A Brief Biography
of
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers,
The Indigo Girls
Emily Saliers was born in New Haven, Connecticut on July 22nd, 1963. The following year, her future musical companion, Amy Ray, was born in Atlanta, Georgia on April 12th, 1964. When Emily was in sixth grade, her family moved to Decatur, Georgia and she was enrolled into Laurel Ridge Elementary School. Amy attended that same school, and at the time of Emily's arrival, Amy was in fifth grade.
Emily and Amy didn't start playing music together until High School, where they were going under the names of "Saliers and Ray" and "The B-Band". Their first performance was at a school talent show. They then moved on to open mike nights at local bars, despite them being underage. Their first recording was done in Amy's basement in 1981. It was called "Tuesday's Children". It consisted of mostly cover songs, but also included an original song from each of them. The next year Amy recorded a solo tape called "Color Me Grey", which was all original material.
When the two girls graduated high school, they both went to college; Emily at Tulane University in New Orleans, majoring in English, and Amy to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, also studying English as well as Religion. They both were unsatisfied with their college experiences, and so moved back to Atlanta to attend Emory University in 1984. There they started to play together again. The following year, the girls renamed themselves "Indigo Girls". Amy chose the word "Indigo" out of the dictionary because she thought it sounded cool! That same year they made their recording debut with an independent release followed by a mostly live tape. This was the start of the Indigo Girls and their career as professional musicians!
For more information on the Indigo Girls, try going to my links page and click on any of the various links that I have provided. Also, you can email me at any time with a question relating to my page or the Indigo Girls! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy the rest of my site!