Jennifer Berezan

Folk singer Jennifer Berezan grew up in Calgary, Alberta, where she began playing the guitar at an early age. While attending a local Catholic high school, she was introduced to Bob Dylan by a teacher; her fascination with Dylan led to other folk-oriented musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Bruce Cockburn (all fellow Canadians). Berezan attended the University of Calgary, and after completing a degree in religion, she became interested and active in feminism. Marrying her social philosophies to the music in which she had previously observed only a passing interest, Berezan began playing seriously after she moved to Oakland, CA, in the mid-'80s. She became quite well-known around the Bay Area and in 1989 released her debut album, In the Eye of the Storm, recorded for her own Edge of Wonder label. For her second full-length, 1992's Borderlines, Berezan was nominated for the Best Adult Contemporary Album award by the National Association of Independent Record Distributors. Though Borderlines appeared on Flying Fish Records, she moved back to Edge of Wonder for the following year's Voices on the Wind, a collaboration with author Vicki Noble. Berzan's fourth album, She Carries Me, was released in 1995.