One of my favourite women singers and songwriters will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame April 14, 2012.
Laura Nyro was a child prodigy teaching herself to play piano and composed and sang her first song at eight years old.
Laura wrote many songs which other singers had number one hits with. Eli’s Comin’, And When I die, Stoned Soul Picnic,… and many others. She was so personal in her songwriting and aeons ahead as a feminist. A soulful r ‘n b singer, a contemporary of Joni Mitchell. I heard that Barbra Streisand used to watch Laura perform when they were both starting out. You can check out her story here.
They recently used one of her songs, altered slightly for GLEE, Wedding Bell Blues. . http://rockhall.com/inductees/nominees/laura-nyro/
Laura was born October 18 1947 in New York. She was a Libra, but there was no exact birth time, so her moon could have been in Late Scorpio or early Sagittarius. I was not surprised that her songs were so personal,deep, raw and intense when I saw her astrology chart.
Laura had a very difficult MARS, PLUTO, SATURN conjunction in LEO. Difficult karma with men, power, shadows, authority. She had drug problems,was a heroin addict but kicked it. All that LEO Star power- she was very much the Queen of her own career.
Lots of Scorpio sexual energy of course.
Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Chiron. Her North Node was in Taurus as befits so sensual and pragmatic a singer.
She died April 8 1997 of ovarian cancer at the same age her mother did from the same disease.
Laura was one of my musical heroines. I listened to and sung along with many of her albums for hours upon hours for many years. I even named my son Elijah after her song ELI’S comin’, although i wasnt conscious of that.
Interesting that after all these years, fifteen to be exact, half a Saturn return, the planet Saturn is now crossing her Natal Sun at 23 degrees of Libra and she finally gets the recognition she deserves, posthumously. Saturn represents worldly position and fame. Saturn is reality, bottom line. It works like this.
A whole new generation will get her songs. She opened up and wrote about her deepest feelings and sesires as a woman, the songs were like reading her most private diaries. Takes a lotta courage to do that. The Confession 1968, has to be the sexiest most raw song ever written. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue4vkHSjPMU
But I also loved her 60’s Motown and girl group covers he did with Patti Labelle. Here’s is It’s Gonna Take A Miracle
If you have Saturn and Pluto conjunctions and most of you born in 82 and 83 have this signature. You have many power and control issues, are prone to depression and have many demons and shadows to fight with internally. In Libra you are all having your first Saturn return now. Its time to grow up. You were born when the first wave of mass divorces happened as the Women’s liberation movement rippled throughout North America. So committment to relationships is not so easy for many of you. We don’t have precedent for equal balanced relationships. Your generation gets to create the first new template of equal union in LOVE.
Advice during the hard knock times of your First or Second Saturn return: I consult for clients via SKYPE
contact me at taragreene@sacredartscentre.com
Tara Greene,Tarot Reader, Astrology Psychic 
Nice write up, thanks. Um…. I’m a Pisces…. I have no idea what Planets are buzzing around me, or what effect they are having, but I DO know that I love Laura Nyro with all my Heart. I only recently discovered her, and she’s quickly taken over as my all time favorite Female Artist. Her voice is the most amazingly Beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. I’m not the most Spiritual Guy on the Planet, but I often find myself saying “Thank you” out loud to her after listening to her Music, in the hopes that somewhere out there, she will know that lots of People Love her, and that she’s still winning new Fans. I’m very proud to be in Laura’s Tribe, and I send congrats out to her on her RARHOF induction night!
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Hi Artamus
I like your nom de plume, of course you are a Pisces with a tag name like that. So glad you love Laura Nyro, she was an amazing genius, an inspiring woman, she died too young but has left us her amazing voice and songs to enjoy for ever. Someone told me that Barbara Streisand used to watch her perform when they were both young up and coming performers in Greenwich Village in New York. Apparently La Barbara picked up some nuances from Laura.
What’s your favourite songs?
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Hi Tara.
I really didn’t expect to become such a hard core Laura-holic, she took me by surprise! I’ve always loved the songs “Stony End”, “Eli’s comin'”, and especially “Stoned Soul Picnic”, but I never knew that they were all written by the same Person, or that She recorded her own original versions, all I knew were the covers that the radio played.
One night back in September 2011, I was listening to the 5th Dimension’s version of “Stoned Soul Picnic” on Youtube, and I noticed Laura’s original was posted on the “Related” side bar. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it, and while I wasn’t expecting much – I can honestly say, I then experienced the greatest Musical epiphany I’ve ever known. There was something about her voice, and the way she delivered the song, that just blew my mind into the stratosphere.
I quickly checked out her original recordings of the other songs she wrote that had been hits for other Artists, and in each case, Laura simply mopped the floor with the “Hit” versions that I’ve adored since childhood, – and she made it look easy! I haven’t listened to any of the covers since, and I have no desire to. Laura’s is the only voice I care to hear singing them from now on. I am equally impressed with her album cuts that didn’t get the radio cover treatment, she is absolutely astonishing, I consider her to be a one Woman equivalent to the Beatles!
I wouldn’t be surprised if Barbara Streisand was inspired by Laura, her cover of “Stony End” is one of the very few that even begins to compare to Laura’s originals(Laura did 2 slightly different takes, one for the album, and one as a single that was a tad more upbeat with a few lyrics altered – Barbara basically did the single version, but with the lyrics from the album version.) I kinda wish Barbara had shown up at the RARHOF ceremony to perform “Stony”, but Sara Bareilles did a decent, if slightly show boaty job of it.
As for favorite songs…. Of course I still love “Eli”, “Stoned”, and “Stony”(even more so now that I’ve heard the REAL versions!) Also, “Gibsom street”, “Beads of sweat”, “Buy and sell”, “My innocence”, “Gardenia talk”, “Angel in the Dark”, “American Dreamer”, “Farmer Joe”, “Woman’s Blues”, “the Confession”, “The Brown Earth”, “The sweet sky”, “Luckie”, “Lu”, “Captain for Dark mornings”, Mercy on Broadway”, “Sweet blindness”,”Melody in the sky”, “Midnight Blue”, – Heck, I could go on all day, let’s just say, ALL of them really! I bought her albums on cd, and I’ve also purchased them again in MP3 format for my computer, and now I’m collecting her stuff on vinyl – I bought a turntable just so I could play them. ;))
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that’s so fabulous. I never got to see her live. she just inspired me from the word get go. Some people dont’t get her.
she is the most raw, women songwriter. Bless her soul. ”
And when i die, and when I’m gone, there’ll be one child born in this world to carry on, carry on.”
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I guess “Raw” is one way to describe her – as in raw emotion, that goes straight to the Heart! 🙂
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well she is, in a way that I haven’t found any other singer do. So Feminine, so real. Luckily her energy and her messages live forever. Music is an amazing elixir of the Soul. Pisces are also naturally empathetic, spiritual, musical, actors,artists, psychic, dreamers, meld with everything. I am not surprised you got totally immersed with Laura. Enjoy.
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I like a lot of Female Musical Artists, and I know some of them were directly inspired by Laura. But not many of them have anything like the awesome combination of delightfully imaginative Songwriting skills and the ability to perform those Songs with more Soul than one would think is Humanly possible, that Laura did. About the only newer Artist who is kind of in that same league, i.m.h.o. is Ladyhawke. She doesn’t sound like Laura, and she plays Guitar, not Piano, but I think they have a lot in common when it comes to Musical integrity, and creativity.
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Very interesting! I came to this site to learn more about one of my favorite recording artists and a fellow Libra.. I’m using a mObile device & seem toi be having an incredible amount of TrouBle wIth this message! I
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HI Mike thanks for coming to learn about your fave singer you mean Laura Nyro? Sorry you are having trouble with the message. its’ ok.
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