Ani DiFranco

Widely considered a feminist icon, Grammy winner Ani DiFranco is the mother of the DIY movement, being one of the first artists to create her own record label, Righteous Babe Records, in 1990. She has released 23 albums traversing folk, punk, hip-hop, soul and electronic genres and addressing a range of autobiographical, political and social issues. Her latest music releases include Unprecedented Sh!t (2024) and the 30th anniversary edition of her seminal album Not A Pretty Girl (2025). DiFranco is also an author and Broadway performer. Her memoir No Walls and the Recurring Dream was a New York Times Top 10 best seller in 2019, and her children’s books The Knowing and Show Up and Vote are out now. Her next book The Spirit of Ani is out in March 2026. In addition, DiFranco completed a 5-month run on Broadway as ‘Persephone’ in Hadestown in 2024.  

Rejecting the major label system has given her significant creative freedom. She has referenced her staunchly-held independence in song more than once, including in "The Million You Never Made" (Not a Pretty Girl), which discusses the act of turning down a lucrative contract, "The Next Big Thing" (Not So Soft), which describes an imagined meeting with a label head-hunter who evaluates the singer based on her looks, and "Napoleon" (Dilate), which sympathizes sarcastically with an unnamed friend who did sign with a label. After recording with Ani in 1999, Prince described the effects of her independence. "We jammed for four hours and she danced the whole time. We had to quit because she wore us out. After being with her, it dawned on me why she's like that – she's never had a ceiling over her."

Her lyrics are rhythmic and poetic, often autobiographical, and strongly political. “Trickle Down” discusses racism and gentrification, while “To The Teeth” speaks about the need for gun control, and “In or Out” questions society’s traditional sexuality labels. "Play God" has become a battle cry for reproductive rights while “Revolutionary Love” calls for compassion to be the center of social movements. Rolling Stone said of her, "The world needs more radicals like Ani DiFranco: wry, sexy, as committed to beauty and joy as revolution." 

Over the years she's performed at countless benefit concerts, donated songs to many charity albums, and given time and energy to many progressive causes. She has advocated against the death penalty and the carceral state throughout her career, including producing and releasing an album of incarcerated writers in 2020, Long Time Gone. She is a strong proponent of restorative justice and has worked closely with The Southern Center for Human Rights and The Innocence Project. In 2004, she marched in the front row of the March for Women's Lives along with Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofalo, Whoopi Goldberg, and many others, later performing on the main stage. She has beaten the drum for voter registration and turnout with "Vote Dammit" tours in multiple presidential election years. She's currently on the board of The Roots of Music, an organization that provides at-risk youth with academic support and musical education in New Orleans.

As an iconic songwriter and social activist, she has been the inspiration for artists and entrepreneurs for over two decades. She has been featured on the covers of SPIN, Ms., Relix, High Times and many others for her music and activism. From Alice Walker to Amy Schumer, Ani is respected by wordsmiths across milieux and generations. She blazed the trail for self-directed artist careers and has been cited by musicians from Prince to Bon Iver as an inspiration. 

Ani has been the recipient of many honors and awards, including a Grammy for Best Album Package (Evolve), the Woman of Courage Award from the National Organization for Women and the Woody Guthrie Award. At the 2013 Winnipeg Folk Festival she received their prestigious Artistic Achievement Award and an honorary doctorate from the University of Winnipeg. In 2017, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from A2IM (a nonprofit trade organization that represents independent record labels) and the Outstanding Achievement for Global Activism Award from A Global Friendship. In 2020 she earned the People’s Voice Award from Folk Alliance International. In 2021 she was named a Champion for Justice by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and was also given the John Lennon Real Love Award.