Indigo Girls Biography

Indigo Girls Emily Saliers and Amy Ray met while still elementary school girls in Georgia. In middle school they began performing together, and while both were attending Emory University, they officially formed as the Indigo Girls and began plans for a debut album.

Strange Fire was released in 1987, and on the strength of its artistic quality, the Indigo Girls secured management with Russell Carter and signed with Epic. The Indigo Girls’ first major label release with the company was a self-titled album, and with chart-topping hits such as “Closer to Fine” and “Land of Canaan,” the Indigo Girls found themselves with a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album. 

A string of successful albums from the Indigo Girls have followed:  Nomads Indians Saints (1990), Rites of Passage (1992), Swamp Ophelia (1994), Shaming of the Sun (1997), Come on Now Social (1999), Become You (2002), All That We Let In (2004), Despite Our Differences (2006), Poseidon and the Bitter Bug (2009), Holly Happy Days (2010), and Beauty Queen Sister (2011.) Hit singles from the Indigo Girls include "Hammer and a Nail", “Galileo,” and “Shame on You,” among others.

In addition to their work together, both Indigo Girls pursue independent projects within and beyond the realm of music. Ray founded Daemon Records in 1990, and released six solo albums. Saliers co-owns a restaurant outside of Atlanta, Georgia, and has written a book with her father, a theology professor at Emory University: A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice.  Together, the Indigo Girls are political activists and strong supporters for LGBT rights, environmental causes, Native American rights, and efforts to abolish the death penalty.

The Indigo Girls continue to record, perform, and work together and independently to further the causes in which they believe so strongly.