Megon McDonough

McDonough launched her recording career at age seventeen. Following the release of four folk albums during the 1970s, she relocated to New York and supplied vocals for television and commercials, later resuming her own releases in the early 1990s after adopting the spelling “Megon.” She ranked among the founding members of Christine Lavin’s the Four Bitchin’ Babes and continues to tour with the ensemble.

Born in Illinois, McDonough grew up as one of nine children in a strict Irish-Catholic family. After studying piano and guitar in childhood, she performed at high schools, then moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s and signed with Wooden Nickel, an RCA subsidiary. The four albums she recorded for the label drew favorable reviews yet failed to chart. Extensive touring followed, including an opening slot for John Denver at Carnegie Hall and additional dates supporting Harry Chapin.

McDonough spent the 1980s in New York, singing on television productions that earned her an ACE Cable TV award in 1984. She also explored acting before issuing the self-released album American Girl in 1990. A fortune teller had urged the spelling shift from “Megan” to “Megon,” asserting that the added “o” would enhance her professional prospects. Soon afterward she joined the Four Bitchin’ Babes—the female cabaret/folk quartet directed by Christine Lavin—and has since contributed songs and performances to every one of their albums. From 1997 to 1998 she portrayed Patsy Cline in the well-received Always Patsy Cline at Chicago’s Barber Theater. Her 1998 Shanachie album, My One and Only Love, offered an engaging survey of standards and pre-rock pop.