A latter-day type of image-oriented performer, St. Vincent has received consistent praise for her distinct musical style, which blends soft rock, experimental rock, electropop and jazz influences.
Born in 1982, Anne Erin “Annie” Clark has become better known by her stage name St. Vincent. She’s an American musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Clark began playing guitar at the age of 12 and later attended her aunt and uncle’s concerts as their roadie. Her aunt and uncle are better known as Tuck and Patti, a guitar vocal jazz duo. After studying at Berklee College of Music for three years, she began her music career as a member of the Polyphonic Spree. Clark was also a member of Sufjan Stevens’s touring band before forming her own band in 2006.
Since then she and the band have released five albums. St. Vincent released a collaborative album with David Byrne (formerly of Talking Heads) in 2012 titled Love This Giant. Clark also contributed backing vocals for Swans on their 2014 album, To Be Kind.
Her fourth solo album, self-titled St. Vincent, was released on February 25, 2014 and was named album of the year by The Guardian, Entertainment Weekly, the UK’s New Music Express and Slant Magazine; it was also judged as second best album of the year by Time magazine. The album won her a Grammy for Best Alternative Album, her first Grammy award. She was the first solo female performer in 20 years to win a Grammy in that category. Clark performed on the season finale of Saturday Night Live on May 17, 2014.
In March 2016, it was announced that Clark had designed a signature Ernie Ball Music Man guitar. Unique to the guitar was the design which Welsh singer, Cate Le Bon described in The Guardian, as being made for women’s bodies and providing pleasing aesthetic form in support of the guitar’s function. In 2017, four additional colors were added to the guitar line.
On October 8, 2016, Clark opened for Robert Plant at the Festival of Disruption at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. Clark was Record Store Day’s ambassador for 2017, making her its first female ambassador.
Late in the summer of 2017, St. Vincent’s fifth album was announced. The album features Kamasi Washington, Jenny Lewis, Doveman, and production from Sounwave. In a mock press conference announcing the album on Facebook, she said “literally the only point” of the record is it’s about love, and stressed that the title is pronounced Mass Seduction, not “Mass Education.”
The Fear the Future U.S. tour was announced on June 21, 2017, with dates from November 14 through December 2, 2017. Nine days later, the single “New York” was released.
In 2019, St. Vincent performed at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, where she joined Dua Lipa for a medley of her own “Masseduction,” the late Aretha Franklin‘s “Respect,” and Dua Lipa‘s Calvin Harris collaboration “One Kiss.” The same night, “Masseduction” was awarded the Grammy for Best Rock Song.
2021: Backstory on the new album, Daddy’s Home. In 2010, Clark’s father, Richard Clark, was convicted of one count of conspiracy, seven counts of wire fraud, five counts of securities fraud and one count of money laundering. On October 29, 2010 he was sentenced to 15 years, 8 months in prison. The album, Daddy’s Hom, was in part inspired by her fathers eventual release from prison.
Discography
Marry Me (2007)
Actor (2009)
Strange Mercy (2011)
Love This Giant (with David Byrne) (2012)
St. Vincent (2014)
Masseduction (2017)
Daddy’s Home (2021)
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays St. Vincent. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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