Holly Near is a unique combination of entertainer, teacher and activist. An immense vocal talent, Near’s career as a singer has been profoundly defined by an unwillingness to separate her passion for music from her passion for human dignity. She is a skilled performer and an outspoken ambassador for peace who brings to the stage an integration of world consciousness, spiritual discovery, and theatricality.
Holly was born to parents from North Dakota and New York who were political activists, ranchers, and supporters of culture in the rural community of Ukiah, California. Although she sang publicly from the time she was eight years old, Holly's professional career began in her early twenties when she worked in such film and television shows as Slaughterhouse Five, Minnie and Moskowitz, All In The Family, The Mod Squad, and The Partridge Family. She also appeared in Hair on Broadway.
Eventually music returned to become her major focus, especially that music which articulated the social conditions of the world community. After traveling with the Free The Army Tour in 1971, singing to soldiers who were resisting war and racism from within the military, Near started writing and singing songs. Following in the footsteps of such writers and Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, Beverly Grant, and Hazel Dickens, she added newly discovered feminist perspective to anti-war songs and developed a unique and recognizable style.
Near was probably the first woman artist to start an Indy record company when in 1972 she founded Redwood Records which became a major force in alternative music for nearly 20 years. Near’s vision for Redwood was to promote and produce music by politically conscious artists from around the world, a mission it fulfilled for almost two decades. Finding herself at the forefront of a growing feminist movement, Near worked for world peace and multi-cultural consciousness. The world was her university and social change movements informed her songs. She sang the secrets long before such ideas found space in the major media. Near helped support the work of artists from Nicaragua, Chile, Australia, Canada, England, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Vietnam, El Salvador, Mexico, and the United States. She was outspoken on such issues as gay and lesbian rights, a women's right to choose and domestic violence way before those subjects became acceptable conversation in the major media.
Holly has traveled from the fields of central California singing in support of The United Farm Workers to El Salvador where she sang for peace amidst war and conflict. Her songs were sung clandestinely in Latin American prisons and sung boldly by Irish and English women who joined together to protest war. Whether in support of nurses striking for better conditions in the emergency room or in opposition to racist violence on the police force, Holly sings a bold truth.
Twenty some years ago, there were no nationally or internationally known, out lesbian singers--Holly brought lesbian music to a larger audience. The music was a lifeline for thousands of people as they "came out." Holly's songs crossed the ocean and found their way to those who thought they were "the only one" or to those whose very lives were in great danger if they were found out. Lesbians in the military mentioned Holly's name as a code word while trying to find each other amidst the hostility of the barracks. For years, Holly would be a lone voice at folk festivals, peace rallies and Hollywood fund-raisers, not only daring to say the word, but often getting large crowds of people to sing "...We are gay and straight together, singing for our lives." Although Near now is in a relationship with a man, she is still a powerful voice for love and continues to include lesbian material in her work.
A peace activist and advocate for human and civil rights, Holly has linked the multitude of issues that are our lives, refusing the idea of separate "causes." When asked how she keeps her energy for this work, she smiles: "I am selfish. I reach for the world I want to live in. And I believe in leaving our best efforts as a gift to our children."
Amidst all her work for peace and human rights, Holly is a consummate singer and entertainer. When she sings show tunes or songs from the 30s, her audience knows that Ms. Near could have chosen to be a Broadway musical star or a cabaret artist. And yet, these great songs come through Holly's unique world experience and we hear them as if for the first time. Out of this gentle, vibrant woman comes a huge voice, a unique sense of humor, an unexpected theatricality and a startling power. The moment she feels trapped in a genre, she breaks into a song that challenges the boxes and stereotypes. It is tempting to want to claim her as one's own. However, Holly Near is very independent, full of surprises. She is one of a kind.
Near has released over 20 recordings and appeared as a guest on many others. She sang a duet with Mary Travers on Peter, Paul and Mary's Lifelines and does a beautiful rendition of “Quite Early Morning” for Where Have All the Flowers Gone, a 1998 retrospective of the music of Pete Seeger.
Holly is also the author of an autobiography, Fire In The Rain: Singer In The Storm (currently out of print), and a children's book, The Great Peace March. Her papers are archived with the Schlesinger Library at Radcliff.
Near teaches performance craft and song writing. She has been a cultural leader for over 35 years and now shares her experience in creative and challenging master classes. Her unique personal perspective makes the subject matter leap out of the books and into the room. Holly reminds both students and audience alike about the importance of their lives, and whenever they are with her, they feel a sense of being welcomed home. " Both as a participant and a leader, she bears personal witness to the hugely important role that music plays in political action movements.
Throughout her lengthy career, Ms. Near has used her performances to educate challenge, and inspire. The unifying and healing quality of her work explains the diverse nature of the groups who call on her to speak and sing. She presented the 2004 Ware Lecture for the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly in Long Beach, California; delivered the keynote address for Women Change America, a conference presented by the National Women's History Project at Smith College; spoke to participants at HerbFest in Iowa and the Bioneers Conference in California; and led a Martin Luther King Day celebration in Northern California. She participated and performed at the March For Women's Lives in Washington, DC and at the Stop The War demonstration in New York, NY.
In 2004, Holly joined Eve Ensler, Jane Fonda, Sally Fields, Christine Lahti, and noted Mexican performers, in the V-Day march in Juarez, Mexico to protest the uninvestigated killing of hundreds of young women. In Toledo, Ohio, she sat witness to the testimony of women reporting rape and other violence against women. Holly helped raise funds for 10,000 Kites, a collaborative anti-war project between young people from Israel and Palestine who in spring of 2005, flew kites over the wall that separated them.
Near participated in a two day filmed discussion with Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Harry Belafonte, and Pete Seeger that focused on political song, responsible citizenship, and the effect that protest music has had on public policy. The film, produced by Dr. Amy Horowitz, is in progress. Near’s portrait hangs at The Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio along with those of other social change artists including Paul Robeson, Marion Anderson, Pete Seeger, Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, Joan Baez, Harry Belafonte, and Woody Guthrie.
She has received numerous awards for her work for social change, including honors from the ACLU, the National Lawyers Guild, the National Organization for Women, NARAS, Ms. Magazine (Woman of the Year), and the Legends of Women's Music Award. Most recently, she was one of 1000 PeaceWomen nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.
Holly is not resting on her laurels, but continues to write and sing political songs with grace and humor. Holly Near's integrity earns her the reputation as one of the most articulate political artists of our time. Her newest CD, Show Up, proves that she continues to sing with a power and maturity that may only come from decades of love and fear, despair and inspiration.
