Linda Gail Chorney (born 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and award-winning filmmaker, originally from Sudbury, Massachusetts.
A 1978 graduate of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, Chorney never graduated from the University of Miami. Her 2011 album, Emotional Jukebox, gained notoriety after receiving a nomination for the 2012 Grammy Award in the category of Best Americana Album.[1] [2] [3] Her nomination, gained through a self-promotion strategy that relied heavily on social media, attracted both praise and criticism. Some media outlets characterized the nomination as a victory for independent artists, while others suggested she was "gaming the system," due to the fact that she was unknown by executives within the Americana Music Association.[4] Despite her nomination in the Americana Grammy category, she has never been nominated for any awards by the Americana Music Association.[5] In 2013, Chorney released a book entitled Who the F**K Is Linda Chorney, detailing the experience. In 2015 Chorney helped fund a bronze statue of a victim of the 2013 Boston Marathon Tragedy at Bridgewater State University, through the efforts of her song, "Martin."[6]
In 2016 Chorney produced her first documentary The Opening Act, which won 2 Best Documentary Awards,[7] With her new film, The Opening Act, she once again pulls back the curtain and in 2018 Chorney produced her first feature film, When I Sing.[8], garnering critical acclaim. In 2021, she was belatedly nominated for a Grammy in the American roots song category, after her name was absent from the official nominations though some early news accounts had listed her as a nominee.[9]
Chorney has been a resident of Sea Bright, New Jersey, and wrote a song about her experiences with flooding in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.[10]