Sharon Van Etten - Biography
Sharon Van Etten is a Brooklyn-based folk inspired singer/songwriter and guitarist. Van Etten grew up in a musical household, playing clarinet and piano as a child and performing in school musicals and choir. As a teenager, she taught herself to play guitar and write songs. In 2004, Van Etten began making home-recorded CD-Rs of her songs, and passed one to TV On The Radio's Kyp Malone. With Malone's encouragement, she relocated to New York City.
Van Etten self-released her first full-length, self-titled album in 2008. Her first official album, Because I Was in Love (2009), was produced by guitarist/producer Greg Weeks and recorded on his Language of Stone imprint label. That same year, Van Etten sang on The Antlers' critically acclaimed breakout record Hospice. She followed it up with Epic (Ba Da Bing!) in September 2010. Van Etten's third studio album, Tramp (Jagjaguwar), was released in February 2012 and was produced by The National's Aaron Dessner. Tramp debuted at number 75 on the Billboard Top 200 and was named #42 on Stereogum's Top 50 Albums of 2012. Her fourth album, the self-produced Are We There, is due out May 27, 2014 on Jagjaguwar.