After a career spanning more than five decades, singer-songwriter Janis Ian plans to bid farewell with her latest album and tour. The Light at the End of the Line is her first new original material in fifteen years and marks the close of her long recording career.
Ian started writing songs as a twelve-year-old and that was far along in her musical journey. At her own insistence, she began piano lessons as a two-year-old and by her teens had mastered multiple instruments.
Janis Ian had her first hit single with a controversial song about interracial romance. “Society’s Child” was released three times between 1965 and 1967, finally becoming a hit after Leonard Bernstein featured it on a CBS television special.
“Society’s Child” reached No. 14 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It also drew controversy due to its subject matter. Ian said that the response, which included threats to her and her family, was scary, but it taught her a lesson about the power that a three-minute song could have.
“It was very difficult, and again, very scary,” Ian said. “But in retrospect, when I started being able to look at it with a little perspective, it was a great lesson. I still get people whose lives were changed by it, coming up to me and sending me emails letting me know that, so it’s also a privilege.”
Following her North American tour, Ian plans to tour Europe. After that, she said “I honestly don’t know” what’s in store. She’s looking forward to the idea of a week off email and the Internet, or going to a show in her hometown – now as an attendee rather than the performer.
“I’d like to just have the opportunity to get bored,” Ian said. “I think that would be amazing.”
