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Sue
grew up in a big, music-loving family. Her mother played the piano,
her father played baritone ukelele and tenor guitar, all five children
played an instrument, and everyone sang. Sue started on ukelele
at age 8, moved to guitar at 11, and has been singing and playing
ever since. Music heard in her home while growing up included the
Beatles, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell,
Bonnie Raitt, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Stan Getz, Bach, and
Rogers and Hammerstein.
The
Youngs moved around, but mainly lived out west- in Seattle, Washington,
Salt Lake City, Utah and in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1977-78,
Sue spent a year in Quito, Ecuador studying at University of New
Mexico's Centro Andino. It was a magical time full of adventure
and learning. She traveled around South America and fell passionately
in love with Latin American music and culture. She began performing
in clubs around this time and continued after returning to the States.
She worked as a solo and in a duo in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. She
also sang with a trio that did folk music of North and South America,
and with Govinda, a jazz-rock fusion band, where her vocal style
was once compared to "Appalachian scat".
Sue moved to Austin, Texas in 1985 to be part of the live music scene. She wound up teaching music and Spanish to children and that led to a new career as a children’s songwriter and storyteller. Sue has delighted audiences at schools, libraries and festivals around the US, and her 2007 CD Release “The Legend Of The Quetzal – Tales and Tunes Of Latin America” received a Parents’ Choice Silver Honor Award and a Creative Child Seal Of Excellence. Her song “Deep In the Heart” was chosen as the 2009 Texas Summer Reading Club theme song.
The Austin years have seen Sue grow and mature as an artist and
a writer. The Albuquerque Journal calls her "one of the most versatile,
heartfelt singer/songwriters around." She's opened
shows for such luminaries as Lyle Lovett, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Jesse
Winchester and Kenny Rankin. Much of Sue's music these days is inspired by the spiritual influences in her life. She sings at churches, concerts and coffeehouses in Austin and throughout Texas and beyond. The Austin Chronicle describes her CD "From the Mother" as "lush and loving…executed with care and genius… an angelic voice". Her 2003 CD release "River of Life" was called “a beautiful, soul making album”.
Sue continues to live in Austin with her two beloved cats, Cisco and Little Girl.
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