Ginni Clemmens Explained

Ginni Clemmens
Birth Name:Virginia Mae Clemmens
Birth Date:February 28, 1936
Birth Place:Evergreen Park, Illinois
Death Date:February 15, 2003
Death Place:Maui, Hawai'i
Occupation:Musician, songwriter

Virginia Mae "Ginni" Clemmens (February 28, 1936 – February 15, 2003) was an American folk musician and songwriter in the genres of women's music and children's music. She was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2021.

Early life and education

Clemmens was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, the daughter of Glenn Edward Clemmens and Dorothy Cleo Groves Clemmens (later Friday). Her father was a big band musician and World War II veteran;[1] her parents divorced in 1946, and both remarried.[2] [3] She attended high school and trained as a nurse in California.[4]

Career

Clemmens worked as a pediatric nurse in California, and sometimes played her guitar or banjo for her young patients.[5] Back in Chicago, she taught guitar and banjo classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music. She performed in folk clubs and at music festivals and benefit concerts from the 1950s through the 1980s.[6] [7] [8] [9] Her first album, Sing a Rainbow (1965), and another, We All Have a Song (1977) featured children's music, and she performed in schools as part of Urban Gateways, a non-profit program to bring cultural programs to Chicago city schools.[10]

In 1976 Clemmens started her own label, Open Door Records, and released several more albums.[11] She also helped to produce the compilation album, Gay and Straight Together (1980).[12] [13] She organized and performed at women's music festivals in the 1970s and 1980s.[14] [15]

Discography

Personal life

Clemmens came out as a lesbian in the late 1970s. "When Ginni did come out, it was with a bang," said journalist Marie J. Cuda. She moved to Hawaii in 1988. She died in 2003, at the age of 66, from injuries sustained in a car accident on Maui.[18] [19] In 2021, she was posthumously inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.[20]

Notes and References

  1. News: 1935-07-23 . To Wed Next Week . 18 . The Daily Times . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  2. News: 1988-07-30 . Max Friday . 6 . The Dispatch . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  3. News: 1965-07-16 . Folk Singer Visits Mother in R.I. . 10 . The Dispatch . 2022-06-02 . Newspapers.com.
  4. Web site: Ginni Clemmens . 2022-06-01 . Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame . en-US.
  5. News: Kapos . Shia . 2003-03-09 . Popular Chicago Folk, Blues Singer . 1–17 . Chicago Tribune . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  6. Web site: Kubota . Gary T. . 2003 . Folk music songwriter once opened for Dylan . 2022-06-01 . Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News.
  7. News: Matre . Lynn Van . 1971-08-08 . From Chicago Folkies . 129 . Chicago Tribune . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  8. News: 1986-07-20 . Ginni Clemmens Performs July 27 . 43 . The Times-Mail . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  9. News: 1978-02-05 . YWCA to Welcome Ginni Clemmens . 73 . The Salt Lake Tribune . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  10. News: 1976-04-08 . Artists Appearing in County Schools . 6 . The Daily Sentinel . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  11. Web site: Ginni Clemmens . 2022-06-01 . Discogs . en.
  12. Web site: 2020-06-04 . "Gay and Straight Together" produced by Ginni Clemmens . 2022-06-02 . Smithsonian Music . en.
  13. Web site: Cuda . Marie J. . 2003-02-26 . Ginni Clemmens . 2022-06-01 . Windy City Times.
  14. Web site: Murphy . Charlie . April 2003 . Script . 2022-06-01 . Queer Music Heritage.
  15. News: 1985-05-17 . Women plan concert . 31 . The Bellingham Herald . 2022-06-02 . Newspapers.com.
  16. Web site: Clemmens . Ginni . 1965 . Sing a Rainbow and Other Children's Songs . 2022-06-01 . Smithsonian Folkways Recordings . en-US.
  17. Web site: Clemmens . Ginni . 1977 . We All Have a Song . 2022-06-01 . Smithsonian Folkways Recordings . en-US.
  18. Web site: February 28, 2003 . Ginni Clemmens Obituary . 2022-06-01 . Chicago Tribune, via Legacy.com.
  19. News: 2003-02-27 . Virginia Clemmons . 5 . The Dispatch . 2022-06-01 . Newspapers.com.
  20. Web site: Karlin . Rick . 2021-11-11 . Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame 2021 Virtual Induction Ceremony . 2022-06-01 . Daily Herald . en-US.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Ginni Clemmens".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.