Megon McDonough

• Genres: Folk

Biography

Megan McDonough has been recording since she was 17 years old. After making four folk albums in the 1970s, she moved to New York and worked as a vocalist for TV and commercials before returning to recording in the early 90s, having changed the spelling of her name to "Megon." She was one of the inaugural members of Christine Lavin's the Four Bitchin' Babes with whom she still tours.

Born in Illinois, McDonough was one of nine children born to a strict Irish-Catholic couple. Having taken up the piano and the guitar as a child, she began performing at high schools before moving to Los Angeles in the early '70s and signing with the RCA subsidiary Wooden Nickel label. She made four albums for Wooden Nickel, which were generally received warmly by critics, but never charted. She toured extensively, opening for John Denver at Carngie Hall and also supporting Harry Chapin.

During the '80s, McDonough lived in New York and sung for television productions, work that led to an ACE Cable TV award in 1984. She also began to branch out into acting before recording her self-published American Girl album in 1990. The change in spelling from "Megan" to "Megon" was advised by a fortune teller who told McDonough that the letter "o" would positively affect her career. Shortly, she joined the Four Bitchin' Babes -- the female cabaret/folk quartet helmed by Christine Lavin -- and has since contributed to all of their albums as a songwriter and performer. She appeared as Patsy Cline in the well-received Always Patsy Cline at Chicago's Barber Theater between 1997 and 1998. Her 1998 Shanachie album, My One and Only Love, was a delightful collection of standards and pre-rock pop. ~ Charles Donovan, Rovi