Phoebe Hemenway Legere is an American pioneer of multi-disciplinary art.[1][2]
She is a Juilliard-educated composer,[3] soprano, pianist and accordionist, painter,[4] poet,[5] and film maker. A graduate of Vassar College[6] with a four octave vocal range,[7][8][9][10] 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[11] and has released 15 CDs of original music.[12] She has appeared on National Public Radio, CBSSunday 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.[13] Legere is of Acadian and Abenaki descent. She is a standard bearer of the Acadian and Abenaki renaissance in America.[14]
Legere's parents were artists, 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.[15][16]
She had her debut at Carnegie Hall at age 16.[17] 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.[18] 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.[19][20]
In 2000, with composer[21] 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,[22] 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,[23]
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.[24]
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.[25]
Legere is Founder and archivist for the New York Underground Museum (founded 2006).[26]
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.[27]
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.[28][29]
Legere was touring again in 2017,[30][31]
bringing art and music to the children in low income communities on behalf of her nonprofit Foundation for New American Art, founded in 2016.[32]
Legere, who has Native American heritage,[33] has been an outspoken advocate for female, gay, Native American, and universal civil rights. She will represent North America at Cannes.[needs update][34]
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.[35]
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.[36]
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.[43]
^Lawrence, Josh (2 October 1997). "The Real Phoebe Legere". The East Hampton Star. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^"Accordion Queen Phoebe Legere"(English language interview aired 24 October 2017). The Music Room on WVUD (University of Delaware). 8 August 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^von Bernewitz, Robert (4 March 2017). "Phoebe Legere - Singer/Songwriter"(Interview transcript). Musicguy247: A celebration of people involved in music. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^Hagan, Debbie (16 May 2017). "Returning to Her Roots". Merrimack Valley Magazine. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
^Afterglow Provincetown Live Performance Art Festival (28 June 2017). "Phoebe Legere". AfterglowFestival.org. Provincetown, Massachusetts. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
^Leighton, Anne (9 March 2017). "Phoebe Legere". Anne Leighton - Media * Music Services * Motivation. Retrieved 23 November 2017. Phoebe Legere's new Americana CD "Heart of Love" is out on Valentine's Day.
