Singer-songwriter
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The term singer-songwriter refers to performers who write, compose, and sing their own material including lyrics, melodies and often the accompaniment and entire composition or song. Unlike pop music artists, singer-songwriters are better known for their meaningful lyrics than for the presentation of the song.
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Latin traditions
Beginning in the 1960s, many Latin American countries developed singer-songwriter traditions that adopted elements from various popular styles. The first such tradition was the mid-60s invention of nueva canción, which took hold in Andean countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia.
At around the same time, the Brazilian popular style bossa nova was evolving into a politically-charged singer-songwriter tradition called Tropicalismo. Two performers, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso became two of the most famous people in all of Brazil through their work in Tropicalismo.
In the same period developed in Italy a very prolific singer-songwriter (in Italian cantautore) tradition, initially connected with the French school of the chansonniers, and lately developed very heterogeneously. Noteworthy performers are: Domenico Modugno, Luigi Tenco, Gino Paoli, Sergio Endrigo, Fabrizio De André, Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti, Roberto Vecchioni, Ivano Fossati, Lucio Dalla, Francesco Guccini and Franco Battiato. See also Italian singer-songwriters.
The European Hispanic countries of Spain and Portugal have also had singer-songwriter traditions, which are sometimes said to have drawn on pan-Latin elements. Spain is known for the nova canço tradition — exemplified by Joan Manuel Serrat; the Portuguese fado performer and songwriter José Afonso helped lead a revival of Portuguese folk culture, including a modernized form of fado called nova canção. Following the 1974 revolution, nova canção became more politicized and was known as canto livre.
In the latter part of the 1960s and into the 70s, socially and politically aware singer-songwriters like Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés emerged in Cuba, birthing a genre known as nueva trova. Trova as a genre has had broad influence across Latin America. In Mexico, for example, canción yucateca on the Yucatan Peninsula and trova serrana in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca are both regional adaptations of trova.
In the mid-1970s, a singer-songwriter tradition called canto popular emerged in Uruguay.
North America
The first recognition of the singer-songwriter as a musical genre in North America occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s when a series of folk- and country-influenced musicians rose to prominence and popularity. These early singer-songwriters included Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Jackson Browne, Jim Croce, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, David Blue, Carly Simon, Cat Stevens, Bruce Cockburn, Van Morrison, Townes van Zandt, Harry Chapin, James Taylor, Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash. People who had been primarily songwriters, notably Carole King, also began releasing work as performers. In contrast to the storytelling approach of most prior country and folk music, these performers typically wrote songs from a highly personal (often first-person), introspective point of view. The adjectives "confessional" and "sensitive" were often used (sometimes derisively) to describe this early singer-songwriter style.
It can be argued that some bands of the era - most notably the Beatles and the wave of artists on both sides of the Atlantic that followed in their wake - fit the definition of singer-songwriters, with most or all of their members taking an active role in the songwriting process. While there is some debate over the claim, it is worthy to note that many former bandmembers (including Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul Simon, Peter Frampton, and later Don Henley and Glenn Frey) found success as singer-songwriters in their later careers.
By the late 1970s and early 1980s the original wave of singer-songwriters had largely been absorbed into a more general pop or soft rock format, but some new artists in the singer-songwriter tradition (including Lucinda Williams, Patti Smith, Stevie Nicks, and Warren Zevon) continued to emerge, and in other cases rock and even punk rock artists such as Peter Case and Paul Westerberg transitioned to careers as solo singer-songwriters.
In the late 1980s, the term was re-applied to a group of (predominantly female) artists, beginning with Suzanne Vega with her first album selling unexpectedly well, followed by the likes of Tracy Chapman, Nanci Griffith, k.d. lang and P.J. Harvey. Likewise, the success of Tori Amos in the United Kingdom lead to her success in her home market. By the mid-1990s, the term was revived with the success of Canada's Alanis Morissette and her breakthrough album Jagged Little Pill. It had grown to encompass fellow-Canadian Sarah McLachlan, American artists Sheryl Crow, Patty Griffin, Jewel, Lisa Loeb, Joan Osborne and other performers associated with the Lilith Fair. Also in the 1990s artists such as Dave Matthews and Elliott Smith borrowed from the singer-songwriter tradition to create new acoustic-based rock styles. In the 2000's, a quieter style emerged, with largely impressionistic lyrics, from artists such as Iron and Wine (a solo artist), Jolie Holland, and Richard Buckner.
The format of a singer-songwriter concert is frequently a solo artist performing their own works, possibly with a backup band, introducing each song with some explanation of its origin, meaning, etc. For the most part, these are fairly serious songs with personal meaning to the artist. In some cases, most notably Cheryl Wheeler, Christine Lavin, and Vance Gilbert, significant humor is incorporated into these songs and/or presentations. (Wheeler was offered a stand up comic gig at one point, and Christine Lavin once broke her nose while twirling a baton during a show.) Many fans personally relate to the songs, and are generally more likely to know all the lyrics than fans of pop or rock music. Frequently it is the lyrics, rather than the melody or beat of a song, or even the voice of the artist that attracts the fans.
One flourishing aspect of this genre is largely invisible: the indie singer-songwriter. The solo artist format, less expensive on tour and in the studio, fosters "indie" artists who enjoy limited fame and longer careers than most major-label artists. A number of recording labels such as Folkways, Rounder, etc. catered to smaller but devoted customer bases. Some major recording labels also introduced "indie"-flavored labels to capture some of this market.
Recording on the professional-grade systems that became affordable for individuals in the late 1990s (most notably, ProTools), these artists are known as "indies" because they release their records on independent, often self-owned record labels, or no label at all. Currently, some of the less-known but highly distinctive, well-loved writer-performers in this grass-roots world are: Richard Cummins,Dar Williams, Ani DiFranco, Richard Shindell, Willy Porter, Billy Jonas, Freebo, Tom Prasada-Rao, David Wilcox, Annie Gallup, Patty Larkin, Pierce Pettis, Peter Mulvey, Jennifer Kimball, Cara Jones, Ellis Paul, Chad Perrone, Antje Duvekot, Willie Porter, Ben Ponder, Brooks Williams, Conor Oberst(aka Bright Eyes), and Christopher Williams. Emerging indie artists getting notice in 2005 are: Jake Armerding, Michael Bowers, Rachael Davis, Jenn Cass, Ralston Bowles, Jonathan Byrd, Anais Mitchell, Juliet Wyers, Danya River, Molly Venter.
Hong Kong
Singer-songwriters were not common in Hong Kong until the early 21st Century. This is due to the unique situation of the pop music scene in Hong Kong. Record labels are controlled by large enterprises leading to an overabundance of K-songs (Karaoke type songs) in Hong Kong. Currently some of the distinctive and well-known singer-songwriters in Hong Kong are: Justin(側田), Ivana Wong(王菀之), and Rosemary Vandenbroucke, who is also a supermodel.
See also
es:Cantautor fr:Auteur-compositeur-interprète gl:Cantautor it:Cantautore nl:Singer-songwriter ja:シンガーソングライター sv:Singer/songwriter