Phoebe Legere

{{Infobox person

| name = Phoebe Hemenway Legere

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| death_place =

| nationality = American

| other_names =

| occupation = Artist

| known_for =

| notable_works =[https://www.foundationfornewamericanart.org/ Foundationfornewamericanart.org]

}}

Phoebe Hemenway Legere is an American pioneer of multi-disciplinary art.{{cite web|last1=Holden|first1=Stephen|title=Review/Cabaret; Phoebe Legere Flaunts Contradictions|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/04/09/arts/review-cabaret-phoebe-legere-flaunts-contradictions.html|work=New York Times|access-date=22 November 2017|date=9 April 1991}}{{cite web|last1=Boa|first1=Vienna|last2=Legere|first2=Phoebe|title=Art, Music, Money – Phoebe Legere with Vienna Boa|url=http://www.brooklynrail.org/2013/03/express/art-music-money|website=The Brooklyn Rail|access-date=22 November 2017|date=4 March 2013}}

She is a Juilliard-educated composer,{{cite web|last1=Dyroff|first1=Denny|title=On Stage: Phoebe Legere really is unique|url=http://www.unionvilletimes.com/?p=36021|website=The Unionville Times|access-date=23 November 2017|date=3 August 2017}} soprano, pianist and accordionist, painter,{{cite web|last1=Legere|first1=Phoebe|title=Artist, Phoebe Legere|url=https://painterphoebelegere.wordpress.com/|access-date=23 November 2017}} poet,{{cite web|last1=Ponce|first1=Roberto|title=Phoebe Legere, cabaret transgresor que reverdece|url=http://www.proceso.com.mx/308752|website=Proceso|access-date=22 November 2017|language=es|date=25 May 2012|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201043011/http://www.proceso.com.mx/308752|url-status=dead}} and film maker. A graduate of Vassar College{{cite news|title=Cabaret's New Star|url=http://phoebelegere.com/wheremagazine.jpg|publisher=Where New York|date=March 1991|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304041238/http://phoebelegere.com/wheremagazine.jpg|archive-date=4 March 2016|page=22}} with a four octave vocal range,{{cite web|author1=Vassar Historian|title=A Documentary Chronicle of Vassar College|url=https://chronology.vassar.edu/records/1987/1987-04-24-phoebe-legere-performs-with-blonde-fox.html|access-date=22 November 2017|date=24 April 1987}}{{cite web|last1=Holden|first1=Stephen|title=A New Generation Of Performers Is Revitalizing Cabarets|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/19/arts/pop-jazz-a-new-generation-of-performers-is-revitalizing-cabarets.html|website=New York Times|access-date=22 November 2017|date=19 August 1988}}{{cite web|last1=Lippencott|first1=Procter|title=Singer Steals Show|url=http://phoebelegere.com/nytimes.jpg|work=New York Times|url-status=dead|access-date=22 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222062809/http://phoebelegere.com/nytimes.jpg|archive-date=22 February 2014}}{{cite web|last1=Szabo|first1=Julia|title=Performer Phoebe Legere Returns To Vassar|url=http://newspaperarchives.vassar.edu/cgi-bin/vassar?a=d&d=miscellany19870417-01.2.38|website=Miscellany News, Volume LXXVII, Number 18|access-date=23 November 2017|date=17 April 1987}} Legere has recorded for Mercury Records in England, and for Epic, Island, Rizzoli, Funtone, ESP Disk and Einstein Records in the United States. Legere plays seven musical instruments{{cite web|title=A History of the Accordion in Americana Music|url=https://accordionamericana.com/category/accordion-americana-articles/|website=Accordion Americana|access-date=23 November 2017|date=1 September 2017}} and has released 15 CDs of original music.{{cite web|last1=Kenney|first1=Jay|title=Phoebe Legere Bringing Cajun Music and More to Orleans, Mass.|url=https://limelightmagazine.com/2015/08/21/phoebelegere/|website=Limelight Magazine|access-date=22 November 2017|date=21 August 2015}} She has appeared on National Public Radio, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS's City Arts, WNYC's Soundcheck, Charlie Rose and in films by Troma, Island Pictures, Rosa von Praunheim, Ela Troyano and Ivan Galietti, Abel Ferrara, Jonathan Demme, Ivan Reitman and many others.{{cite web|last1=Wildermann|first1=Patrick|title=Deutsche schmecken gut|url=http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/phoebe-legere-deutsche-schmecken-gut/7410448.html|website=Der Tagesspiegel|access-date=22 November 2017|language=de|date=20 November 2012}} Legere is of Acadian and Abenaki descent. She is a standard bearer of the Acadian and Abenaki renaissance in America.{{cite web|last1=Forson|first1=Kofi|title=The Demystification of Phoebe Legere: Language and Light|url=http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/2008-interview-with-phoebe-legere/1435|website=Whitehot Magazine|access-date=22 November 2017|date=June 2008}}

History

Legere's parents were artists and her grandparents were musicians. She began piano lessons at age 3, and learned the techniques of oil painting and draftsmanship when she was age 5. By age 9 Legere was a professional musician.{{cite web|title=Phoebe Legere's Old New York|url=https://bbook.com/good-night-mr-lewis-1-109/phoebe-legeres-old-new-york/|website=BlackBook|access-date=27 December 2017|date=14 February 2011}} {{cite web|last1=Lawrence|first1=Josh|title=The Real Phoebe Legere|url=http://easthamptonstar.com/Archive/1/Real-Phoebe-Legere|website=The East Hampton Star|access-date=23 November 2017|date=2 October 1997|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201044019/http://easthamptonstar.com/Archive/1/Real-Phoebe-Legere|url-status=dead}}

She had her debut at Carnegie Hall at age 16.{{cite web|title=Accordion Queen Phoebe Legere|url=http://sites.udel.edu/tmr/2017/10/24/phoebe-legere/|website=The Music Room on WVUD (University of Delaware)|access-date=23 November 2017|format=English language interview aired 24 October 2017|date=8 August 2017}} At 17 she became the Resident Composer for the Wooster Group working 9-5 M-F with Willem Defoe, Spalding Gray, Richard Schechner, Victor Turner and Ron Vawter. This grounding in experimental theater, performance art and music was the basis for Phoebe's MONAD, an all girl Performance Art rock band. While still a teenager she invented "Total Art Synthesis" a Universal Field Theory of the Arts. She was signed to Nemperor/Epic Records by Nat Weiss who was co-founder of Apple Records with Brian Epstein and John Lennon. She was a cultural leader in the East Village Renaissance. Her band Monad performed opening night at the Pyramid Club on Avenue A. She had formative friendships with Larry Rivers, Allen Ginsburg, Peter Beard, Don Cherry, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel, Crystal Field, David Bowie and many others.

As the opening act for David Bowie on his 1990 Sound+Vision Tour US tour, Legere played her original songs for 20,000 people a night.{{cite web|last1=Legere|first1=Phoebe|title='I Started to Fall Backwards': My Faint Recollection of Opening For David Bowie|url=http://bedfordandbowery.com/2016/01/i-started-to-fall-backwards-my-faint-recollection-of-opening-for-david-bowie/|website=Bedford + Bowery (based on an interview as told to Frank Mastropolo)|date=13 January 2016}} A huge forklift brought a white grand piano to the stage, where she performed with her seminal punk-rock band, MONAD:The Four Nurses of the Apocalypse.{{cite web|last1=von Bernewitz|first1=Robert|title=Phoebe Legere - Singer/Songwriter|url=http://musicguy247.typepad.com/my-blog/phoebe-legere-singersongwriter/|website=Musicguy247: A celebration of people involved in music|access-date=23 November 2017|format=Interview transcript|date=4 March 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Michael|title={{sic|NEIG|BORHOOD|nolink=y}} REPORT: LOWER EAST SIDE/EAST VILLAGE; Old Favorite Wheezes Back Into Bohemia|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/26/nyregion/neigborhood-report-lower-east-side-east-village-old-favorite-wheezes-back-into.html|website=New York Times|access-date=23 November 2017|date=26 May 1996}}

In 2000, with composer{{cite web|title=Powell, Morgan (1938-)|url=https://www.library.illinois.edu/sousa/archon/index.php?p=creators/creator&id=2154|website=The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign|access-date=23 November 2017|date=2012}} Morgan Powell, she co-wrote The Waterclown – a musical setting of her epic poem about water issues, "The Waterclown" – for the Cleveland Chamber Symphony.

Beginning in 2001,{{cite web|title=Hello Mrs. President presented by Phoebe Legere|url=http://www.accordionusa.com/ar_08_04.htm#16|website=www.accordionusa.com|access-date=23 November 2017|date=August 2004}} Legere worked as Head Writer, on-air host, and interviewer for Roulette TV, a collection of video programs broadcast online and on New York City cable television,{{cite web|title=ROULETTE TV|url=http://roulette.org/rtv/|website=Roulette TV|access-date=23 November 2017}}

that captures the creative process of live performance at "the extreme frontier edge of art and music" and is dedicated to experimental art and music.{{cite web|last1=Kelly|first1=Louise|title=Phoebe Legere "Marijuana Lollipop" Show - Opening Night of Big Gay Bay Area Tour|url=http://www.sanjose.com/phoebe-legere-marijuana-lollipop-show-e2254221|website=SanJose.com|access-date=23 November 2017|date=9 May 2015}}

Legere's musical invention the Sneakers of Samothrace were the subject of one episode of the programs on 9 December 2007. She was interviewed afterward by David Behrman, an American composer and pioneer of computer music, revealing that her first job was resident composer for The Wooster Group

and discussing in detail their influence on her art making.{{cite web|author1=Roulette Intermedium|title=Phoebe Legere|url=https://vimeo.com/11509214|website=Vimeo|access-date=23 November 2017|date=9 December 2007}}

Legere is Founder and archivist for the New York Underground Museum (founded 2006).{{cite book|last1=von Burden|first1=Zora|title=Women of the Underground: Music: Cultural Innovators Speak for Themselves|date=2010|publisher=Manic D Press, Inc.|location=San Francisco, CA|isbn=978-1-933149-19-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rfctDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT296|access-date=23 November 2017}}

In 2013, she created The Shamancycle, a four-wheeled alternative vehicle designed in the form of a moving giant eagle sculpture constructed from repurposed metal and powered by alternative energy and having room for 15 people, the idea for which came to her in a dream.{{cite web|title=Shamancycle|url=http://www.shamancycle.com/|access-date=23 November 2017}}

In 2015, Legere appeared on It's Me, Hilary: The Man Who Drew Eloise, an HBO documentary produced by Lena Dunham about Hilary Knight who is best known as the illustrator of Kay Thompson's Eloise series of children's books.{{cite web|last1=Stanley|first1=Alessandra|title=Review: 'It's Me, Hilary' Documentary Spotlights Eloise's Illustrator|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/arts/television/review-its-me-hilary-documentary-spotlights-eloises-illustrator.html|website=New York Times|access-date=23 November 2017|date=22 March 2015}}{{cite magazine|last1=Zuckerman|first1=Esther|title='Eloise' illustrator Hilary Knight talks new HBO documentary and his bond with Lena Dunham|url=http://ew.com/article/2015/03/18/hilary-knight-lena-dunham-hbo/|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|access-date=23 November 2017|date=18 March 2015}}

Legere was touring again in 2017,{{cite web|last1=Leighton|first1=Anne|title=Phoebe Legere is coming to town|url=http://bridgeportbanner.wixsite.com/robs/single-post/2017/04/26/Phoebe-Legere-is-coming-to-town|website=Bridgeport Banner w Rob Sullivan|access-date=23 November 2017|date=26 April 2017}}{{cite web|last1=Clyde|first1=Beth Ann|title=Phoebe Legere Returns to Her Roots|url=http://lipulse.com/2017/06/27/phoebe-legere-returns-roots/|website=Long Island Pulse|access-date=23 November 2017|date=27 June 2017}}

bringing art and music to the children in low income communities on behalf of her nonprofit Foundation for New American Art, founded in 2016.{{cite web|last1=Legere|first1=Phoebe|title=A Letter From Our Executive Director|url=http://foundationfornewamericanart.org/about|website=Foundation for New American Art|access-date=23 November 2017}}

Legere, who has Native American heritage,{{cite web|last=Hagan|first=Debbie|title=Returning to Her Roots|url=https://www.mvmag.net/2017/05/16/phoebe-legere/|website=Merrimack Valley Magazine|access-date=19 January 2018|date=16 May 2017}} has been an outspoken advocate for female, gay, Native American, and universal civil rights. She will represent North America at Cannes.{{update inline|date=June 2019}}{{cite web|author1=Afterglow Provincetown Live Performance Art Festival|title=Phoebe Legere|url=http://www.afterglowfestival.org/2017/06/phoebe-legere/|website=AfterglowFestival.org|access-date=23 November 2017|location=Provincetown, Massachusetts|date=28 June 2017|archive-date=1 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201033459/http://www.afterglowfestival.org/2017/06/phoebe-legere/|url-status=dead}}

She wrote and starred in the play Speed Queen: The Joe Carstairs Story, performing as multiple characters in a musical about the life of Marion Barbara 'Joe' Carstairs (1900-1993), the wealthy British power boat racer known for her speed and lavish lifestyle. The production combined storytelling, painting, sculpture, movie stars, costumes, and music.{{cite web|url=http://www.curvemag.com/Culture/Kickstarter-Trans-Heiress-Musical-2121/|title=Kickstarter: Joe Carstairs Trans Heiress Musucal|website=Curve Magazine|access-date=26 December 2017|date=11 September 2017|archive-date=25 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171225220449/http://www.curvemag.com/Culture/Kickstarter-Trans-Heiress-Musical-2121/|url-status=dead}}

Legere performed this transdisciplinary play seven times between March 7 and March 24, 2018, at Dixon Place, in the main performance space of the New York City theater organization dedicated to the development of artwork from a broad range of performers and artists.{{cite web|author1=Dixon Place|title=SPEED QUEEN: THE JOE CARSTAIRS STORY - Written and Performed by Phoebe Legere|url=http://dixonplace.org/performances/speedqueen/|website=DixonPlace.org|access-date=26 December 2017|date=26 December 2017}}

Personal life

Legere is single. She has never been married. {{Cite tweet |url-access=limited |title=Register |user=legere |number=1565540280165695489 |url=https://twitter.com/legere/status/1565540280165695489}} She is the aunt of "Criminal" and "This Is Love" podcaster Phoebe Judge.

Discography

Trust Me, 1986, Epic Records
Marilyn Monroe, 1989, Island Records
Phoebe Legere, 1993, Ripe & Ready/Dead Dog Records
Six Flights Up,1995, Funtone Records
Four Nurses of the Apocalypse, 1995, Mysterious Ways
1000 Kisses,1996, Funtone Records
[https://music.apple.com/us/artist/phoebe-legere/6262205 Last Tango In Bubbleland], 1997, Random Records
Blue Curtain, 2000, Einstein Records{{cite web|title=Phoebe Legere, Blue Curtain: Magically 14th Street|url=https://squareup.com/store/roulette/item/phoebe-legere-blue-curtain-magically-th-street|website=Roulette Intermedium|access-date=14 February 2018}}
Blind Pursuits, 2001 (with Jim Staley and Borah Bergman), Einstein Records{{cite web|title=Blind Pursuits|url=https://www.dramonline.org/albums/blind-pursuits|website=DRAM (part of Anthology of Recorded Music, Inc.)|access-date=4 January 2018}}{{cite web|title=Blind Pursuits: Jim Staley with Phoebe Legere and Borah Bergman|url=https://squareup.com/store/roulette/item/blind-pursuits-jim-staley-with-phoebe-legere-and-borah-bergman|website=Roulette Intermedium|access-date=14 February 2018}}
Children of the Dawn, 2007 (with Ken Little Hawk), Mysterious Ways
The Common Root of All Organisms, 2007 (with Morgan Powell and the Tone Road Ramblers), Einstein Records{{cite web|title=Morgan Powell, The Common Root: Tone Road Ramblers with text and vocals by Phoebe Legere|url=https://squareup.com/store/roulette/item/morgan-powell-the-common-root-tone-road-ramblers-with-text-and-vocals-by-phoebe-legere|website=Roulette Intermedium|access-date=14 February 2018}}
The Prairie, 2007 (with Morgan Powell and the Tone Road Ramblers), Einstein Records
The Imaginary Opera, DVD 2008, Einstein Records (Compilation with Kathy Supové, Oliver Lake)
Ultra Romantic Parallel Universe, 2009 (with Leo Abrahams), Unrest Cure, Mercury Records
Dark Energy, 2009 (with Eric Mandat and the Tone Road Ramblers), Einstein Records
Ooh La La Coq Tail, 2010, Mysterious Ways
Earth Singing World, 2010, ESP Disk
East Village/East Berlin 2013, Mysterious Ways
Acadian Moon, 2015, Big Moose Records
Heart of Love, 2017{{cite web|last1=Leighton|first1=Anne|title=Phoebe Legere|url=http://anneleighton.com/phoebe-legere-legere-and-legere/|website=Anne Leighton - Media * Music Services * Motivation|access-date=23 November 2017|date=9 March 2017|quote=Phoebe Legere's new Americana CD "Heart of Love" is out on Valentine's Day.}}

Plays

In 2001, Legere received a NYSCA grant to write The Queen of New England, an experimental multimedia opera about the Massachusetts Native American Holocaust.
Her musical, Hello Mrs. President, about the first African American woman president of the United States played four times in New York City. In 1991, the first woman president was played by Rock and Roll Hall of Fame star LaVerne Baker.
Her musical, Shakespeare and Elizabeth, about the life of Elizabeth l, premiered at Theater for the New City on December 5, 2013.{{cite web|last1=Litt|first1=Larry|title=Shakespeare & Elizabeth I: The Reality Show|url=http://www.nytheatre-wire.com/ll13123t.htm|website=New York Theatre Wire|access-date=22 November 2017|date=12 December 2013}}
Speed Queen, performed in March 2018.

Filmography

Mondo New York (1988){{cite web|last1=Parr|first1=Nicole|title=Accordion Queen Phoebe Legere|url=http://sites.udel.edu/tmr/2017/10/24/phoebe-legere/|website=Radio station WVUD at the University of Delaware|access-date=22 November 2017|date=24 October 2017}}
The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989){{cite web|last1=Magnotta|first1=Ernie|title=Review: "The Toxic Avenger Part II' (1989), Blu-Ray Special Edition From Troma Entertainment|url=http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/8646-REVIEW-THE-TOXIC-AVENGER-PART-II-1989,-BLU-RAY-SPECIAL-EDITION-FROM-TROMA-ENTERTAINMENT.html|website=Cinema Retro|access-date=14 February 2018|date=25 May 2015}}
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie{{cite web|last1=Canby|first1=Vincent|title=A Self-Doubting Monster Fights the Forces of Evil|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/10/movies/a-self-doubting-monster-fights-the-forces-of-evil.html|website=New York Times|access-date=22 November 2017|date=10 November 1989}} (1989)
King of New York (1990)
Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1991)
Le Marquis de Slime (1997){{cite web|title=Marquis de Slime|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0234205/|website=Imdb.com|access-date=3 January 2018}}
The Bar Channel (1998){{cite web|title=The Bar Channel|url=https://vimeo.com/19131747|website=Vimeo.com|access-date=3 January 2018}}
Sin City Spectacular (Episode #1.16)
The Naked Brothers Band (2007) Nickelodeon, Dir. Polly Draper
Wie ich lernte, die Zahlen zu lieben/How I Learned to Love the Numbers (2014) by Oliver Sechting & Max Taubert

References

External links

[http://www.phoebelegere.com/ Official Music Site]
[http://phoebelegere.wix.com/transmedia/ Paintings, Drawings, SoundArt by Phoebe Legere]
[http://www.Shamancycle.com/ The Shamancycle by Phoebe Legere]
{{IMDb name|id=0499294|name=Phoebe Legere}}

Category:American cabaret performers

Category:American women painters

Category:Living people

Category:American stage actresses

Category:American people of French-Canadian descent

Category:American women singer-songwriters

Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:American people of Acadian descent

Category:Vassar College alumni

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses