Alice Peacock

From a young age, Chicago-based singer-songwriter Alice Peacock grew up surrounded by the performing arts. Her grandfather, actor Fritz Gnass, appeared in numerous German films, among them Fritz Lang’s M, while her grandmother composed cabaret music; her father performed in 1960s repertory theater and her mother took roles in film and television.

In a large household she absorbed contrasting sounds, including one sister’s 1970s hard-rock albums, another sister’s country-rock records, and her mother’s Burl Ives and Johnny Cash LPs. At Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin, Peacock joined the school jazz band, performed with a cover group, and recorded jingles, experiences that ignited her interest in classic jazz, blues, and standards as well as folk and bluegrass.

After graduation she moved to San Francisco and sang backup with the R&B outfit E.C. Scott and Smoke, but soon felt creatively limited and relocated to Chicago. Repeated attempts to form a band proved unsuccessful, prompting her to perform solo and write personal songs inspired by Joni Mitchell and Carole King.

Her music blends folk, rock, and country without fitting neatly into any single category. In early 1999 she issued her debut album, Real Day, on her own Peacock Music label; strong word-of-mouth and favorable reviews led Aware/Columbia to distribute it more widely in 2000. Her major-label debut arrived in 2002 as a self-titled release featuring guest appearances by John Gorka, John Mayer, and Indigo Girl Emily Saliers. In 2006 she returned to Peacock Music for the ambitious album Who I Am, issued in cooperation with Universal.