seeger, Vol. 3, Appleseed Recordings (2003) “Precious Friend” (with Ronnie Gilbert, Robin Flower and Libby McLaren)
  • Glass Half Full, Grazie Recordings (2006) “Gracias a La Vida” (with John Buccino)
  • Needle in the Groove: Women Singing for Social Change (2006) “Fired Up”
  • Sowing the Seeds – The 10th Anniversary, Appleseed Recordings (2007) “Somos El Barco” (with Ronnie Gilbert, Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger)

Filmography

Television movies

  • Mr. and Mrs. Cop (1974), Mrs. Salmon

TV appearances

See also

References

  1. ^ New York Times
  2. ^ Ruhlmann, William (2011). "Holly Near/Biography". Allmusic biography. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "Biography". Her official site.
  4. ^ Holly Near (1990). Fire in the Rain, Singer in the Storm: An Autobiography. New York: W. Morrow. ISBN 978-0-688-08733-3.
  5. ^ "Holly Near". 1000peacewomen.org. Retrieved July 19, 2008.
  6. ^ "Discography". Her official site.
  7. ^ "Music in the UU Tradition—Unitarian Universalist Church of Boulder, Colorado". uucboulder.org. Retrieved July 19, 2008.
  8. ^ "Art & Activism: Interviews".
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