Liz Phair

Liz Phair was born on April 17, 1967, in Connecticut. She is a singer, songwriter, composer, and a guitar player. Phair is mostly famous for such hits as “Supernova”, “Extraordinary”, and “Why Can’t I?”. She holds several awards, including BMI and ACAP Awards. Elizabeth Clark Phair was adopted in her infancy. With her new parents and brother Phillip, who was also adopted, Liz moved to Chicago suburbs. When Elizabeth was 7 years old, her family spent a year in the UK, where her father worked as a professor. That’s where Liz learned a pure British accent. In school, Elizabeth became interested in music. She learned how to play the guitar and piano. Soon the girl started writing her first songs. When she was 13, in summer camp, Liz met a famous actress-to-be Julia Roberts. Later, Phair talked about this friendship in her song “Chopsticks”. In 1985, Liz finished high school and enrolled at the school of Arts at Oberlin College in Ohio. Liz learned how to draw and earned money drawing decorations for politically-oriented artists such as Nany Spero and Leon Golub. At the same time, she was interested in indie music and met such groups as Codeine Bitch Magnet, Seam, and Come. Liz also made friends with a guitarist Chris Brokaw. After finishing college, she went to San Francisco with Chris to pursue a career as an artist. She failed to make a name for herself and decided to record a demo album called Girlysound. Eventually, the album became a big success.

In 1993, Phair released her first LP Exile in Guyville, which reached the 196th spot on Billboard 200. It sold almost half a million copies in the USA. In 1994, Phair released her second album Whip-Smart, which was much more successful on the charts than her first LP. It reached the 27th spot on Billboard 200 and earned a golden status in the USA. Her fourth album Liz Phair (2003) contained a hit song “Why Can’t I”. It received immense popularity in the USA. Phair went on to record two more successful studio albums Somebody’s Miracle (2005) and Funstyle (2010). She is expected to release another album in 2017. Phair works on a variety of other projects, including music videos and soundtracks to Hollywood movies.