She was born Joan Chandoz Baez on 9th January 1941 on Staten
Island, New
York, to a Quaker family.Her father, Albert, is the co-inventor of the X-ray
microscope and author of one of the most widely used physics textbooks in
the U.S.She started singing as a busker in
the Boston/Cambridge area and performing in local clubs, mainly Club
47.Her professional career
started in 1959 at the Newport Folk Festival.She introduced people to Bob
Dylan as well as being
romantically involved with him until 1965.She was very involved as a civil rights activist, for
which she was jailed for a month in 1967.From 1968-1973 she was married to David Harris who was a
prominent Anti-Vietnam War protester and organiser.They had a son, Gabriel Earle, who
now makes musical instruments.In the 1970s she helped establish the US
branch of Amnesty International and in the early 1980s she founded her own
human rights group Humanitas International.She was prevented from performing in Chile,
Brazil and Argentina
in 1981 because they were worried about her criticism of their human rights
practices.She received a
Distinguished Leadership Award from LCAV in July 2006.She successfully sued Al Capp for
libel after she was portrayed as Joney Phoney in Li'l Abner.Until she was in her forties she
saw a therapist to assist her in handling stage fright.Her
younger sister was the singer and guitarist Mimi
Farina
.
