Indigo girls

Indigo Girls in 2005

The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock - duo consisting of Amy Ray (* 12. April 1964 in Decatur , Georgia ) and Emily Saliers (* 22. July 1963 in New Haven , Connecticut )

Band history

Indigo Girls in Park West in Chicago, September 18, 2005. (l. – r .: A. Ray and E. Saliers)

Beginnings

The two women met in elementary school in the Atlanta suburbs of DeKalb County, Georgia , outside of Decatur, but were in different classes since Saliers is a year older. A closer acquaintance and first joint appearances came in their high school years under the band names B-Band and Saliers and Ray .

After the end of their respective high school days, they went to study, Saliers to Tulane University , Ray a year later to Vanderbilt University . During this time Ray visited Saliers in New Orleans , where they had casual appearances in the French Quarter . Both returned homesick and enrolled at Emory University , where Salier's father was a Methodist professor of theology. Since 1985, when Saliers completed her degree in English, they have been making music together under the name Indigo Girls .

In the same year the first 7 ″ single was produced: Crazy Game / B-side: Everybody's Waiting (for Someone to Come Home) , later a 12 ″ EP with six songs. In 1987 their first full-length album, Strange Fire , was released, which was produced at the John Keane studio in Athens, Georgia . This was how she became aware of Russell Carter, who has been her manager ever since.

Due to the success of the Athens music scene ( REM , The B-52s etc.) as well as other folk rock artists such as 10,000 Maniacs , Tracy Chapman and Suzanne Vega , Epic, a major label, became aware of the Indigo Girls.

Epic Records

Her first major label album was the self-titled Indigo Girls from 1989; it also contains the hit, Closer to fine, which is still best known today . Various guest artists worked here, including Michael Stipe and the other musicians from REM. This was followed by a Grammy nomination for Best New Band and in 1989 winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album . In 1991 the Indigo Girls album was finally platinum decorated.

All That We Let In was released in 2004 and a collection of B-sides and rare tracks called Rarities in 2005. With the latter album, the contract with Epic was fulfilled.

Hollywood Records

In 2006, the Indigo Girls signed five albums with Hollywood Records , a Disney Music Group label . The first album of this collaboration was released on September 19, 2006 Despite Our Differences .

Solo projects

Amy Ray produces other artists under her own label, Daemon Records , which she founded in 1990. Her two studio albums Stag (2001) and Prom (2005) as well as the live album Live from Knoxville (2007) were also released here.

Emily Sailers composed the score for the short film One Weekend a Month in 2004 . In 2014 she started work on her solo album Murmuration Nation, which was released in 2017.

Political attitude

The Indigo Girls are committed to various left-wing , political issues and content, especially LGBT rights , the rights of indigenous Americans, environmental protection and the abolition of the death penalty . You have appeared at various protests and demonstrations, e.g. B. at the annual "School of the Americas Watch" demonstration, which speaks out against the training of Latin American military officers in the USA, at a large demonstration in Washington, DC on abortion rights and women's rights ("March for Women's Lives", approx Million participants). Both women have long referred to themselves as lesbians and each live in long-term partnerships with a woman. However, they were never a couple. Because of her advocacy for gay rights, she is considered an icon of the movement, much like Melissa Etheridge and other artists.

On the fourth album I'm Not Dead , released by P! Nk in 2006, the two took part in the song Dear Mr. President , a kind of open letter to George W. Bush that addressed the subjects of poverty , LGBT rights, abortion rights and covered the No Child Left Behind Act . In June 2007 they took part in the True Colors Tour 2007 in Las Vegas for the benefit of the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations of the lesbian and gay movement . Together with her father, Saliers wrote the book A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
year	title	US	UK	Remarks
1989	Indigo girls	US22nd × 2 Double platinum (35 weeks)US	-
1989	Strange Fire	US159 gold (14 weeks)US	-
1990	Nomads Indians Saints	US43 gold (29 weeks)US	-
1992	Rites of Passage	US21st platinum (34 weeks)US	-
1994	Swamp Ophelia	US9 platinum (26 weeks)US	UK81 (2 weeks) UK
1995	4.5	-	UK43 (2 weeks) UK	Compilation , released in UK only
1995	1200 curfews	US40 platinum (14 weeks)US	-	Live compilation
1997	Shaming of the Sun	US7th gold (22 weeks)US	UK81 (1 week) UK
1999	Come On Now Social	US34 (7 weeks) US	-
2000	Retrospective	US128 (4 weeks) US	-	Compilation
2002	Become You	US30 (11 weeks) US	-
2004	All That We Let In	US35 (7 weeks) US	-
2005	Rarities	US159 (1 week) US	-
2006	Despite Our Differences	US47 (5 weeks) US	-
2009	Poseidon and the Bitter Bug	US29 (5 weeks) US	-
2010	Staring Down the Brilliant Dream	US119 (1 week) US	-
2011	Beauty Queen Sister	US36 (2 weeks) US	-
2015	One Lost Day	US63 (1 week) US	-
2020	Look Long	US159 (... weeks) US	-