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Cindy Lee Berryhill
Cindy Lee Berryhill (born June 12, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, co-founder of the New York Antifolk movement, who recorded multiple albums, hit singles, and compilations over the years. Early life and educationBerryhill was born in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California[1] and grew up in various parts of California. She began playing the guitar at the age of ten, which then led to her love of songwriting.[2] CareerBerryhill's debut album Who's Gonna Save The World? (Rhino/Capitol) came out in October 1987 and was followed by the Lenny Kaye-produced Naked Movie Star (Rhino/WEA)[3] in 1989. In Allmusic's online Cindy Lee Berryhill Biography entry (2008), Richie Unterberger wrote, "The San Diegan's 1987 debut, Who's Gonna Save the World?, may be her best simply because it is her most straightforward. Then as now, she was most effective, ironically, at her most basic and serious."[1] By contrast, Stewart Mason in his four-and-a-half-star review of her third album, calls it her "first completely solid and intriguing effort".[4] Berryhill, like Brenda Kahn, Paleface, Beck, Michelle Shocked and John S. Hall, was an early proponent of the New York City Anti-folk movement.[5][6] She is featured in the documentary Mariposa: Under a Stormy Sky along with Emmylou Harris, The Violent Femmes, Daniel Lanois and others. It would be another six years before her third album Garage Orchestra (Cargo/Earth) would be released. Garage Orchestra was a Tin Pan Alley-inflected departure from her earlier folkier albums and garnered a 4-star review in Rolling Stone. In 1995 her boyfriend and husband-to-be, rock writer Paul Williams, suffered a brain injury in a bicycle accident,[2] and Berryhill put off the making of her next album until 1996's Straight Outta Marysville. In 1999, Berryhill's novel, Memoirs of A Female Messiah, was released along with a live album entitled Living Room 16. After the birth of Berryhill and Williams's son in 2001, she began a song cycle that included the song "Beloved Stranger", that was inspired by her experiences with her husband's brain injury and the awareness that many soldiers were coming home from war with similar injuries. In 2008, the album Beloved Stranger (Populuxe) was released. Her seventh album, The Adventurist was released on March 10, 2017, on Omnivore Records.[7] Personal lifeBerryhill's second cousin was the surfboard shaper Dale Velzy (his mother was a Berryhill)[citation needed] and her first cousin is Damon Berryhill,[citation needed] who was a major league baseball player. In 1997, Berryhill and rock music journalist Paul Williams were married. Williams began to develop early-onset dementia as a result of his bicycle accident, which ultimately led to his requiring full-time care in 2009.[2] Williams died on March 27, 2013, after spending several years in an Encinitas nursing home.[2] Berryhill currently lives in Encinitas, California with their son, Alexander Berryhill-Williams. Partial discographyAll US releases unless otherwise noted. Albums
Singles and EPs
Compilations
References
External links
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