“Guess there’s something wrong with me, guess I don’t fit in” ~ Ani Difranco

American singer Ani DiFranco was born Angela Maria DiFranco and is a poet, singer/songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, United States and currently reside in the Bywater neighborhood of New Orleans with her family.

In 1989 at the age of 18, DiFranco started her own record company, Righteous Babe Records. DiFranco was one of the first independent musicians to create her own record label allowing her to have more creative freedom. She toured for the next 15 years and only slowed down to record records. She began performing in 1990 and has since released 20 folk rock / alternative rock albums.  She played in the Canadian and American folk scene over the years, becoming a household name.

In 1999, Righteous Babe Records began to release albums by other artists including Sara Lee, Buddy Wakefield, Anais Mitchell, and Nona Hendryx.

DiFranco married her producer, Mike Napolitano in 2009, and has two children, a daughter – Petah Lucia DiFranco Napolitano, and a son – Dante DiFranco Napolitano. She identifies herself as bisexual and has written songs about love and sex with women and men. She wrote a song called “In or Out” about the controversy about her sexuality.

“somedays the line I walk
turns out to be straight
other days the line tends to
deviate
I’ve got no criteria for sex or race
I just want to hear your voice
I just want to see your face”

~ Verse from “In Or Out” – ANI DIFRANCO

DiFranco’s music has been classified as alternative rock and folk rock and she has been prominent in other genres such as punk, funk, hiphop, and jazz. She mainly plays acoustic sets but also plays a wide variety of instruments and styles, from guitar, bass guitar, tenor guitar, vocals, percussion and piano.