LAURA NYRO stoned soul picnic

Frequently overlooked by the mainstream in the 1960s Laura Nyro was an inspiration to numerous musicians and poets. She wrote songs that became hits for other artists like 'When I Die' and 'Stoney End'. In her own recordings she rejected commercial pressures and wrote songs celebrating motherhood, female sexuality and her menstrual cycle. Todd Rundgren said "I stopped writing songs like The Who and started writing songs like Laura Nyro". She was never the 'hippy chick' that some wanted her to be but was a 'Brill Building' New Yorker even if Jackson Browne was her boyfriend. , source - Richard Williams - The Guardian July 27 2021.