Cheryl Wheeler

Biography

Cheryl Wheeler (born July 10, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded thirteen folk albums to date and has toured extensively throughout the United States since the mid-1970s.
Because of her music, Wheeler has been praised as a “folk luminary,” an “unassuming folk star,” and a “folk diva.”
The Boston Globe wrote: “Over decades, she’s built a cult following through Boston radio and the New England folk circuit for her uncanny ability, not unlike Tom Rush, to have her audience laughing during one song and silently tearing up with the next.” “If Wheeler never picked up an instrument, she could have easily become a comedian,” said another reviewer. “Fortunately for us, she does both. Because, after the jokes, stories and self-deprecating comments have people rolling in the aisles, she starts singing, and her voice is spellbinding.”

Early life

Born and raised in Timonium, Maryland, Wheeler began playing ukulele and guitar in middle school and writing songs in high school, making up melodies to go with the poems in “The Golden Book of Poetry,” a children's book. Wheeler completed two years of community college and then transferred to Coker College in South Carolina. She quit in early 1972. “I didn’t quit thinking: Do I embark on a folk music career?” she said. “I quit because I was in 15th grade, and enough was enough already.”
Not long after leaving college, Wheeler was hired at a steakhouse as a waitress. “Within a week, the owners and me, we realized we made a terrible mistake,” she said. "I could never be a waitress. But they needed [a musician], and I thought maybe I could do that, and they were relieved to get me out of waitressing." Around the same time, Wheeler began performing at clubs in the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore area.

Career

In 1976, Wheeler moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and began playing at folk clubs throughout New England, opening for artists such as Jonathan Edwards, Tom Rush, Jesse Winchester, and Gordon Lightfoot. Her big break came when Edwards asked her to audition for a spot in his band as a bass player. Wheeler didn't play bass, but she bought one and auditioned nonetheless. "To my complete astonishment, I got the gig," Wheeler recalled. "But I knew I didn't get it for my bass playing. So I thought I must've got it for my singing. So that was a real shot in the arm because I hadn't thought about it before, but I thought I might actually be a good singer if Jonathan Edwards is hiring me."
In 1983, Wheeler released her first album, a four-song EP called Newport Songs×Newport Songs1983 · EPSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Newport Is Sports2Headed for a Heartache3On the Beach4Summer Fly, which is now out of print. Her next two releases – a self-titled album in 1986 and Half a Book×Half a Book1987 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Emotional Response3:422I Don’t Have the Time2:383I Don’t Reach You Anymore3:204Tell Him Goodbye5:315In Your Heart4:036Rainin’2:447Half a Book3:008I See Your Eyes4:479Thinkin’ of Leavin’4:0410Summer Fly3:5511Piper4:33 in 1987 – were produced by North Star Records in Providence. The song “Addicted,” from the self-titled album, was recorded by country singer Dan Seals and became a No. 1 hit for him in 1988 on Billboard's Top 40 Country chart.
Following the success of her first two full-length albums, Wheeler was signed to Capitol Records and released Circles and Arrows in 1990. Suzy Bogguss recorded Wheeler's song “Aces” from this album, and it reached #9 on the country charts in 1992. Wheeler's next four albums – Driving Home×Driving Home1993 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Driving Home4:512Silver Lining3:413Music in My Room3:494Frequently Wrong but Never in Doubt3:595Don't Forget the Guns3:426Act of Nature3:21775 Septembers4:068Spring3:009Bad Connection3:4910When Fall Comes to New England3:1711Orbiting Jupiter4:3412Almost3:24 (1993), Mrs. Pinocci's Guitar×Mrs. Pinocci's Guitar1995 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Mrs. Pinocci’s Guitar3:002Does the Future Look Black4:103School Girls3:464T.V.1:405The Rivers3:406Further & Further Away4:567Is It Peace or Is It Prozac?3:278Howl at the Moon3:289The Storm3:2710So Far to Fall3:5911Makes Good Sense to Me2:0412Piper4:3813Time Taketh Away3:4014One Love4:38 (1995), Sylvia Hotel (1999), and Defying Gravity (2005) – were produced by the folk-oriented Philo-Rounder Records in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
In 2003, Wheeler approved the production of a double disc album, No Previous Record×No Previous Record2003 · Album · Compilation,LiveSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 54 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11Intro0:102One Side Free2:553Only Victim3:474First of September4:125Can't Pay the Piper2:586Trust3:257Those Songs Again1:438Orlando3:179Broken Mirror2:4910February3:1711I Will Try2:4712Cornell's1:4713Rollin' By2:3014Wish I Had a Reason1:4215Unheeded3:3716Wheel on a Wire2:4317Blue Summer Day1:3918His Mother Was a Rabbit and His Father Was a Businessman1:5119Once a Month Till Jesus Comes3:5420Shanty Town2:1421Military Men2:4322You Won't Let Me Dance2:3023Nerves of Steel2:2524Little Kids3:1325Runnin' Over Me4:2726What We Saw3:47Disc 21(Yes, Miss Wheeler)0:202Drifting in the Maritime2:303Bone Deep4:354Over My Head3:265Cow Pattern Clothes5:336Scattered3:037You're the One4:068Overflowing Cups2:319Must Be Sinking Now4:1910Sing Along2:0011Sandgates2:4012Just Like God1:1913This Is Me4:2514Cheyenne & Sugarfoot2:0015Emphatically Not1:1416Handy House4:2617Gandhi/Buddha3:1618Gandhi/Buddha (counter version)2:2219Here Come Floyd1:4320Please Play Me a Folk Song0:5621On the Plane2:5822It's the Phone1:2623Alice3:5524Summer's Almost Over2:4825My Cat's Birthday2:3326My Cat Accountant2:2027I Was a White Cat Once2:1728Little Road2:53, which contains songs that never made it onto a commercial recording. Distribution of the album is free, but restricted to members of her e-mail list.
Wheeler's two most-recent albums – Pointing at the Sun×Pointing at the Sun2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 11 tracks1Holding On3:592Summerfly4:023Pointing at the Sun4:184One Step at a Time3:245Grey and Green2:516You Know You Will2:567Praise the Lord and Life Is Grand2:328Underbrush3:209White Cat3:3410Cat Accountant2:2411My Cat's Birthday2:30 (2009) and Cheryl Wheeler Live (2012) – were released by her own record label, Dias Records.
Wheeler's songs have been covered by a number of other artists in addition to Dan Seals and Suzy Bogguss. They include Kathy Mattea, Sylvia, Garth Brooks, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Bette Midler, Kenny Loggins, Melanie, Holly Near, and D.C. Anderson. Wheeler has said she doesn't purposefully write for other people, but she appreciates when others cover her songs. “[It’s] great. I make money if they do well,” she said. "But more than that, it's wonderful to have a singer you respect singing your song."
Her song "If It Were Up to Me" (which was written shortly after the 1998 Westside Middle School shooting), with the closing line "If it were up to me, I'd take away the guns" got nationwide attention shortly after the Columbine High School massacre. Wheeler released the recording into the public domain to exempt radio stations from paying royalties (it was being played every hour near the high school), and Rounder Records ran a promotional campaign to donate money to the Brady Campaign each time the song was played on Adult Album Alternative radio stations.
In 2014, Wheeler was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.

Performances

Wheeler has toured extensively throughout her career, and her live concerts include both comedic and serious commentary in addition to the songs themselves. As one reviewer wrote, she “masterfully blends blisteringly on-target observational humor, simple storytelling, gorgeous guitar work, and beautiful, rich songs.” Another commented on her “free-wheeling live concerts” and called Wheeler a “thoughtful, amusing musician and storyteller (and irrepressible social critic)…. [H]er patter is a delicious, folk-flavored blend of Phyllis Diller and Mort Sahl, sometimes puckish, sometimes barbed.”
About half of the songs Wheeler performs in concert are not available on any of her albums. Many never get recorded and eventually fade from her set list. Although she mostly tours alone, she has also toured with Kenny White (who produced a number of her albums). White generally opens for her and then plays and sings harmony during Wheeler's set. Wheeler has also toured with the Christine Lavin-inspired tour "On a Winter's Night" and occasionally as part of Lavin's consortium Four Bitchin' Babes.
Wheeler participated in a concert with fellow folk singer-songwriters Shawn Colvin and Mary Chapin Carpenter in 1988, the year before Colvin released her debut album. The three performed on two consecutive nights, to critical acclaim, at The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia. The two performances were recorded at the soundboard and although never released officially, have been favorites among fans of the three artists.

Personal life

Wheeler is openly lesbian. She and her wife, Cathleen, live in Swansea, Massachusetts. They were married in 2004, ten days after Massachusetts made same-sex marriage legal.
In October 2022, her management announced that her forthcoming concerts were cancelled due to hospitalization for mental health challenges. She returned to performing in 2023.

Studio albums

Cheryl Wheeler (1985)
Half a Book (1987)
Circles and Arrows (1990)
Driving Home (1993)
Mrs. Pinocci's Guitar (1995)
Sylvia Hotel (1999)
Defying Gravity (2005)
Pointing at the Sun (2009)
Greetings: Cheryl Wheeler Live (feat. Kenny White) (2012)

EPs

Newport Songs (1983)
Live and Otherwise (1987)

Compilation albums

Different Stripe (2000)
No Previous Record (2003)

Other contributions

Live at the World Café - Volume 9 (1999) – "If It Were Up to Me"