Holly Near

Tickets cost $33 and $44 (including service charges). They are also available by phone through the South Broadway Ticket Office at 505-228-1029.

After 50 years of bold work, Holly Near is still one of the most consistent and well informed voices for change. Her work is loving, challenging, funny, thought-provoking, and remains rooted in the global community. As an outspoken singer and ambassador for peace, Holly brings a unique integration of world consciousness and self-evaluation, always growing and sharing experience humbly and boldly.

Holly discovered her unique and recognizable voice at an early age, learning to sing along with recordings of some of the world's great singers. After graduating high school, Holly attended UCLA but her academic journey ended after just a few months when she was spotted by agents and drawn into the world of film and television. 

In her early twenties, Near traveled with the Free The Army Show and the Indochina Peace Campaign; an experience that enabled her to learn about the function and consequences of the military industrial complex. While on the FTA tour in 1971 Holly was first introduced to the concept of global feminism. By 1974 she was crossing paths and sharing songs with the wave of new lesbian feminist performers such as Meg Christian, Cris Williamson, Linda Tillery, Mary Watkins, and Alive! Near dove into the feminist movement, trying to understand the depth of sexism and homophobia by turning those lessons into song.

Holly is known for the anthemic quality of some of her songs. As a songwriter she takes up the challenge of turning big concepts into small, personal stories. In response to the slaughter of the students at Kent State, she wrote "It Could Have Been Me."  And following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in San Francisco, she penned "Singing For Our Lives," which has become an anthem for the LGBTQ community and appears in the Unitarian Church hymnal. The chilling disappearance of people in Chile under the Pinochet dictatorship brought forth "Hay Una Mujer Desaparecida" to commemorate the women who had "been disappeared."

A recipient of dozens of awards from organizations such as the ACLU and the National Organization of Women, Holly was one of Ms. Magazine's Women of the Year recipients and has been nominated for Grammys as well as the Legends of Women's Music Award.