Colvin carves a niche

Published 8:42 pm Thursday, October 14, 2010

Singer/songwriter Shawn Colvin takes to the stage of the Edmonds Center for the Arts Oct. 17 with an intimate evening of music.

In the 19 years since the release of her debut album, Colvin has released eight albums, won three Grammy awards, continuously toured nationally and internationally, appeared on radio and television and created a lasting catalog of memorable music.

Over the years she has shared the stage with legendary artists such as Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Hornsby, Emmylou Harris and Lyle Lovett, including a special sunrise concert at the base of the Masada, a 2,000 year old fortress in southern Israel with Jackson Browne and David Brosa.

Born in Vermillion, S.D., Colvin discovered her passion for music at age 10 and made her first public appearance at age 15. She spent ten years singing in a Western Swing band in Austin, Texas until she met songwriter and producer John Leventhal who encouraged her to find her own voice as a songwriter.

Her first album for Columbia Records, “Steady On,” won her the 1989 Grammy award for Best Contemporary Folk recording, but it was her 1996 single, “Sunny Came Home,” from the album “A Few Small Repairs” that firmly catapulted her into the mainstream and won her two more Grammys, for Song of the Year and Record of the Year.

Since then Colvin has continued a steady pace of recording and touring, including “Holiday Songs And Lullabies” (1998), recorded while Colvin was eight and a half months pregnant with her daughter, Caledonia, “Whole New You” (2001). “Polaroids” (2004) and “These Four Walls” (2006).

Colvin’s newest release, “Shawn Colvin Live,” was recorded in 2008 during a special three-night solo engagement at San Francisco’s famous jazz club, Yoshi’s, “Live” includes 12 songs written or co-written by Colvin, as well as covers of songs by Robbie Robertson, Gnarls Barkley, and the Talking Heads. The record was co-produced by Colvin and John Leventhal.

Colvin recently released her first “Live” recording, and has signed with Harper Collins publishing to write a memoir which will be an extension of the personal stories she weaves into her live shows.