Early Life
Annie Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She began playing the guitar at the age of 12 and, as a teenager, worked as the tour manager for her uncle's band Tuck & Patti. She grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Lake Highlands High School, where she participated in theater and the school's jazz band. She graduated in 2001.
Following this, she went on to attend Berklee College of Music, before dropping out three years later. In retrospect, Clark said, "I think that with music school and art school, or school in any form, there has to be some system of grading and measurement. The things they can teach you are quantifiable. While all that is good and has its place, at some point you have to learn all you can and then forget everything that you learned in order to actually start making music." In 2003, during her time at Berklee, she released an EP with fellow students entitled Ratsliveonnoevilstar. While in Berklee, she worked with Heavy Rotation Records where "she revealed a much more private and intimate rendering of 'Count' for Dorm Sessions Vol. 1." Shortly after leaving Berklee, Clark returned home to Texas where she joined The Polyphonic Spree just before their embarking on a European tour. In 2004 she joined Glenn Branca's 100 guitar orchestra for the Queens performance.
Clark left The Polyphonic Spree and joined Sufjan Stevens' touring band in 2006, bringing with her a tour EP entitled Paris Is Burning. It contains three tracks, including a cover version of Jackson Browne's "These Days".
Read more about this topic: St. Vincent (musician)
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“... business training in early life should not be regarded solely as insurance against destitution in the case of an emergency. For from business experience women can gain, too, knowledge of the world and of human beings, which should be of immeasurable value to their marriage careers. Self-discipline, co-operation, adaptability, efficiency, economic management,—if she learns these in her business life she is liable for many less heartbreaks and disappointments in her married life.”
—Hortense Odlum (1892–?)