Shawn Colvin, a singer-songwriter and musician widely known for her 1997 single, "Sunny Came Home,” is 65 years old today.
Born in Vermillion, South Dakota, Colvin spent her youth in London, Ontario and Carbondale, Illinois. She learned to play guitar at the age of 10 and grew up listening to her father's collection of music, which included artists such as Pete Seeger and the Kingston Trio.
She moved to Austin and joined a Western swing band called the Dixie Diesels. She began playing the folk circuit in Illinois and Berkeley, California before she "strained her voice" singing rock songs and took a sabbatical from singing at the age of 24.
Colvin later moved to New York City, joining the Buddy Miller Band in 1980. When Buddy Miller left the band it became The Shawn Colvin Band. With Buddy gone, the band needed a lead guitarist and this lead to her meeting John Leventhal.
She later becoming involved in the Fast Folk cooperative of Greenwich Village. Over time she became progressively more popular on the new folk circuit and while participating in off-Broadway shows such as Diamond Studs, Pump Boys and Dinettes and Lie of the Mind.
She was featured in Fast Folk magazine, and in 1987 sang backup vocals on the song, "Luka," by Suzanne Vega.
After touring with Vega, Colvin came to the attention of Columbia Records and signed a recording contract with the label. She released her debut album Steady On with her fellow songwriter and co-producer John Leventhal in 1989. The album featured backing vocals by Vega.
In 1996, Colvin released her "platinum status" album, A Few Small Repairs, and in 1997, the success of her single "Sunny Came Home" firmly catapulted her into the mainstream after spending four weeks at the #1 spot on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Since 2000, Colvin has collaborated with a variety of artists and has made vocal contributions to songs by James Taylor, Béla Fleck, Edwin McCain and Shawn Mullins.