Cindy Lee Berryhill

Cindy Lee Berryhill (born June 12, 1965) is an American singer-songwriter, co-founder of the New York Antifolk movement, who recorded multiple albums, hit singles, and compilations over the years.

Berryhill was born in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California and grew up in various parts of California, and began playing the guitar at the age of ten, which then led to her love of songwriting.

Her debut album Who's Gonna Save The World? (Rhino/Capitol) came out in October 1987 and was followed by the Lenny Kaye-produced Naked Movie Star (Rhino/WEA) in 1989.

In 1995 her boyfriend and husband-to-be, rock writer Paul Williams suffered a brain injury in a bicycle accident, and Berryhill put off the making of her next album until 1996's Straight Outta Marysville.

In 1997, Paul and Cindy were married.

In 1999, Berryhill's novel, Memoirs of A Female Messiah, was released along with a live album entitled Living Room 16.

After the birth of Berryhill and Williams's son in 2001, she began a song cycle that included the song "Beloved Stranger", that was inspired by her experiences with her husband's brain injury and the awareness that many soldiers were coming home from war with similar injuries.

In Allmusic's online Cindy Lee Berryhill Biography entry (2008), Richie Unterberger wrote, "The San Diegan's 1987 debut, Who's Gonna Save the World?, may be her best simply because it is her most straightforward. Then as now, she was most effective, ironically, at her most basic and serious."

By contrast, Stewart Mason in his four and a half star review of her third album, calls it her "first completely solid and intriguing effort".

Berryhill, like Brenda Kahn, Paleface, Beck, Michelle Shocked and John S. Hall were early proponents of the New York City Anti-folk movement.

She is featured in the documentary Mariposa: Under a Stormy Sky along with Emmylou Harris, The Violent Femmes, Daniel Lanois and others.

It would be another six years before her third album Garage Orchestra (Cargo/Earth) would be released.

Garage Orchestra was a tin-can-pop inflected departure from her earlier folkier albums and garnered a 4-star review in Rolling Stone.

In 2008, the album Beloved Stranger (Populuxe) was released.

Berryhill's second cousin was the surfboard shaper Dale Velzy (his mother was a Berryhill) and her first cousin is Damon Berryhill who was a major league baseball player and now works for the Braves.

Berryhill married rock music journalist, Crawdaddy Magazine founder, Paul Williams.

Paul began to develop early onset dementia as a result of his bicycle accident, which ultimately led to him requiring full-time care in 2009.

Paul died on March 27, 2013, after spending several years in a nursing home.

Berryhill currently lives in Encinitas, California with their son, Alexander Berryhill-Williams.

Her seventh album, The Adventurist was released on March 10, 2017, on Omnivore Records.

All US releases unless otherwise noted.