Song:Sunny Came Home
Album:Polaroids: A Greatest Hits Collection
The 1997 top ten hit Sunny Came Home has been the biggest commercial success for singer songwriter Shawn Colvin. Though I don't expect her to ever have that kind of chart success again, she is still one of the top live draws on the roots music circuit. She was born Jan. 10, 1956 in Vermillion, SD and grew up in Carbondale, IL. She cites Joni Mitchell as her main influence. She started out fronting a hard rock band until she moved to Austin, TX and sang with the Western Swing band Dixie Diesels. She moved to New York City in 1983 and got involved with the Fast Folk collective. She appeared in several off-Broadway shows and sang backup vocals on the 1987 Suzanne Vega hit Luka. It was around this time that she met John Levanthal and he became her songwriting partner and producer. He has produced many similar performers and is married to Rosanne Cash. Yes, he is Mr. L. A tape that Shawn was selling at her shows earned her a contract with Columbia and her debut album Steady On was released in 1989. Her first two albums were critically acclaimed but didn't sell particularly well. But Shawn was making inroads in the Adult Contemporary market and her 1994 CD Cover Me did a lot better. But her breakthrough came with her 1996 CD A Few Small Repairs and the single Sunny Came Home. The CD went Platinum and Sunny Came Home reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100. And she won Record Of The Year and Song Of The Year Grammys. She recorded a Christmas album in 1998 and left Columbia after her 2001 CD Whole New You. This comp and a DVD was released in 2004. Shawn Colvin is currently recording for Nonesuch Records and her latest CD Live was released last year. She's still a very popular live act and last fall toured with Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller as Three Girls and Their Buddy. In fact, she was taping an upcoming episode of Austin City Limits with Patty Griffin last night. Here's the video for Sunny Came Home by Shawn Colvin.
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