Meet Susan Rose
“Susan Rose’s songs are vivid with color and life. Characters leap out of her songs like they did in your favorite childhood story book. The genre of folk music is the perfect setting for her sharp wit, keen observations, and moving ballads. Susan has a gift for writing beautiful, timeless melodies, yet, I am always drawn in by her gentle, powerful and unmistakable voice.” (Sally Barris, Grammy nominee, gold & platinum singer-songwriter)
I have decided to actually tell you things about me, rather than just highlight my music. Hopefully, if you listen, the music will highlight itself. I will start at the beginning.
I was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1944 at the tail end of World War II. At that time, my dad was a physician who was overseas in the army, trying to save the lives of wounded soldiers while my mom took care of new-born me and my 14 month old brother. Because there was no choice, we lived with my dad’s parents who had immigrated from Belarus. Grandpa was not a kind person. Mom had no job, two babies, and feared that her husband would not survive the war. She told me that she once fell asleep on her feet in the playground, while pushing two swings for my brother and me. Some had it worse, but our situation was not a happy one.
When dad came back at the end of the war, eventually we moved to our own new home in Brooklyn. I was four years old. My father was a dominating, atheistic Jewish psychoanalyst. His own insecurity compelled him to believe he was always right. In some sense, I grew up in a cult even though it was just our family of four. Dad preached to us that anyone with religious or spiritual inclinations was neurotic. So any affiliation with a religious group (for us, a synagogue) was out of the question.
In addition, Dad was busy diagnosing mental illness in anything or anyone that moved or breathed. He taught us that sex and aggression are the primary human drives and motivators. Love wasn’t discussed much and took a back seat in this world view. My brother and I were told not to trust anyone outside the family. My mother was well-intentioned but was pretty frozen emotionally for her own historical reasons. Dad focused way too much attention on me. It has taken lots of emotional work over decades for me to climb out of all of this. Thank God I was born with a sense of humor and a fair amount of internal resilience. I also credit both parents with giving me lots of positive feedback about my abilities, and having great loyalty to me even when I was having problems.
I sang at every opportunity as I was growing up, my first solo gig being in kindergarten on stage. I had a fancy opera coach at 16, even though my real love was folk music. At 13 and 14 I tried to like Elvis, tried to like rock and roll, but I failed miserably. I also tried to listen to music on the radio while I did homework, like many classmates did, but I couldn’t concentrate. I was distracted by wanting to hear the lyrics. The marriage of words and melody has such power! Imagine the song Amazing Grace stripped of its tune, and the potency leaks right out of it. Folk music and people with guitars was ambrosia to me, and it still is.
I was a high achieving good girl, shaped by the culture of the 1950s and early ‘60s. In my 20s, I looked like a hippie (long straight hair, bell-bottom jeans, etc.) but it was just a costume. I didn’t drink alcohol until I was 25, and smoked pot only a few times. And those times freaked me out.
My father coached me to become either an opera singer or a psychoanalyst. Instead, I became a clinical social worker with a robust private practice and a folk singer. The good news is that this has gone very well. I love doing psychotherapy with people and creating my own music on the side. I wrote my first songs in my 40s, and I’m still doing it. It is thrilling and satisfying to be a catalyst for change with people who have hit stuck places in their lives. And it is thrilling and satisfying to create beautiful and meaningful music.
The thing that shocks me most in my life is that I have been married three times. I want to add up all the years that I have been married, including the different husbands, and get some kind of cosmic credit for it! It’s about 56 years total. I have been divorced twice. At first this was horrifying for me, being a loyal person with high ideals, and me also being a good couples counselor. But when one is raised in a family with lots of unaddressed problems, it affects the choices of the kids raised in that environment. I never did give up on the idea that marriage can be a loving bedrock upon which to build a shared life.
Recently a friend told me that she has had several marriages, all with the same husband. She meant that she and her husband have had several eras in their marriage when things had to change radically for them to sustain the connection. Bravo for them, and that they were able to do this! My beloved husband Stan and I have been together for over 30 years now, and we are each able to make changes when it is necessary. Between us, we have five middle-aged kids, 12 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. A bonanza. Overall, this large extended family is a great blessing.
I love to write all kinds of songs, except for rock songs. I don’t have that in my bones or in my vocal cords. But various other styles come to me easily: ballads, funny songs, story songs, spiritual songs, ironic songs. It’s a creative grab bag of delight and surprise as I reach into it. And I am so glad to share it with you!
