Holly Near

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Holly Near (born June 6, 1949 in Ukiah, California) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, mentor, and activist.

Early years

Holly Near was born in Ukiah, California, United States, and she was raised on a farm in Potter Valley, California. She was eight years old when she first performed publicly, and she auditioned for Columbia Records when she was ten years old. She appeared in all the top school musicals, talent shows, and was often invited to sing at local service clubs, such as the Soroptimist Club, Lions Club, and Garden Club. Eliza Doolittle, a senior student at Ukiah High School, appeared in the production of My Fair Lady. Nearly attended summer arts camps in Perry, Colorado, and Ramblerny Performing Arts, where she trained with jazz musicians Phil Woods and his wife, Chan Parker (Parker married to Woods but retained the name Parker from her earlier, common law marriage to Charlie Parker).

Near began singing with three boys who identified themselves as the Freedom Singers, a folk group modeled after The Kingston Trio. They began to sound more like The Weavers, with three male voices and one female. Nearly learned of the original Freedom Singers who performed as part of the Civil Rights Movement later today. Nearby will soon meet Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, a scientist who would have a major influence for the next 40-plus years, an unidentified one to her. She'll also collaborate with Ronnie Gilbert, a female singer from The Weavers.

Nearly enrolled in UCLA's Theatre Arts program in freshman year; in the UCLA production of Guys and Dolls, she took the lead. Nearby was preparing in a lower range and had nodules on her vocal cords and had to leave the program. She went into a long period of silence before her voice returned. After one year, she left UCLA and began to work in film and television, as well as with anti-war organisations like Another Mother for Peace.

Personal life

Near became a feminist after her travels in the Pacific with the FTA show, comparing international feminism and anti-war activism. Near came out as a lesbian in 1976 and began a three-year friendship with musician Meg Christian. In addition to her international peace work, she also included LGBT issues in her social justice work as she continued to perform social justice music both locally and nationally. Despite being one of the lesbian community's most popular artists, Near was also aware that "monogamous" characterized her sexuality more than any other category.

Since 1994, Near has been in a relationship with a man. However, she does not identify as bisexual. When asked why in a 2010 interview with JD Doyle about Queer Music Heritage, she replied, "nothing."

Near is dedicated to the rights of LGBT groups in the United States, and it continues to advocate for the establishment of a societal forum for plurality. "For those people, sexual identity and/or gender identity is the primary door through which they walk." It is what nationalized them. It's what fuels their emotional and spiritual viewpoints. I'm completely committed to this. Despite that my sexual preference is probably 5th or 10th on my personal list of priorities right now, I will continue to encourage everyone to have self-determination over our bodies, our identities, and our relationship choices."

Nearby in 2014 was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had successful surgery and radiation but not chemotherapy, thanks to early detection, but not for chemotherapy.

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Career

Near's career began in 1969 with appearances in various shows, including Table 222, All in the Family, and The Partridge Family. She has appeared in Angel, Angel, Down We Go, Slaughterhouse-Five, Minnie and Moskowitz, among other Angels. She appeared in the 1991 film Dogfight, much later.

She appeared on First National Nothing's only record If You Sit Real Still and Hold My Hand, You Will Hear Absolutely Nothing, which was released on Columbia Records in 1970.

Near was a cast member of the Broadway musical Hair in 1970. Following the Kent State shootings in May of that year, the entire cast staged a silent vigil in protest. Her reaction to the shootings was "It Could Have Been Me" (released on A Live Album, 1974). She appeared on the FTA (Free The Army) Tour, an anti-Vietnam War road show of music, comedy, and plays for soldiers, many of whom were fighting war and bigotry within the military. Fred Gardner, an antiwar activist, and actress Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland arranged the tour. Near was just 21 and the youngest member of the troupe.

Near founded Redwood Records in 1972 to produce and promote music by "politically aware artists from around the world." She was one of the first women to found an independent record store. Nearly's record company went out of business in the mid-1990s due to financial difficulties.

Near has worked with a diverse range of artists, including Ronnie Gilbert, Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bonnie Raitt, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bernice Johnson Reagon, Bernard Browne, Kathryn Bromson, Kerry Baez, Phil Ochs, Harry Belafonte, and many others, as well as Chilean exile group Inti-Illimani's

Fire in the Rain, Singer in the Storm was near's autobiography in the early 1990s. A one-woman performance based on the book's tales will be published later in the year with her sister Timothy. The performance was on view at The Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, as well as shows in San Francisco and off Broadway in NYC. Nearly Capella performed "We Are Gentle People" and "Fired Up" a capella at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C. in April 2004.

She has a discography of 29 albums as of 2019. She is still performing as a performer and composer, and her website has started selling CDs that feature tracks from her out-of-print albums. Singing For Our Lives" is the Unitarian Universalist Association's official hymnal, and her album "We Are A Gentleman" appears in Singing the Living Tradition (Hymn #170). In an episode of Quaker Friends called "Six Feet Under," Quaker Friends performed the hymn. The same song, "Singing for Our Lives," appeared in the Australian independent film The Lives We Lead, alongside its theme song "I Am Willing," another protest song written by Near.

Many of the tributes to Pete Seeger and Ronnie Gilbert, two members of the seminal folk group The Weavers, were held near.

Near has been honoured at several of the GALA Choruses Festivals, a gathering of GLBTQ choirs and choruses, as well as a general public performance. She appears as a soloist in several of the choruses, and many of her songs have been scheduled for choral singing.

Nearly released a new album titled 2018 focusing on topics such as the climate, aging, domestic violence, and Puerto Rico's unresolved storm damage as a result of Hurricane Maria. Nearly Near, a documentary film made by director Jim Brown in October 2018, debating Near's life and work at the Mill Valley Film Festival.

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