Thank you to all of you who write so beautifully of your heart and soul. I'm a 19 year old living in Florida, recently finished my freshman year in college. I'm writing this RIGHT after listening to New York Tendaberry, and I've got to say, I've never had an emotional connection with an artist like I've had with Laura (particularly the album I mentioned). She seems to open up something beautiful within the listener, at least those with good taste ;)
I dread the fact that I'll never be able to meet her or see her live. She's been such an inspiration to me and just imagining her singing songs like "Tom Cat Goodbye" and "Gibsom Street" (not to mention later songs like "Smile") leaves me in awe. However, I know the woman is in peace wherever she is, and I couldn't ask of anything better for someone so sincerely talented and capable of producing such beautiful art.
I hope that wherever she is, she knows that her music transcends generations and that her spirit carries onto even the next century.
With love,
Pedro I remember the riveting chords of Laura's song, "Money." I don't think it was covered as much as some of her other treasures, but I had never heard the piano used in such a syncopated way before - cataclysmically erupting under Laura's pristine vocals. And that melody was like be-bop. C'mon. Who did that at that time with just a voice, piano and some heartfelt lyrics? Lisa No one I remember seeing a show on PBS back in New Jersey with laura at the piano and no other musicians, must have been in 1967 or 1968, I think it was when her first album was recorded.
I've been a fan since then and got to see her a few times in concert in California A long time ago, I tried to find this but the staff at PBS came up empty handed. I first found Laura's music in the summer of 69 at the age of fourteen. I have been her fan and had the wonderful experience of seeing her perform live at the Bottom Line in Manhattan as well as at Nightstage in Cambridge Mass. I have most if not all her albums and a few duplicates on cassette and CD. My favorite song of hers would be Emmie, closely followed by Timer. All her compositions were wonderful. I'm not sure who is reading this, but if there is a Laura Nyro group with whom to correspond, I would love to participate.
By the way, I am a heterosexual male, age 55 which I believe puts me in the minority of her dedicated fans. I would like to purchase any and all re-mastered releases of her music. Please write back as I am serious, Laura made an indelible impression on my life at an early age and that impression has not diminished through my life. So many interests of my youth are no longer prominent in my mind. The fact that Laura stands out to this day speaks of her importance and individuality. It must have been about 1968 or so I was turned on to Laura's music by my mother. I was so curious about her and I tried to find out all I could. At the time I was about 14 or 15 years old. I don't know why I related to her so much, but I was enthralled every time I played her album. I was going through so much soul searching at the time realizing I was different from my friends and her music calmed me and gave me strength to come out and revel in who I was. I remember that my crazy aunt who ate flowers took me to my first concert and it was Laura Nyro. It was the best night of my life, it was New Years Eve and if I remember correctly it was in The Fillmore East on the lower east side in Manhattan. Now approaching 55 years old, I can only say Thank God for you Laura, your melodies always makes my heart smile... Marcia How lucky to have had an aunt who ate flowers! Seems she also had a wonderful and rare feeling for life and art. I see in the NY Times that a home-made video just before Laura's death was shown at the Memorial performances. Are you going to integrate that into the planned movie? We all miss her and look for her everywhere! Yes, we will use "Musical Architecture". Laura, I just finished reading your biography by Michele Kort. It was wonderful spending time with you. I loved Emmie, in fact it was one of the songs I have loved most in my life. My best friend, a musician played it for me in 72. It celebrates love and women in a way I had never heard before, it really had the way to move me and still does.
The book was interesting, I didn't know that you were quite SO bohemian or nurturing. I learned that you loved to eat, loved feeding others and enjoyed taking your time. No one could push you into anything you felt disinclined to do. I just want to say that you are a goddess and a poet in addition to all your musical talents and genius. I love listening to you on my ipod as I walk, drive and dance. Although we never met, I listened to all of your songs and feel that we have always been friends. Just want to reach out beyond and say thanks for being you, sorry you had to leave so soon. Stoned Soul Picnic, Sweet Blindness, It's Gonna Take a Miracle. BRAVO dear heart. Hope all is well on the other side And When I Die, maybe I'll get to meet you there yet.. Time and Love forever. Your fan, Cathy I first listened to Laura Nyro around 1970. Her voice somehow turned pain into joy, uncertainty into hope, longing into resolution. She was not too fashionable to listen to for a male teenager in the UK, I would not rush to tell friends ‘Hey have you heard Laura Nyro’s music!’ It was a private pleasure. I suspect many people enjoyed her enormous talent, sensitivity and range without shouting it from the rooftops. That seems to be the irony of Laura Nyro. She was understated - in contrast to her voice which was so, so underrated. It’s not a perfect comparison as she is superior in so many ways to Amy Winehouse. But the voice I first listened to in the late 60s & early 70s, on reflection, had sense of impending tragedy. What a loss. But she’s stood the test of time; she’s on my ipod and gets five stars. If I had to name one favourite: Lazy Susan. Perfection.
Ian, Cambs, England I became a fan in my twenties. I still remember, sitting there in my apartment alone on a cold fall evening, listening to Laura's music (I loved The First Songs, Eli of course and Christmas) and going off into dreamland while listening to her brilliantly creative music and her soulful voice. As the years have passed I have become more aware of her full volume of work. It is a treasure of masterpieces that will never be equaled. It was good to hear Mother's Spiritual this evening. I missed it a quarter century ago when it came out. Now my grandchildren are almost the ages my children were then. I don't know when I would have had the time to really listen to it then. This evening I only heard it, the grandkids running around it is still hard to find time to listen. I'll have to put it on my mobile phone and seize a listen as I can.
I did read the new liner notes. They made me homesick for that area around Putnam County, Danbury and northern Westchester. I do believe that there is something there that creeps into the soul that fills you with peace when you are in nature there in a way that doesn't happen anywhere else. When you leave, you leave it behind and the emptiness is there scratching, fraying, waiting. Most times I can push it out of my mind and ignore it. But the beauty of this album and knowing where it came from made that not only impossible but not something I wanted to do. I wanted to enjoy the emptiness, to fully realize what I was missing. I am so tempted to fill the car with gas, grab a credit card and leave a note saying "I'll be back in time for the wedding, I needed to go back home." But I won't. Maybe after the wedding. I'm feeling frayed and I need a good mending. Laura was the only person in my life who I did not know personally and yet truly loved with all my heart.
Stephen What was one of Laura's first albums? Was it called, It's not a hit, or something like that. It had Lazy Susan, He's a Runner, California Shoeshine Boys, etc. Help!! "More than a new discovery" 1966 or "The First Songs" 1973 Being a big Fan of Kenny Rankin, while looking into his passing,
he mentioned Laura Nyro as the one who most influenced him,
now i'm inspired following the strand that connects these song masters of what they do musically, it's those that keep me company with their inspiration warms my soul on what sometimes can be
life's lonely road. Billy I cannot tell you how much I enjoy this talented lady's voice, phrasing and pure singing ability. There isn't a singer in the world whose album I would buy. I always buy the song, not the singer. Ms. Nyro is the single exception. I especially like her songs with the "girl group" and "do-wop" influences. She could have sung the New York phone book and I would have bought it.
I love her live version of Smokey's "Ooh, Baby, Baby."
(BTW - didn't that clown yelling out "Stoney End" at the beginning of the song get the memo that he was supposed to shut up? Is there a version without his drunken self-centeredness?) Laura and I were friends as children and teenagers. She spent every summer at her Aunt Ester's home in Long Island. Esther was my mother's closest friend and like an aunt to me. I must have been 14 when I heard Billie's Blues for the first time, it has never left me. Laura sat at the grand piano in the living room , and I remember her saying, as if it were yesterday, "hey I wrote a song , want to hear it".
I wonder; did I really understand then what I was witness to. Some much sadness, and loss in her passing.
In remembrance,
Helena I never met Laura Nyro but I saw her once in Ravinia and once at the Park West in Chicago. When I was in my radio class at Valparaiso University, I did an hour show on her work--wish I still had the tape and history. Today, as I was sifting through my 10,000 iPod songs today, I came across her works again. I'm 55 years old and listening to any song--ANY song--is like coming home. I often wondered why more artists don't record her works. As I listened again, it became so apparent. They simply can't. She keeps me centered, grounded, inspired, and all the other trendy words you can use for keeping me human. Thank you Laura Nyro. I miss you so much...thank God your music is still with us.
"C" Miller Laura was an angel on earth. I can only think what beautiful music she is making elsewhere...and you KNOW there is an elsewhere with her. Her music has taken me more places than any I have ever heard. She was here and was quietlly, magnificently human and loving. I love you Laura. I knew you. You knew me. Thank you. For forty years I have heard the name Laura Nyro but never explored her music. In 2009 I purchased her first album, The First Songs. Wow! Within the first few notes I knew there was something so special about Laura. Purity keeps coming up. As i listen to the songs for the fifth time tears streak down my eyes as she cuts to the essence of the songs message. You feel the despair of Stoney End of wanting love or the holy reverance of When I Die. I hope that she is singing with angels now, I feel really blessed to hear her timeless tunes now.
Bart Laura was my camp counselor at Camp Eva in the early 60's. Am I the only left out there?? I was fortunate enough to see her perform years later at Carnegie Hall, but I was too shy to wait backstage to try and get in a hug for old times sake. Every song she wrote for Color War took first place. She was amazing and wonderful and I'm so lucky to have real memories of having known her. My daughter discovered Laura all on her own and now we rock out together singing along to music that is timeless and ageless. I think of her often and miss her always....... Wendy I grew up during the era in which Laura wrote and performed her wonderful music and like a few others who have commented on this site, am sorry to say that I did not know of her until now. When I saw her pictures and read the words to her songs (many of which I recognized as being produced by other artists), I was moved to tears by her beauty and talent. As one person said - Laura did not write and perform music, she was music. I plan on buying her CD's and telling my son, daughter, and any other special people that I know about her. Thank you Laura - you are still reaching people! Just today I discovered Laura's music for the first time. When she passed away I was only 11 years old - but I still can't believe I've never heard of her! I'm so glad for websites like YouTube, and this one too. I hope they continue to keep her memory alive for generations to come. I'm really loving her music, I'm planning on buying some of her music today.
so much love for laura and rightly so she was and is a star making music so soulful and joyous essential listening for any true music lover boy i feel lucky to have seen her live in her later years in london thank you for such beautiful songs...."MIRACLE" remains one of greatest lps ever made(no.8 in my top 309) steve herts england For me Laura, will always be that New York "feelin'. A native New Yorker myself. I first heard her sing when I was home on leave from the military back in the late 60's. She got a hold on me and it never let go. I did a gig for Armed Forces Radio where I was the DJ and director of music at the station. I had friends send me Laura's records from back home. The response was awesome and it made me feel great. Yea whenever I hear Laura's voice I get that New York Feelin/ FRANK Great story. Thanks Laura has been part of my life since I first heard her sweet voice sometime around 1967 - 1969. That was one of the most wonderful times of my life. Whenever I hear Laura's voice it brings back many warm memories of that time and the woman I shared it with. Forty years is a long time for someone to be a part of your life and your memories. Thank you Laura.
Ron There is a hole, a void in the music I love that only Laura can fill. After reading that she had passed away (years ago), I remember angrily writing a mental sticky note to God – “WHY? You really do take all the good ones too soon!” I stopped listening to her music for a long time and if I had to explain why it was partially because it was too painful to think that she wasn’t here among us anymore and partially because it is just the way I deal with emotions I find difficult to process. (I file it away somewhere until I can deal with it).
In 1969, I was introduced to Laura by a good friend via Eli and the Thirteenth Confession. I’m sure I never looked at or listened to music quite the same way again, especially lyrics. I do know how to surry, that God is a jigsaw timer and I can count on one hand the people I know who would even have a clue as to what I was talking about. Fortunately I did get to see her perform twice. We tried real hard to see her at a show at Duke University but security wasn’t going to allow it so we gave one of the guards flowers, and a can of tuna fish and begged him to see that she got it. We knew she would understand the tuna fish…. the guard of course did not.
So, that brings me to the present. I was adding Laura’s catalog to my ipod as the vinyl I have is simply worn out. One thing led to another and I stumbled on to this web site (thank you for that) and it pulled Laura’s file out of that “deal with it later” pile I told you about . I was caught off guard by the profound sense of loss I still feel. But, that is ok this time around and it really feels good to listen to her again. My apologies if this sounds cliché but it is said that music is the language of the soul and that one’s eyes are a window to it. Laura Nyro’s music and eyes speak loudly of the depth of her soul and wherever she is, I hope she knows how many people she still touches.
Beautifully expressed. Thank you. It was 1969. I was 18. Ashamedly,(or unashamedly, since we really can't know everything about everyone), I had no knowledge of Laura nyro. I was shopping for LP's in a local music store. Someone who worked there was a Laura fan. So, I'm wandering around aimlessly and then my blood ran cold and my hair stood up on my arms as I heard Laura for the first time. I remember it like it happened yesterday. It was like an epiphany. The song was Timer. Love at first sight. I inquired who that great soprano was. I was informed and the love affair has continued to this day. How can one describe what Laura's voice and piano virtuoso and musical arrangements and passion etc. etc. has done for those of us who love her. Wish I had time to write more. Maybe I will in the future. Can someone help me? I can't find a Laura Nyro songbook. On Amazon all I get are paperback books about her life etc. Reading about her life is not objectionable to me, it's just not what I want right now. I want to play her music on my keyboard. Please help if you can. Thank you
Jim Cherry Lane Music has a Song book and a Lyrics book.
