Judy Collins

The folk singer-songwriter Judy Collins was born in Seattle, Washington in 1939. She studied classical music as a youth but influenced by the music of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger. During the traditional folk revival in the early sixties, she learned the guitar, moving to New York where she eventually got a record contract.

She released her first album in A Maid of Constant Sorrow in 1961. Her early work featured cover versions of songs by The Byrds, Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger and she also introduced the world to the works of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Randy Newman.

As something of a change in direction, her 1966 album In My Life included compositions by Jacques Brel, The Beatles and Kurt Weill. The follow-up Wildflowers earned her a Grammy award for her cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" which went to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Her 1975 cover of "Send in the Clowns" won another Grammy for Song of the Year.

She is a UNICEF representative, campaigning for the abolition of land mines, and also speaks about suicide prevention after the death of her son in 1992.