Turning up-and-coming talents into household names with her pristine voice is “karmically what I’m supposed to do,” she says rather nonchalantly.

)Ī teenage piano prodigy before picking up the guitar, Collins has always considered herself an “interpreter” of music. (She’s also the inspiration for Crosby, Stills & Nash’s iconic “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” hence the title of her juicy 2011 memoir. In the late ’60s, she made the then-obscure Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell famous with her versions of “Suzanne” and “Both Sides Now,” respectively her dreamy take on Stephen Sondheim’s ballad “Send in the Clowns” from his show A Little Night Music became a major pop hit in 1975, winning the Grammy for Song of the Year and her a cappella rendition of “Amazing Grace,” from her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales, was selected in 2016 for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, making it the definitive version of the oft-recorded Christian hymn. (It’s also her sixth album in six years.) “In a way,” she jokes of the late-career milestone, “I’ve had 50 years of practice to get it right.”Ĭollins might have been writing music for more than half a century, but she’s best known for her skillful reinterpretations of other songwriters’ work. After she released 28 studio albums over the span of six decades, the legendary folk singer’s latest LP, Spellbound, out February 25, marks her first record of original songs. Photo-Illustration: Vulture Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty ImagesĪt 82, Judy Collins still has a few musical tricks up her sleeve.

Judy collins stephen stills album