AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Janis Ian

Artist:Janis Ian

Song:At Seventeen

Album:Best of Janis Ian: The Autobiography Collection

So we all know what a one hit wonder is. I write about enough of them. But it is possible to be a one hit wonder multiple times if they are in different decades. In this case, singer songwriter Janis Ian was 16 years old when Society's Child was a top 20 hit in 1967. Then she scored a top five hit with the 1975 single At Seventeen. These were her only two big hits. One of her other songs charted so technically she isn't a one hit wonder anyway. But by most listener standards, Janis Ian is a two time one hit wonder. So what happened after Society's Child? She recorded four albums for Verve Forecast. But after Society's Child, Janis didn't have much success. She retired and moved to Philadelphia. Janis recorded the 1971 album Present Company for Capitol. It didn't sell but when Roberta Flack recorded her song Jesse, that encouraged Janis and she signed a new record deal with Columbia Records and producer Brooks Arthur. He liked to use jazz musicians on his records. The 1974 album Stars and the single The Man You Are in Me did well enough that Columbia thought they might have something. At Seventeen was the first single from the 1975 album Between the Lines. The self confessional nature of the song struck a chord with listeners and it reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album topped the Billboard 200. Subsequent albums did OK. But Janis was never able to score another hit single. She left Columbia in 1981. She started her own Rude Girl label in 1992 and this 2CD comp is on Rude Girl. It includes Society's Child and At Seventeen. Janis released a new album in 2022. Here's Janis Ian performing At Seventeen on a 1976 episode of BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test.