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Virginia Mae "Ginni" Clemmens (February 28, 1936 – February 15, 2003) was an American folk musician and songwriter in the genres of women's music and children's music. She was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 2021.

Early life and education

Clemmens was born in Evergreen Park, Illinois, and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, the daughter of Glenn Edward Clemmens and Dorothy Cleo Groves Clemmens (later Friday). Her father was a big band musician and World War II veteran; her parents divorced in 1946, and both remarried. She attended high school and trained as a nurse in California.

Career

Clemmens worked as a pediatric nurse in California, and sometimes played her guitar or banjo for her young patients. Back in Chicago, she taught guitar and banjo classes at the Old Town School of Folk Music. She performed in folk clubs and at music festivals and benefit concerts from the 1950s through the 1980s. Her first album, Sing a Rainbow (1965), and another, We All Have a Song (1977) featured children's music, and she performed in schools as part of Urban Gateways, a non-profit program to bring cultural programs to Chicago city schools.

In 1976 Clemmens started her own label, Open Door Records, and released several more albums. She also helped to produce the compilation album, Gay and Straight Together (1980). She organized and performed at women's music festivals in the 1970s and 1980s.

Discography

• Sing a Rainbow and Other Songs for Children (1965)
• I'm Looking for Some Longtime Friends (1976)
• We All Have a Song (1977)
• Wild Women Don’t Get the Blues (1981)
• Lopin Along Thru the Cosmos (1983)
• Underneath Hawaiian Skies (2001)

Personal life

Clemmens came out as a lesbian in the late 1970s. "When Ginni did come out, it was with a bang," said journalist Marie J. Cuda. She moved to Hawaii in 1988. She died in 2003, at the age of 66, from injuries sustained in a car accident on Maui. In 2021, she was posthumously inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.

References

1. "To Wed Next Week". The Daily Times. 1935-07-23. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Max Friday". The Dispatch. 1988-07-30. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "Folk Singer Visits Mother in R.I." The Dispatch. 1965-07-16. p. 10. Retrieved 2022-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
4. ^ "Ginni Clemmens". Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
5. Kapos, Shia (2003-03-09). "Popular Chicago Folk, Blues Singer". Chicago Tribune. pp. 1–17. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
6. Kubota, Gary T. (2003). "Folk music songwriter once opened for Dylan". Honolulu Star-Bulletin Hawaii News. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
7. Matre, Lynn Van (1971-08-08). "From Chicago Folkies". Chicago Tribune. p. 129. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Ginni Clemmens Performs July 27". The Times-Mail. 1986-07-20. p. 43. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "YWCA to Welcome Ginni Clemmens". The Salt Lake Tribune. 1978-02-05. p. 73. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "Artists Appearing in County Schools". The Daily Sentinel. 1976-04-08. p. 6. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "Ginni Clemmens". Discogs. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
12. ""Gay and Straight Together" produced by Ginni Clemmens". Smithsonian Music. 2020-06-04. Retrieved 2022-06-02.
13. ^ Cuda, Marie J. (2003-02-26). "Ginni Clemmens". Windy City Times. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
14. Murphy, Charlie (April 2003). "Script". Queer Music Heritage. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
15. "Women plan concert". The Bellingham Herald. 1985-05-17. p. 31. Retrieved 2022-06-02 – via Newspapers.com.
16. Clemmens, Ginni (1965). "Sing a Rainbow and Other Children's Songs". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
17. Clemmens, Ginni (1977). "We All Have a Song". Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
18. "Ginni Clemmens Obituary". Chicago Tribune, via Legacy.com. February 28, 2003. Retrieved 2022-06-01.
19. "Virginia Clemmons". The Dispatch. 2003-02-27. p. 5. Retrieved 2022-06-01 – via Newspapers.com.
20. Karlin, Rick (2021-11-11). "Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame 2021 Virtual Induction Ceremony". Daily Herald. Retrieved 2022-06-01.

External links

• Ginni Clemmens at AllMusic

• 1936 births
• 2003 deaths
• People from Evergreen Park, Illinois
• Musicians from Chicago
• Women's music
• Songwriters from Illinois
• LGBTQ culture in Chicago
• Lesbian songwriters
• American lesbian musicians
• American LGBTQ songwriters
• American women songwriters
• American folk musicians
• LGBTQ people from Illinois
• 20th-century American songwriters