Laura Nyro

[Tom Simon]

Laura Nyro was a singer, songwriter and musician who was prominent on
the pop music scene in the late 60's and early 70's. Most notably, she
wrote a number of songs that became big hits for other artists.

She was born as Laura Nigro in the New York City borough of the Bronx
in 1947. Her father, a trumpet player, worked as a piano tuner. She
wrote songs as a child and attended the High School of Music and Art,
at roughly the same time as her friend, recording artist Janis Ian.
Experimenting with various stage names, she finally settled on Laura
Nyro (pronounced as NEAR-oh). First managed by record producer Artie
Mogull, she later had her contract voided and switched to new manager
David Geffen. She had secured a contract with the Verve label (later
known as Verve Forecast Records). Her debut albumMore Than A New
Discovery in 1966 was followed by her appearance at the Monterey Pop
Festival the following year, where her act reportedly was not well
received by fans of Janis Joplin.

Her More Than A New Discovery album was comprised entirely of songs
that Laura had written. She handled vocals as well as playing
keyboards and guitar. Within a few years, some of her songs on this
album became pop top forty songs when recorded by other artists (and
in 1999 it was acknowledged with an induction into the Grammy Hall of
Fame). Among them:

And When I Die - Blood, Sweat & Tears - #2 in 1969
Wedding Bell Blues - The 5th Dimension - #1 in 1969
Blowin' Away - The 5th Dimension - #21 in 1970
Stoney End - Barbra Streisand - #6 in 1971

Geffen helped Laura to sign with Columbia and she began work on her
next album, Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. Once again all the
songs were written by Laura, and this time she contributed piano,
vocal, and harmonies. And as before, some of the tracks from this
album were turned into hits by other artists:

Sweet Blindness - The 5th Dimension - #13 in 1968
Stoned Soul Picnic - The 5th Dimension - #3 in 1968
Eli's Coming - Three Dog Night - #10 in 1969

Her next album, New York Tendaberry, was issued in 1969 and turned out
to be her largest selling, at #32 on the album charts. Once again
Laura wrote all of the songs on it. The most successful single from
this one was Time And Love, which did not make the top forty in a
version by Streisand. Laura had only one hit as a recording artist
that reached the top 100 -- ironically, one that she had not written
herself -- a cover of the Drifters' 1963 hit Up On The Roof, in 1970.
Her albums never sold very well, but she had what has been described
as a cult following, for many years. She came out with four more
albums in the 70's and three more after that, in addition to numerous
albums that were recorded live and a number of compilations.

Nyro took some time off, moving to a small fishing village in
Massachusetts. She came back to do some more albums, then retreated
once again. Along the way she had a relationship with singer Jackson
Browne, married and divorced, and gave birth to a son. In 1975 Laura's
mother died from ovarian cancer at age 49. She continued recording,
left the music business and came back once again. In the early 80's
she began living with painter Maria Desiderio.

In 1996 Laura was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died the following
year in Danbury, Connecticut, from the same disease and at the same
age, 49, as her mother had two decades previously. A number of artists
have cited Laura Nyro as an influence in the intervening years,
including Joni Mitchell, Elton John, Rickie Lee Jones, Todd Rundgren,
Melissa Manchester and Steely Dan. Her biography Soul Picnic: The
Music and Passion of Laura Nyro by Michele Kort, was published in
2002. In 2012 Laura took her place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Laura Nyro was immensely talented and one of the best songwriters of
the late 60's/early 70's. The songs with which most music fans
associate her include And When I Die, Wedding Bell Blues, Stoney End,
Sweet Blindness, Stoned Soul Picnic, and Eli's Coming.

[marcus60s]

This might interest you:

http://marccatone.webs.com/apps/videos/videos/show/15439139-laura-nyro

[DCar...@aol.com]

On Jun 1, 1:01 am, Tom Simon <tsi...@REMOVEtsimon.com> wrote:

Had she changed her name to Laura Black she would have been MUCH more
acclaimed baby!!!

[Michael Black]

On Fri, 1 Jun 2012, Tom Simon wrote:


> Laura Nyro was immensely talented and one of the best songwriters of
> the late 60's/early 70's. The songs with which most music fans
> associate her include And When I Die, Wedding Bell Blues, Stoney End,
> Sweet Blindness, Stoned Soul Picnic, and Eli's Coming.
>

And she died fifteen years ago in April, so this is a tad late.

The songs others cover were good, yet that means many have never actually
heard her. Her own albums are less commercial, a lot more intense. Eli
and the Thirteenth Confession is almost one complete piece, none of it
seems filler. She had political songs, "Save the Country" and the more
blatant "Christmas in My Soul". She had songs about drug use, as in the
damage it did, and poverty. "When I Was a Freeport and You Were the Main
Drag" seems a feminist statement, it is musical yet you can feel her
patience giving way. And then later she had songs about animal rights.
The live album that came out in the seventies is pretty good, though I've
never heard the double album version that was originally only released in
Japan for some reason.

I almost could have seen her in Toronto in 1989. I was there for a
weekend, saw a poster, but unfortunately I couldn't stay the day or two
till the concert.

Michael