ARTIST

Liz Phair

One of the most critically acclaimed artists of the '90s, Liz Phair released her 18-song debut, Exile In Guyville, in 1993. A flurry of rock-writer praise followed, with Exile selected as Album Of The Year by both the Village Voice and Spin, while Rolling Stone tapped Phair as Best New Female Artist. Phair was hailed as the forefront of both a new wave of frank female artists and of "lo-fi" style (thanks to Brad Wood's sparse production). Phair's 1994 follow-up, Whip-Smart, was also well-received, although it didn't make Phair the household name that had been expected.

Raised in an affluent Chicago suburb, Phair attended Oberlin College and struggled for some time as a visual artist before self-releasing a home-recorded cassette entitled Girly Sound. A musician friend passed a copy along to Matador's Gerard Cosloy, who signed her to his label and released Exile. While the album was highly praised, Phair's uncomfortable live shows were not and the artist developed a notorious case of stage fright which still persists. She also met her future husband, film editor Jim Staskauskas, while working on a video for Exile, and the focus of more songs on 1994's Whip-Smart concern the new-crush side of love (such as the first single, "Supernova"): a perspective found a bit alienating to some of her kindred-lonelyhearts fans from Exile.

After taking four years off to marry Staskauskas and give birth to their son Nicholas, Phair did a few Lilith Fair dates and then finally released her long-delayed third album, Whitechocolatespaceegg, in the fall of '98. Her first release in conjunction with major label Capitol Records, the album was produced by Scott Litt (best known for his work with R.E.M.), and might be Phair's long-awaited shot at superstardom.

Written by Mara Schwartz