Full name: Angela Maria Difranco
Born on September 23, 1970 at Buffalo, New York
Having released her seventeen albums Ani DiFranco, is a singer, guitarist, artist, songwriter, women's rights and feminist icon for many.
At the age of nine, she started playing Beatles covers at local bars and busking with her guitar teacher, Michael Meldrum. In 1989 with just $50, Ani Di Franco at the age of eighteen, started her own record company, "Righteous Records" ( Later renamed as Righteous Babe Records in 1994).
DiFranco is the first musician to be honoured by the "Woman of Courage Award" (July 21, 2006) at the National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference and Young Feminist Summit in Albany, NY. Even Buffalo News quoted DiFranco as the "Buffalo's leading lady of rock music."
DiFranco's music is classified as inclusion of both folk and alternative rock, which made her reached across to the genres since her earliest albums. DiFranco has collaborated with a wide range of artists including folk musician, pop musician Prince, and many more..
DiFranco's is praised for sophistication in her lyrics , which often include alliteration,wordplay, metaphor, and a more or less gentle irony. DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized as a signature staccato style, which includes use of a plethora of alternate tunings and rapid fingerpicking, where she delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation.
Since 2003, DiFranco has been nominated four consecutive times for Best Recording Package at the Grammy Awards, one of which she won for Educated Guess., in 2004.
Studio albums :
1990 - Ani DiFranco
1991 - Not So Soft
1992 - Imperfectly
1993 - Puddle Dive
1993 - Like I Said: Songs 1990-91
1994 - Out of Range
1995 - Not a Pretty Girl
1996 - Dilate
1998 - Little Plastic Castle
1999 - Up Up Up Up Up Up
1999 - To the Teeth
2001 - Revelling/Reckoning
2003 - Evolve
2004 - Educated Guess
2005 - Knuckle Down
2006 - Reprieve
2007 - Canon
EPs :
1996 - More Joy, Less Shame
1999 - Little Plastic Remixes
2000 - Swing Set
Live albums :
1994 - An Acoustic Evening With
1997 - Living in Clip
1998 - Women in (E)motion
2002 - So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter
2004 - Atlanta - 10/9/03
2004 - Sacramento - 10/25/03
2004 - Portland - 4/7/04
2005 - Boston - 11/16/03
2005 - Chicago - 1/17/04
2005 - Madison - 1/25/04
2005 - Rome - 11/15/04
2006 - Carnegie Hall - 4/6/02
2007 - Boston - 11/10/06