Joan Baez

 Happy birthday, Joan Baez (born Jan. 9, 1941). Quaker. Pacifist. Feminist. Peace activist. Environmentalist. Anti-poverty advocate. Civil rights activist. Gay rights activist. War tax resister. Folk singer. Songwriter. Born on Staten Island, New York.

~The Marginal Mennonite Society Heroes Series

 "Action is the antidote to despair."

(Photo by European Pressphoto Agency)

Joan Baez in Berlin for the world premiere on Feb. 17, 2023, of her documentary film, “I Am A Noise,” wearing the Ukrainian coat of arms on her chest. She put an important voice to music, to become a noise all over the world where injustice was at work. Bravo, m’lady. Premiere coming to North America in March.

Celebrating her 82nd birthday, American folk singer, songwriter, musician, and activist Joan Baez (who was born on 9 January, 1941 in Staten Island, New York).

Songs of acclaim by Joan Baez, widely known as the most accomplished interpretive folk singer of the 1960s, include: these well known songs:

1. Phil Ochs' "There but for Fortune" (1965) https://youtu.be/S4BYOJ1tc-k

2. Bob Dylan's "Farewell, Angelina" (1965) https://youtu.be/qcwP2ulxDdY

3. Bob Dylan's "Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word" (1968) https://youtu.be/wzCBjrLw-0Y

4. Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" (1974) https://youtu.be/oNx2rH6hHog

5. "Diamonds & Rust" (1975, a song about her close relationship with Bob Dylan) https://youtu.be/1ST9TZBb9v8

6. the Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (a hit single released in 1971 from her album "Blessed Are...") https://youtu.be/wanJQC5KAfo

7. Earl Robinson's labour anthem "Joe Hill" (first performed by her at Woodstock in 1969) https://youtu.be/_f2J4ceCikI

8. "Sweet Sir Galahad" (a song about her brother-in-law, first released as a single in late 1969, also sung by her at Woodstock, and used as the opening track on her 1970 album "One Day at a Time") https://youtu.be/xDOHGl3DiiM

9. "Here's to You" (co-written in 1971 with Ennio Moricone for the soundtrack of the film "Sacco & Vanzetti", directed by Giuliano Montaldo) https://youtu.be/R4xWbRBLj2I

10. We Shall Overcome", a gospel song which became a key anthem of the American civil rights movement https://youtu.be/nM39QUiAsoM

She was one of the first major artists to record the songs of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s; Baez was already an internationally celebrated artist and did much to popularise his early songwriting efforts. Baez also performed fourteen songs at the 1969 Woodstock Festival and has displayed a lifelong commitment to political and social activism in the fields of nonviolence, civil rights, human rights and the environment.

Baez was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 7 April, 2017.

Source: Women Hold Up Half The Sky a group on Facebook.

This YouTube is a fan's copy, but it has a whole concert on it!

Facebook group "Woodstock Council of Elders 1969" posted this:

Happy Birthday Joan! January 9, 1941

Joan Baez was born on January 9, 1941, on Staten Island, New York, one of three daughters of a Mexican-born physicist father and a mother with Scottish roots. The family moved to southern California, where Joan spent much of her childhood, then relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts so her father could join the faculty at MIT. Joan enrolled in Boston University’s theater school but soon lost interest. She was, instead, drawn into the burgeoning Boston folk music scene. Her early influences included Harry Belafonte, Odetta, and Pete Seeger. On the strength of her club performances around Boston, musician Bob Gibson invited the eighteen-year-old Baez to perform at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959, and her strong, beautiful soprano voice captured the audience.

Impressed by her Newport performance, representatives at Vanguard Records and Capitol Records rushed to sign Joan to a recording contract. She chose Vanguard, believing that the less-corporate label would give her more freedom. Her first album, the self-titled Joan Baez(Vanguard, 1960) reached the Top 20, an improbable feat for an album of traditional folk ballads at that time. Joan’s premier album and her next two albums, Joan Baez, Vol. 2and the live Joan Baez in Concert, all achieved Gold Record status, establishing Joan Baez as a star.