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At her Chicago concert engagement earlier this spring, Cris Williamson entered from the back of the auditorium walking through a standing, applauding, and cheering crowd. Her small frame quietly and confidently ascended the stage. She took a deep breath, tilted her head back slightly, and sweetly sang her first number a cappella. The audience was under her spell. Bonnie Raitt once said, "The first time I heard Cris' music, it was like hearing honey dripped on a cello." And Cris' fans can never get enough of that rich honey.
To understand Williamson's music and her powerful appeal, you have travel back to the early 1970's and the beginning of what was known then as "women's music." In Washington, D.C. there was a group of radical feminists who wanted to start a women-owned business but didn't know what it should be. At that same time there was also a singer-songwriter, Cris Williamson, who came to town to give a concert. The day after the concert, during a radio show, Williamson suggested that a women's recording company would be a good thing. That was all the enterprising women, which included Meg Christian, needed to hear. Olivia was born, named after a pulp novel heroine. In 1974 Olivia released its first recording, a 45 single with Meg Christian on one side and Cris Williamson on the other. Through direct mail five thousand copies sold. Olivia's next release was Meg Christian's I Know You Know. Meg toured endlessly to sell the album and bring in money for the label. It eventually sold 60,000 copies. Then Cris Williamson's album The Changer and the Changed was released in 1975. It sold between 60,000 and 80,000 copies its first year and went on to become one of the best selling albums ever produced by an independent label. Williamson went on to become an icon.
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