Syd Straw

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Syd Straw is an American rock singer and songwriter. The daughter of actor Jack Straw ("The Pajama Game"), she began her career singing backup for Pat Benatar, then took her gorgeous soaring unusual voice to the indie/alternative scene and joined the Golden Palominos (also including Michael Stipe, Matthew Sweet, and Anton Fier). She released her first album, Surprise, in 1989; it featured contributions by Stipe, Fier, Richard Thompson, Peter Blegvad, and a number of other well-known musicians. A second album, War and Peace, appeared in 1996. Recorded with a relatively obscure Midwest rock group called the Skeletons, it chronicled a brief and unhappy romance. As of 2005 she was reportedly working on another album, to be entitled Pink Velour.

A frequent backup singer and contributor to duets with other musicians, Straw has also maintained an intermittent acting career, appearing on the television shows The Adventures of Pete & Pete and Tales of the City. Syd Straw can be heard singing harmony and backing vocals on the Rickie Lee Jones albums Traffic From Paradise and The Evening of My Best Day. She is also featured on Leo Kottke's Peculiaroso, which Jones produced. For a number of years she has given an annual "Heartwreck" live performance on Valentine's Day.