New York City
Buffy Sainte-Marie has enjoyed a long career that has seen her rise to stardom on the folk circuit and try her hand at country, rock, soundtrack themes (she won an Oscar for the theme to An Officer and a Gentleman, co-written with her husband, producer Jack Nitzsche), a long-running stint on Sesame Street, and organizing and performing benefits on behalf of Native Americans.
Signed to Vanguard, she was one of the folk scene’s more prominent rising stars in the ’60s, and certainly the only widely heard performer articulating Native American viewpoints in song. Much of her best material from this era, however, gained its greatest commercial inroads via cover versions. “Universal Soldier” was one of Donovan’s first hits. “Until It’s Time for You to Go,” perhaps her best composition, was covered by numerous pop singers, and became a big British hit for Elvis Presley in the early ’70s. “Cod’ine,” one of the few ’60s songs to explicitly address the dangers of drugs, was covered by Californian rock bands Quicksilver Messenger Service and the Charlatans.