Basic Facts
Born: June 5, 1947, Wayne, Illinois
Type of Performer: Composer
Genre: Classical, avant-garde
About Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson was born in Illinois in 1947. She started playing violin at age five and performed with the Chicago Youth Symphony. In 1966, she moved to New York City to attend Barnard College, before attending Columbia for her Master's. After college, she taught art history for two years at the City University of New York while working on her recording and musical projects. Her first big single, O Superman, an eight minute track based on an opera, was released in 1980 and reached number two on the British pop charts to launch her career.
As a mutlihyphenate artist working in both visual and auditory mediums, Anderson's work has been featured in museums around the world. In 2003, the Musée Art Contemporain in Lyons featured an comprehensive look at her work throughout the years, and in 2010 a similar exhibit opened in Brazil. In 2008, the Museum of Modern Art acquired her "Self-Playing Violin" as part of their "Making Music" exhibit. As a composer, her work has been featuring in film, theater, and radio, including on NPR and BBC. Her orchestral compositions have been performed all over the world, including at Carnegie Hall and by orchestras in Stuttgart and the Netherlands. In 2002, she was appointed the first Composer-In-Residence at NASA, which culminated in her performance piece "The End of the Moon." More recently, her film, Heart of a Dog, was chosen as an official selection for the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals in 2015.
Anderson has won numerous awards, including the 2001 Tenco Prize for Songwriting in San Remo, Italy, and the 2001 Deutsche Schallplatten prize for "Life On A String". She has also won Guggenheim grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2007, she received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her contributions to the arts, and in 2011, she was awarded the Pratt Institute's Honorary Legends Award. In 2016, she received the Yoko Ono Courage Award for the Arts for her exhibition, Habeas Corpus. Anderson currently lives in New York City.
Listen
O Superman
The Water Rises/Our Street is a Black River, with Kronos Quartet
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