Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a band with your mother? What if your mother were an accomplished singer, songwriter, performer and author? And your father a renowned singer/songwriter in his own right, much like your half brother and sister?
Suzzy Roche and her daughter Lucy Wainwright Roche have been touring together for a several years. Their recording “Fairytale and Myth,” the first recording collaboration between them, won the Vox Pop Best Singer/Songwriter CD for the Independent Music Awards. They are about to release a new CD called “Mud and Apples.” Their show is a fun filled evening of smart, thoughtful songs with plenty of familial harmonies.
Suzzy Roche is a founding member of the singing group The Roches, with her sisters Maggie and Terre. Active as performers and recording artists since the mid-1970s, The Roches were known for their unusual and rich harmonies, quirky lyrics, and casually comedic stage performances. Their song “The Married Men” became a hit — not for them, but for Phoebe Snow. After Snow and Linda Ronstadt performed the song in a duet on Saturday Night Live, the Roches were invited to perform on the show a few months later in 1979. They appeared twice on the Tonight Show and once on Late Night with David Letterman. In 2008 they performed with Paul Simon as part of his month-long retrospective at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Suzzy has recorded over fifteen albums, written music for TV and Film, and toured extensively for thirty years across the U.S. and Europe. “Zero Church: an unusual collection of prayers,” a collaboration with her sister Maggie Roche and developed at Harvard’s Institute on the Arts and Civic Dialogue, was originally staged at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn, and has been performed around the country. Suzzy has been an associate member of The Wooster Group, the experimental theater company based in New York City, and performed with them for over twenty years internationally and in the US. Her children’s book Want To Be In A Band (Random House) was published in February 2013. Wayward Saints (Hyperion/Voice) is her first novel and was a selection of the Spring 2012 B&N Discover Great New Writers Program.
Lucy Wainwright Roche has been compared to Joni Mitchell and Patti Griffin by NPR. She is the daughter of Suzzy Roche and Loudon Wainwright III, and the half sister of Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright, but has her own career as a touring songwriter and recording artist. Her latest solo collection is the critically acclaimed “There’s a Last Time for Everything.” In 2015 she collaborated with her sister Martha on “Songs in the Dark,” a collection of lullabies. Currently touring in the US and UK, Lucy is known for her crystal clear voice and straightforward humorous stage presence.
THE CHCAGO TRIBUNE’s recent review of Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche’s performance at The Space in Evanston Illinois said “Their voices intertwined in gorgeous union…mother and daughter had the room in the palms of their talented hands. This was a glittering little gem of a show.”
Lucy and Suzzy take the Fripp Island Friends of Music stage on Sunday, March 20, at 5 pm, at the Fripp Island Community Centre, 205 Tarpon Boulevard. Be prepared for a most delightfully entertaining evening! Tickets at the door are $25 for adults, $10 for students. All attendees get a free pass at the Fripp gate and are invited to join the artists and your fellow attendees at a complimentary catered reception following the performance. For more information, visit http://www.islc.net/friendsofmusic/ or call (843) 838-6655.
