A Santa Monica songwriter who keeps working in folk and pop circles without much mainstream attention.
For a good sense of her style, try 'If He's Ever Near' or 'Restless Nights', they're both plainspoken and get right to the point.
Bonoff's songs like 'If He's Ever Near' and 'Restless Nights' show how she writes about relationships in direct language that doesn't need much decoration. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012, which says something about how other songwriters see her work. There's a steady presence here that doesn't depend on chart positions or big radio play.
She started writing songs as a teenager in Santa Monica and put out albums like 'Restless Nights' in 1982 and 'California' in 2007. The plagiarism accusations about 'Tell Me Why' in 2019 were dismissed, and she's kept recording and performing with musicians like Waddy Wachtel and Russ Kunkel.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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