Judy Collins

Among musicians who achieved prominence amid the folk revival of the early sixties, few have sustained a trajectory as extended and multifaceted as that of Judy Collins, due largely to an uncommon breadth of stylistic command that set her apart from most contemporaries. Although she has written several standout compositions of her own, such as “Since You Asked,” “My Father,” and “Secret Gardens,” her reputation rests above all on the interpretive command and flexibility of her singing voice. That strong, clear instrument has proved equally at home with Appalachian traditional material (1961’s A Maid of Constant Sorrow), folk-rock arrangements tinged with pop (her chart-topping reading of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” on 1967’s Wildflowers), Broadway standards (“Send in the Clowns” from 1975’s Judith), unaccompanied choral pieces (“Amazing Grace” and “Farewell to Tarwathie” from 1970’s Whales & Nightingales), extended theatrical narratives (“Marat/Sade” from 1966’s In My Life and “Che” from 1973’s True Stories & Other Dreams), and songs by then-emerging writers including Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Jacques Brel. Throughout these varied explorations, Collins has consistently brought maturity and interpretive depth to carefully chosen material, a standard she has maintained across more than six decades. At the close of the 2010s she entered another fertile period that produced several career milestones, among them her first American chart-topping album (2019’s Winter Stories) and her inaugural collection consisting entirely of original songs (2022’s Beauty and Resistance).

Judith Marjorie Collins entered the world in Seattle on May 1, 1939, the eldest of five siblings. Her father, Charles Thompson Collins, earned his living as a singer, radio presenter, and pianist. When she turned ten the family relocated from Seattle to Denver, Colorado. Already drawn to music, Collins began piano studies with Antonia Brico, a trailblazing conductor who was among the first women to lead a major symphony orchestra. Brico saw in her pupil the makings of a distinguished concert pianist; at thirteen Collins made her public debut performing Mozart’s Concerto for Two Pianos. Yet the young musician soon became captivated by folk songs, particularly those of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and abandoned her classical training in favor of the guitar. (Fourteen years later, in 1974, Collins produced and co-directed with Jill Godmilow the documentary Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman, which received an Academy Award nomination.)

By the time she finished high school, Collins was performing folk material in clubs throughout Denver and Boulder. In 1958, at eighteen, she married Peter Taylor; less than a year afterward she gave birth to their son, Clark Taylor. She supported the household by playing nightly at a Boulder pub for one hundred dollars a week plus unlimited pizza and beer. When Taylor obtained a teaching post at the University of Connecticut the family moved east, and Collins quickly established herself on the regional folk circuit, gaining recognition along the Atlantic seaboard. Repeated appearances in New York City led to interest from Elektra Records, a label then enjoying success with several contemporary folk acts. The resulting contract yielded her debut album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, issued in 1961.

That record and its 1962 successor, Golden Apples of the Sun, relied chiefly on traditional repertoire, yet by Judy Collins 3 in 1963 she had begun incorporating material from living songwriters such as Bob Dylan and Shel Silverstein; the album also contained a version of Pete Seeger’s “Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” arranged by Roger McGuinn two years before the Byrds turned the song into a hit. A live album appeared in 1964, followed in 1965 by Fifth Album, which drew heavily from the new wave of topical writers then reshaping folk music—Dylan, Phil Ochs, Gordon Lightfoot, Richard Fariña, and Eric Andersen among them. While most tracks retained spare acoustic settings, 1966’s In My Life moved beyond strict folk parameters through Joshua Rifkin’s sophisticated arrangements and productions, adding narrative theater songs (“Pirate Jenny” and “Marat/Sade”) and two pieces by the Canadian poet-novelist Leonard Cohen, whom Collins had recently befriended. (Cohen would not release his own debut album until the following year.) The sessions coincided with personal upheaval: Collins and Taylor divorced in 1965.

Wildflowers, released in 1967 and again arranged by Rifkin (with Mark Abramson producing), signaled a decisive shift. It included three Cohen songs, two from the still-emerging Joni Mitchell, and three originals by Collins herself—the first time she had recorded her own compositions. One of the Mitchell tracks, “Both Sides Now,” reached the Top Ten and helped the album achieve significant pop-chart success, earning Collins her initial gold certification. On 1968’s Who Knows Where the Time Goes she ventured into country-rock territory with “Someday Soon” and “First Boy I Loved,” featuring guitar contributions from Stephen Stills, who became both a frequent collaborator and, for several years, her romantic partner. (Collins served as the inspiration for the Crosby, Stills & Nash staple “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.”) Whales & Nightingales in 1970 yielded two distinctive hits: an a cappella rendition of the spiritual “Amazing Grace” supported by a choir and a reading of the traditional whaling song “Farewell to Tarwathie” paired with recorded humpback whale sounds.

The live album Living appeared in 1971, followed a year later by the compilation Colors of the Day: The Best of Judy Collins. True Stories and Other Dreams (1973) reflected a reflective turn, containing the original “Song for Martin,” written for a friend who had taken his own life, and “Che,” a portrait of the revolutionary. For 1975’s Judith, Collins worked with producer Arif Mardin, whose polished approach framed a major hit in her interpretation of Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns”; the album became her biggest commercial success and eventually attained platinum status.

Now enjoying wider fame, the longtime activist emphasized political themes on 1976’s Bread & Roses. After its release she received treatment for damaged vocal cords and, following years of alcoholism, sought professional assistance to stop drinking. At a 1978 fundraising event for the Equal Rights Amendment she met artist and designer Louis Nelson, who became her partner and, in 1996, her husband.

Hard Times for Lovers (1979) continued the adult-pop direction of Judith; an intended nude portrait by Francesco Scavullo for the cover was ultimately replaced by a discreetly cropped version. Running for My Life (1980) and Time of Our Lives (1982) offered further polished adult-pop and soft-rock fare, yet shifting tastes contributed to declining sales. Home Again (1984) explored fresh directions, including a synth-driven cover of Yaz’s “Only You” and a duet with country artist T.G. Sheppard on the title track. Although the single achieved modest chart success, the album did not, and after twenty-three years Collins and Elektra ended their association.

She promptly traveled to England and secured a one-off arrangement with Telstar Records for 1985’s Amazing Grace, re-recording several signature songs alongside inspirational material with orchestral and choral accompaniment. In 1987 she signed with the independent Gold Castle label; her first release for them, Trust Your Heart, drew seven tracks from Amazing Grace and added three new selections. That same year saw publication of her debut memoir, also titled Trust Your Heart.

Two albums followed in 1989: the live set Sanity and Grace and the collaborative Innervoices with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman. The next year she returned to a major label with Fires of Eden, her sole Columbia release. Also in 1990 came two children’s projects, Baby’s Morningtime and Baby’s Bedtime. In 1992 Collins endured the devastating loss of her son Clark to suicide; he had battled alcoholism and slipped into severe depression after resuming drinking. Her subsequent album turned to familiar yet personally resonant territory: a collection of Bob Dylan interpretations titled Judy Collins Sings Dylan: Just Like a Woman. Issued in 1993, it proved commercially successful and reaffirmed her continuing vocal strength. The following year she released her first holiday album, Come Rejoice! A Judy Collins Christmas, the first of several such projects that later included Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (1997), All on a Wintry Night (2000), and Christmas (2003).

Merging her interests in music and literature, Collins published the novel Shameless in 1995, set in the music industry; she simultaneously issued an album of the same name that functioned as a de facto soundtrack, featuring original songs written for the story’s fictional performers. In 1998 she released her third book, Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Hope and Healing, which addressed her struggles with alcoholism, depression, and the aftermath of her son’s death. Classic Broadway (1999) gathered vintage theater songs, and that year she founded her own imprint, Wildflower Records, beginning with Live at Wolf Trap. Her fourth book, Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength, appeared in 2003 and detailed her experiences with depression and self-harm following Clark’s passing. She later chronicled her path through grief in the 2007 volume The Seven T’s: Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy.

Through Wildflower she maintained an active release schedule of live recordings, reissues, and new studio albums such as Portrait of an American Girl (2005), Bohemian (2008), and Paradise (2010), all underscoring her ongoing interpretive prowess. Another memoir, Sweet Judy Blue Eyes: My Life in Music, arrived in 2011, concentrating on her artistic development. Strangers Again (2015) paid tribute to admired songwriters and vocalists through duets with Willie Nelson, Jackson Browne, Jeff Bridges, and Glen Hansard, plus a collaboration with singer-songwriter Ari Hest that led to the full-length joint album Silver Skies Blue in 2016.

She returned to the catalog of the composer who supplied “Send in the Clowns” with 2017’s A Love Letter to Stephen Sondheim and, the same year, reunited with longtime friend Stephen Stills for Everybody Knows. That busy year also included the confessional book Cravings: How I Conquered Food, which examined her complicated relationship with eating and long-standing struggles with disordered eating. Winter Stories, a 2019 collaboration with Norwegian singer Jonas Fjeld and the North Carolina country-folk ensemble Chatham County Line, topped the Billboard Bluegrass chart—Collins’s first number-one album on any American chart. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic she and her band recorded Live at the Town Hall, NYC before an empty auditorium at New York’s historic Town Hall, revisiting much of the repertoire from her original 1964 debut at the venue. Her late-career momentum continued with the 2021 anthology White Bird: Anthology of Favorites and Beauty and Resistance in 2022, the latter marking her first entirely original collection.