Biography
Since the early 1960s, Evie Sands has sustained an evolving artistic path as a vocalist, songwriter, producer, and agile multi-instrumentalist. In the girl-group period she cut several sides for Blue Cat and Cameo that highlighted her yearning blue-eyed soul approach. During the 1970s she embraced the dual roles of singer-songwriter and producer, retaining that soulful core on the 1970 debut album Any Way That You Want Me and the releases that followed. Over subsequent decades her songwriting talent drew notice from successive waves of listeners and from fellow performers alike, resulting in covers by Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, Beck, Beth Orton, and numerous others. After stepping away from performing in the 1980s to concentrate on writing and production, Sands eventually resumed both studio work and live appearances, issuing fresh material that includes the stylistically fluid 2020 album Get Out of Your Own Way.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sands displayed an early passion for music, singing and studying guitar and keyboards as a child before committing her first publicly available recordings to tape in her teens. Following the 1963 single “The Roll” b/w “My Dog” and the 1964 release “Danny Boy I Love You So” b/w “I Was Moved,” she collaborated with the Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni songwriting and production team on several electrified Northern Soul numbers that launched her recording career. Chief among them was “Take Me for a Little While,” issued on Blue Cat, the Red Bird Records subsidiary, which entered the Billboard charts and paved the way for subsequent singles such as “I Can’t Let Go”—later a hit for the Hollies—and her own 1967 version of “Angel of the Morning.” Throughout this era she made frequent television appearances and earned admiration from peers for her instinctive musicianship and magnetic stage presence; Johnny Cash and Dusty Springfield both voiced public appreciation. Late-1960s recordings including “Picture Me Gone” and “Billy Sunshine” quickly became Northern soul staples, yet her first major commercial breakthrough arrived with the 1969 single “Any Way That You Want Me,” which logged seventeen weeks on the singles chart, reached the number 53 position, and moved roughly half a million copies.
The following year Sands delivered her first long-form project for A&M, also titled Any Way That You Want Me. While the album remained grounded in her blue-eyed soul origins, it incorporated expansive orchestral textures and a somewhat dreamier instrumental palette than her prior singles. It also contained “It’s This I Am,” her own composition that signaled the growing emphasis on songwriting. The 1974 album Estate of Mind showcased numerous Sands originals and produced two notable hits, “I Love Makin’ Love to You” and “You Brought the Woman Out of Me.” With the self-produced 1979 release Suspended Animation she shifted primary focus toward writing and production rather than live performance, by which time covers of her material had become routine, inspiring interpretations by Dobie Gray, Cher and Gregg Allman, Gladys Knight, Barbra Streisand, and others.
After withdrawing from the concert stage for a period, Sands returned in 1996 when she attended a Chip Taylor club performance and was invited to join him. Coupled with renewed interest in her catalog from younger audiences, the encounter prompted fresh activity. She rejoined Taylor and Gorgoni for the 1999 album Women in Prison, which generated several European successes, among them the duet “Cool Blues Story” with Lucinda Williams. A supporting tour followed, encompassing dates across Europe and the United States. In the mid-2000s several of her earlier albums were reissued, and around the same time she contributed lead guitar to the Los Angeles ensemble Adam Marsland’s Chaos Band. In 2014 Sands and Billy Vera issued the collaborative collection Queen of Diamonds/Jack of Hearts, featuring their readings of Chip Taylor songs and including a live bonus track of “Take Me for a Little While” captured with Belle and Sebastian. She released the self-produced mini-album Shine for Me in 2017 on her own R-Spot Records imprint, backed by shows in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Three years later came Get Out of Your Own Way, her first solo full-length in nearly two decades. Again self-produced and self-released, the record drew together multiple facets of her musical identity, from her distinctive left-handed lead guitar work to her mystical, soul-infused vocals. Both Shine for Me and Get Out of Your Own Way were created with longtime band members Teresa Cowles, Jason Berk, and Eric Vesper, while Get Out of Your Own Way also featured vocal contributions from Isobel Campbell and former Translator member Willie Aron on the lead single “If You Give Up.”
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Sands displayed an early passion for music, singing and studying guitar and keyboards as a child before committing her first publicly available recordings to tape in her teens. Following the 1963 single “The Roll” b/w “My Dog” and the 1964 release “Danny Boy I Love You So” b/w “I Was Moved,” she collaborated with the Chip Taylor and Al Gorgoni songwriting and production team on several electrified Northern Soul numbers that launched her recording career. Chief among them was “Take Me for a Little While,” issued on Blue Cat, the Red Bird Records subsidiary, which entered the Billboard charts and paved the way for subsequent singles such as “I Can’t Let Go”—later a hit for the Hollies—and her own 1967 version of “Angel of the Morning.” Throughout this era she made frequent television appearances and earned admiration from peers for her instinctive musicianship and magnetic stage presence; Johnny Cash and Dusty Springfield both voiced public appreciation. Late-1960s recordings including “Picture Me Gone” and “Billy Sunshine” quickly became Northern soul staples, yet her first major commercial breakthrough arrived with the 1969 single “Any Way That You Want Me,” which logged seventeen weeks on the singles chart, reached the number 53 position, and moved roughly half a million copies.
The following year Sands delivered her first long-form project for A&M, also titled Any Way That You Want Me. While the album remained grounded in her blue-eyed soul origins, it incorporated expansive orchestral textures and a somewhat dreamier instrumental palette than her prior singles. It also contained “It’s This I Am,” her own composition that signaled the growing emphasis on songwriting. The 1974 album Estate of Mind showcased numerous Sands originals and produced two notable hits, “I Love Makin’ Love to You” and “You Brought the Woman Out of Me.” With the self-produced 1979 release Suspended Animation she shifted primary focus toward writing and production rather than live performance, by which time covers of her material had become routine, inspiring interpretations by Dobie Gray, Cher and Gregg Allman, Gladys Knight, Barbra Streisand, and others.
After withdrawing from the concert stage for a period, Sands returned in 1996 when she attended a Chip Taylor club performance and was invited to join him. Coupled with renewed interest in her catalog from younger audiences, the encounter prompted fresh activity. She rejoined Taylor and Gorgoni for the 1999 album Women in Prison, which generated several European successes, among them the duet “Cool Blues Story” with Lucinda Williams. A supporting tour followed, encompassing dates across Europe and the United States. In the mid-2000s several of her earlier albums were reissued, and around the same time she contributed lead guitar to the Los Angeles ensemble Adam Marsland’s Chaos Band. In 2014 Sands and Billy Vera issued the collaborative collection Queen of Diamonds/Jack of Hearts, featuring their readings of Chip Taylor songs and including a live bonus track of “Take Me for a Little While” captured with Belle and Sebastian. She released the self-produced mini-album Shine for Me in 2017 on her own R-Spot Records imprint, backed by shows in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Three years later came Get Out of Your Own Way, her first solo full-length in nearly two decades. Again self-produced and self-released, the record drew together multiple facets of her musical identity, from her distinctive left-handed lead guitar work to her mystical, soul-infused vocals. Both Shine for Me and Get Out of Your Own Way were created with longtime band members Teresa Cowles, Jason Berk, and Eric Vesper, while Get Out of Your Own Way also featured vocal contributions from Isobel Campbell and former Translator member Willie Aron on the lead single “If You Give Up.”
Albums
