Ani Difranco - Influential singer / songwriter / activist.

Singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ani DiFranco is known as a prolific artist. The musician has released 17 albums and is considered by many as a women's rights and feminist icon.

In July 2006, Ani DiFranco received the "Woman of Courage Award" at the National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference and Young Feminist Summit. Past winners of the prestigious award include the famous singer and actress Barbra Streisand and Sen. Barbara Boxer. In fact, she has become the first musician to receive this award, given every year to a woman, who has set herself apart by her contribution to the feminist movement.

Since 2003, the performer has been nominated 4 consecutive times for Best Recording Package at the Grammy Awards. In 2004, she won an award for her album Educated Guess.

The musician performed together with Cyndi Lauper on "Sisters of Avalon", which is a track from Lauper's 2005 collection called The Body Acoustic. Ani DiFranco also collaborated with singer Dar Williams on "Comfortably Numb", a Pink Floyd cover song from Williams' album, My Better Self.

The singer’s newest record, entitled Reprieve, was released in August 2006. It is her 15th studio album. As the recording of the record was briefly interrupted due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, it has a heavily political conceptual undercurrent.

The cover of the album was inspired by a picture of a real tree in Nagasaki. This tree was partially destroyed by the atomic bomb that destroyed the city. While the city around is completely ruined, this lonely tree stands, half destroyed, the other half remains untouched. The singer also references the eucalyptus tree in the title track about the bombings of notorious Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On September 11, 2007, Ani DiFranco was set to release the 1st retrospective of her music career, titled Canon.