Holly Near married, husband, age, albums, partner, family, career

Who is Holly Near?

Folk Singer, Songwriter, Political Activist, Entrepreneur, Actress, and Teacher are some of the labels to describe Holly Near. Near delves into serious topics while bringing tenderness to the human condition.

Don't Miss: Audrie J. Neenan

Age, Family and Early Life

Holly Near, 69-year-old, was born on June 6th, 1949 in Ukiah, California, USA and grew up in a ranch in Potter Valley, California, USA. Her first public performance was when at eight years old, at a local Veterans for Foreign Wars talent show. After which she began taking voice lessons and auditioned for Columbia Records at age ten. All through high school she continued to sing in talent shows, musicals and was even invited to sing by many local groups at their meetings.

After high school, she enrolled at UCLA under their Theater Arts program where she got to play soprano Sarah Brown in their play Guys and Dolls. Near had to leave the show as she got laryngitis and nodules were found in her vocal cords due to which she had to enter into an extended stretch of silence. She left UCLA after attending only one year.

TV, Movies, Albums, and Activism: Holly Near’s Career

Near started her career in 1969 with the film ‘Angel, Angel, Down We Go’ in which she played Tara Nicole Steele.

Near appeared in television shows through the year 1970 to 1991. ‘The Bold Ones: The Senator’ (1970), ‘Room 222’ (1970), ‘All In The Family’ (1971), ‘The Mod Squad’ (1971), ‘The Partridge Family’ (1973) and ‘LA Law’ (1991) are the shows she worked in. She also did a television movie ‘Mr. and Mrs. Cop’ in 1974. Near worked in several mainstream movies through 1969-1998 the likes of which were ‘The Magic Garden Of Stanley Sweetheart’ (1970), ‘The Todd Killings’ (1971), ‘Minnie and Moskowitz’ (1971), ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’(1972), ‘Dogfight’ (1991) and ‘Heartwood’ (1998).

Holly appeared in documentaries, which include ‘F.T.A’ in 1972, ‘The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time!’ in 1982, ‘In Our Hands’ in 1984, ‘Woody Guthrie: Hard Travelling’ in 1984, ‘Women of Summer’ in 1985, ‘Emma and Elvis’ in 1993, ‘The Power of Their Song: The Untold Story of Latin America’s New Song Movement’ in 2008 and ‘The Resurrection of Victor Jara’ in 2015 . In 2018, Jim Brown made a documentary on Near in 2018 called ‘Holly Near Singing For Our Lives’.

Near’s first album was ‘Hang In There’ released in 1973 under her own label Redwood Records. The album was in support of the people of Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The songs had controversial lyrics and included words like ‘Genocide’ because of which several recording companies refused to record it. So in 1972, Near established an independent record label. She was the first woman to do so.

Since then, Near went on to release thirty-one albums over forty-five glorious years. Her albums include ‘A Live Album’ (1975), ‘You Can Know All I Am’ (1976), ‘Lifeline’ (1983), ‘Edge’ (2000) and her latest album ‘2018’ which released in 2018.

Is She Married? Does She Have A Husband and Children?

Near came out as a lesbian in 1976 in an interview with the People magazine. She was in a relationship with musician Meg Christian for three years after the interview. However, she is currently in a relationship with a man since 1994. She refers to herself as monogamous rather than bisexual.