 
Ani DiFranco was born September 23, 1970, and grew up
in the Buffalo, New York area ("...where
everybody loads boxes on trucks"). Ani's
describes her upbringing as middle-class and typical
until her teens when her parent's unemployment and
eventual divorce left Ani deciding to support herself
at the age of 15 ("....it was just kind of like,
well, do you want to live with your dad, or you want
to go move to the woods with your mom? So I just get
a little apartment and make do..."). While doing
odd jobs and finishing school, Ani also began playing
and creating her music (Ani had been playing the
guitar since age 9). Ani later told Interview:
"When I made my first tape, I did get interest
from another indie label, but I thought, 'Do I want
to rich and famous? No, I just want a job, so I'll be
my own record company.'" Although Ani's fame has
grown over the 90s, she continues to remain true to
original roots of lyrically- (and often politically)
strong music.
Ani's desire to mix her independence and her music
led her to create her first LP, Ani
DiFranco,
and self-distribute the work through her own
Righteous Babe Records. Ani's fanbase began to slowly
grow as she toured small clubs around the U.S. With
Righteous Babe Records, Ani earns twice as much per
CD sold as most major music artists.
Ani released Not
So Soft
which highlighted her versatile guitar skills.
Ani released Imperfectly.
Ani released Puddle
Dive.
Ani released Out
Of Range.
Option said of Ani, "...(she) should be out
in the big leagues, but major-label hype would kill
her fragile balance between activism and
self-revelation..."
Ani released Not A
Pretty Girl and found herself gaining more and more
attention from mainstream music journalists with the
track "The Million You Never Made,"
"Shy," and "Light Of Some Kind."
Rolling
Stone
said of Ani: "...few have done battle with
vigor, determination and brooding honesty of Ani
DiFranco, a talented and fiercely independent
singer/songwriter..."
Ani released Dilate.
Ani released the EP, More
Joy Less Shame, which contained live and alternate
versions from previous LPs.
Ani released Living
In Clip -
a double live LP recording and she also contributed
vocals to Bruce Cockburn's LP.
Ani toured North America with Bob Dylan.
Ani was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance - Female ("Shy").
Little
Plastic Castle was released. Rolling
Stone
described the LP as "...a clever, thoughtful,
relatively quiet record that gets better with every
spin..." She also surprised many of her fans
when she got married during the spring.
Ani also hit the pop charts in a roundabout way when
an interpretation of her song "32 Flavors"
became a hit for newcomer, Alana Davis.
Ani next LP, Up Up
Up Up Up Up, was released and the self-produced LP
is said to be stripped-down and simple with a dose of
funk. She told SonicNet: "I think that
I have more and more musical ideas as I get older.
Basically, I just have more ideas about a lot of
things. I feel like I've only really just started my
personal, musical, journey... I come from folk
music... and I think that my sound in the beginning
was folk-oriented.. finger-picking and singing
verse-chorus-verse... and I think that my mind is
just starting to go in its own, new little
directions..."
Ani was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance - Female ("Glass House").
Ani won the OutMusic Award at the Gay/Lesbian
American Music Awards (GLAMA) and was also nominated
for Best Rock/Alternative Song ("Little Plastic
Castle") and Female Artist of the Year.
Fellow
Workers
was released.
VH1: 100 Greatest Women of Rock
& Roll includes Ani at # 90.
 To
The Teeth
was released.
Ani appeared at a benefit honoring actress, Susan
Sarandon in New York.
Ani embarked on a world tour starting in Japan and
travelling through Australia and eventually the U.S.
in April.
Ani was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance - Female ("Jukebox") and Best
Contemporary Folk Album (Fellow
Workers).
Ani was nominated for a Gibson Guitar Award for Best
Acoustic Guitarist (Female).
Ani toured with Gillian Welch and Greg
Brown at smaller venues.
Ani released Swing
Set and
toured in the fall.
Ani released Revelling/Reckoning - a 2 CD set with 29 tracks.
Ani cancelled an appearance on The Late Show With
David Letterman after she was unable to perform
the song "Subdividion" (a song about racism
from Revelling/Reckoning) on the show.
Ani gave a benefit concert in New York for Buffalo's
performing arts high school where she attended.
Ani's next LP, So
Much Shouting So Much Laughter, was released - a collection
of live recordings from her US tour of this year.
Included on the LP is the track "Self
Evident" which Ani wrote about the 9/11
terrorist attacks.
Ani began touring with Bob Dylan in Australia and New Zealnd.
Ani released Evolve.
Ani released Educated
Guess.
The LP featured Ani on all the instruments as well as
backing vocals.
Ani released Knuckledown.
Ani was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk
Album (Educated
Guess).
Ani could be heard on Cyndi
Lauper's
LP The
Body Acoustic on the tracks "I'll Be Your
River" and "Sisters Of The Avalon."
Ani was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package (as
art director with Brian Grunert for Knuckledown).
Ani released Reprieve (Billboard peak: # 46 - Entertainment
Weekly: A).
Ani was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording
Package (awarded to art directors) (Reprieve with Brian
Grunert).
Ani released Canon (Billboard peak: # 89).
Ani released her next LP Red
Letter Year (Billboard peak: # 55).
(available at  )
Ani released Which
Side Are You On.
  
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