Born on April 12, 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia, Amy Ray is best known for being one-half of the Indigo Girls an extremely popular folk-rock group. Amy and Emily Saliers met in when Amy was in fifth grade, and began playing together in high school under the name "Saliers and Ray" or "The B-Band". Amy recorded a solo tape in 1982, "Color Me Grey", which had no cover songs.
Amy began college a year after Emily, studying English and religion at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. But both Amy and Emily were dissatisfied with life away at school, and moved back to Atlanta to attend Emory University in 1984. Reuinited, they began playing together again, and adopted the name Indigo Girls; Amy picked the word indigo out of the dictionary because she thought it sounded "cool". That same year,
Indigo Girls made their recording debut with an independently released 7" single "Crazy Game"/"Everybody's Waiting (For Someone to
Come Home)" and a mostly-live cassette called "Blue Food". At around the same time, Amy released an updated version of "Color Me Grey", including an early version of her song "Nashville".
One thing led to another, and Amy and Emily were signed to Epic records in 1988, and released their first major label record, titled simply Indigo Girls. It was modestly successful, and Amy, seeing her friends who had inspired her musically struggling to be recognized, started Daemon Records two years later, in 1990. Daemon is still a thriving independent label that Amy said was more important to her than being a part of the Indigo Girls.
Amy and Emily went on to make many records, including Strange Fire, Nomads*Indians*Saints, Swamp Ophelia, Shaming of the Sun, and Come on Now Social. In 2001, Amy released a solo album entitled Stag, with a punkier sound than the Indigo Girls, which she released on her label.
Amy Ray has long been known for her passion, activism, earthy voice, and intense lyrics. She is dedicated to the underground music scene, and an out lesbian (as is Emily) who does more than her share of giving back to the community.