Liz Phair
Elizabeth Clark Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American rock singer-songwriter and musician.[1] Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to start a musical career in San Francisco, California, but returned to her home in Chicago, where she began self-releasing audio cassettes under the name Girly-Sound. The tapes led to a recording contract with the independent record label Matador Records.
For the album, see Liz Phair (album).
Liz Phair
Elizabeth Clark Phair
Girly-Sound
April 17, 1967
New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Singer-songwriter
- Vocals
- guitar
- piano
1990–present
Phair's 1993 debut studio album, Exile in Guyville, was released to acclaim; it has been ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Phair followed this with her second album, Whip-Smart (1994), which earned her a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, and Whitechocolatespaceegg (1998). Ten years after the release of her debut, Phair's fourth album, Liz Phair (2003), released on Capitol Records, moved towards pop rock, earning her a mainstream audience but alienating critics; the single "Why Can't I?" peaked at number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.[2]
After the release of her fifth album, Somebody's Miracle (2005), Phair left Capitol and released her sixth album Funstyle independently in 2010. In 2018, it was announced that Matador Records would be releasing a retrospective set for Phair's debut album Exile in Guyville, which includes remastered recordings from her original Girly Sound demo tapes. Phair released her seventh studio album, Soberish, in 2021. As of 2011, Phair had sold over three million records worldwide.[3]
Early life[edit]
Phair was born in New Haven, Connecticut,[4] on April 17, 1967.[5] She was adopted at birth by Nancy, a historian and museologist,[6] and John Phair, later an AIDS researcher and head of infectious diseases at Northwestern Memorial Hospital;[7] her mother later worked as a professor at the Art Institute of Chicago.[8][9] She has one older brother, also adopted.[10] On being adopted, Phair has said: "My parents were very responsible ... They were perfect about it ... I've never tried to find [my biological] parents. My friend who was adopted from the same home requested information and got back a four-page letter about her mother's life. She said it was jaw-dropping."[10] Phair was raised as a Christian.[11]
Phair spent her early life in Cincinnati until age nine, when her family relocated to the Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Illinois.[12] She graduated from New Trier High School in 1985. During high school, Phair was involved in student government, yearbook, and the cross country team, and took AP Studio Art her senior year, among many other advanced-level classes.[13] She attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, where she graduated in 1990 with a B.A. in art history.[14][6]
Career[edit]
1990–1992: Girly Sound tapes[edit]
Phair's entry into the music industry began when she met guitarist Chris Brokaw, a member of the band Come. Brokaw was dating one of Phair's friends, and stayed at their loft in SoMa one weekend. After living in San Francisco for a year, Phair went broke and returned to Chicago, moving back in to her family's home.[15] There, she began writing lyrics and playing guitar, recording songs on a four-track tape recorder in her bedroom.[15] She used the name Girly Sound on these recordings.[16] She became part of the alternative music scene in Chicago and became friends with Material Issue and Urge Overkill, two of Chicago's upstart bands to go national in the early 1990s, as well as Brad Wood and John Henderson, head of Feel Good All Over, an independent label in Chicago.[4]
1992–2003: Exile in Guyville; critical recognition[edit]
After asking Wood who the "coolest" indie label was, Phair called up Gerard Cosloy, co-president of Matador Records, in 1992 and she asked him if he would put out her record. Coincidentally, Cosloy had just read a review of Girly Sound in Chemical Imbalance that very day and told Phair to send him a tape. Phair sent him a tape of six Girly Sound songs. Cosloy recalls: "The songs were amazing. It was a fairly primitive recording, especially compared to the resulting album. The songs were really smart, really funny, and really harrowing, sometimes all at the same time. ... I liked it a lot and played it for everybody else. We usually don't sign people we haven't met, or heard other records by, or seen as performers. But I had a hunch, and I called her back and said O.K."
Cosloy offered a $3,000 advance, and Phair began working on a single, which turned into the 18 songs of Exile in Guyville.
Exile in Guyville was produced by Phair and Brad Wood, and released in 1993.[16] The album received uniformly excellent reviews. The album received significant critical acclaim for its blunt, honest lyrics and for the music itself, a hybrid of indie rock and lo-fi, and established Phair's penchant for exploring sexually explicit lyrics. By contrast, her trademark low, vibrato-less monotone voice[17] gave many of her songs a slightly detached, almost deadpan character.
The release of Phair's second album received substantial media attention and an advertising blitz. Whip-Smart debuted at #27 in 1994 and "Supernova," the first single, became a Top 10 modern rock hit, and the video was frequently featured on MTV. Phair also landed the cover of Rolling Stone with the headline "A Rock Star Is Born." The album received positive reviews, but not as acclaimed as the debut, but was certified Gold (shipments of at least 500,000 units). It ultimately did not sell as well as expected, as it was hoped the album would introduce Phair to a wider, more mainstream audience. Following Whip-Smart, Phair released Juvenilia, a collection of some early Girly Sound tracks and several B-sides, including her cover of the 1980 song by The Vapors, "Turning Japanese."
In 1994, Phair made several live television and radio appearances in an effort to promote Exile in Guyville and Whip-Smart; she appeared on Late Show With David Letterman performing "Never Said" and "Supernova", and on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno performing an acoustic version of "Whip-Smart". She also performed "Alice Springs" live on Good Morning America.
She also appeared on the MTV alternative rock show 120 Minutes performing "Never Said", "6'1", "Cinco de Mayo" and "Supernova" live at various times during 1994 and early 1995.
Phair's third album, Whitechocolatespaceegg, was released in 1998 after some delays, which included a disagreement about content; at one point, Matador rejected the album as submitted, and asked Phair to write a few additional radio-friendly songs for the set.[18] The album displayed a more mature Phair, and reflected some of the ways marriage and motherhood affected her. While the single "Polyester Bride" received some airplay, and the album received many positive reviews, it was no more successful commercially than her previous records. To promote the record, Phair joined Lilith Fair. Phair performed on the main stage along with acts like Sarah McLachlan, Emmylou Harris, Sheryl Crow and Missy Elliott. She also opened for Alanis Morissette on her 1999 Junkie Tour.[19]
Phair portrayed the role of Brynn Allen, opposite Robin Tunney, in the 2002 film Cherish.[20]
Personal life[edit]
In 1994, Phair began dating film editor Jim Staskauskas.[53][54] The couple married on March 11, 1995;[55] their son James Nicholas Staskauskas was born on December 21, 1996.[56]
In 2001, Phair and Staskauskas divorced,[45] after which Phair sold her home in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood and relocated to Los Angeles, California.[57] As of 2018, Phair resides in Manhattan Beach, California.[45]
She identifies as a feminist, and Exile in Guyville has been said to capture "the voice of third-wave feminism."[58]
Books[edit]
An April 2018 profile by Billboard revealed that Phair had signed a two-book publishing deal with Random House.[45] Horror Stories, the first of two planned memoirs, saw release on October 8, 2019.[59][60] Reviews of Horror Stories were generally favorable with several reviewers noting Phair's skills as a writer and her stark honesty in the book.[61][62][63]
Her second memoir will be called Fairy Tales.[64][65]
