With her debut album Switched-On Bach, composer and electronic musician Wendy Carlos (b. 1939) brought the sound of the Moog synthesizer to a generation of listeners, helping to effect arguably one of the most substantial changes in popular music's sound since musicians began using amplifiers. Her story is not only one of a person who blazed new trails in electronic music for decades but is also the story of a person who intersected in many ways with American popular culture, medicine, and social trends during the second half of the 20th century and well into the 21st. There is much to tell about her life and about the ways in which her life reflects many dimensions of American culture. Carlos's identity as a transgender woman has shaped many aspects of her life, her career, how she relates to the public, and how the public has received her and her music. Cultural factors surrounding the treatment of transgender people affected many of the decisions that Carlos has made over the decades. Additionally, cultural reception and perception of transgender people has colored how journalists, scholars, and fans have written about Carlos and her music for decades.

About the Author
Amanda Sewell is Music Director of Interlochen Public Radio. She holds a Ph.D. in musicology from Indiana University.

Reviews
The haunting story and magnificent work of Wendy Carlos is recounted in a fascinating book by musicologist Amanda Sewell, published by Oxford University Press. * Juan Carlos Tellechea, Mundo Classico *
[Sewell] contextualizes the historical and technological details of Carlos's music with the accessible clarity of a gifted public musicologist and radio host ... Wendy Carlos: A Biography starts an important conversation about a composer who is often relegated to the peripheries of twentieth-century music. * Bradley M. Spiers, BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute *



Book Information
ISBN 9780190053468
Author Amanda Sewell
Format Hardback
Page Count 272
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 504g
Dimensions(mm) 243mm * 166mm * 24mm