Cheryl Wheeler

Cheryl Wheeler (born July 10, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter of contemporary folk music. She has recorded thirteen folk albums to date and has toured extensively throughout the United States since the mid-1970s.

Because of her music, Wheeler has been praised as a “folk luminary,” an “unassuming folk star,” and a “folk diva.”

The Boston Globe wrote: “Over decades, she’s built a cult following through Boston radio and the New England folk circuit for her uncanny ability, not unlike Tom Rush, to have her audience laughing during one song and silently tearing up with the next.”

Early life Born and raised in Timonium, Maryland, Wheeler began playing ukulele and guitar in middle school and writing songs in high school, making up melodies to go with the poems in “The Golden Book of Poetry,” a children's book. Wheeler completed two years of community college and then transferred to Coker College in South Carolina. She quit in early 1972. “I didn’t quit thinking: Do I embark on a folk music career?” she said. “I quit because I was in 15th grade, and enough was enough already.”

Career In 1976, Wheeler moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and began playing at folk clubs throughout New England, opening for artists such as Jonathan Edwards, Tom Rush, Jesse Winchester, and Gordon Lightfoot. Her big break came when Edwards asked her to audition for a spot in his band as a bass player. Wheeler didn't play bass, but she bought one and auditioned nonetheless. "To my complete astonishment, I got the gig," Wheeler recalled. "But I knew I didn't get it for my bass playing. So I thought I must've got it for my singing. So that was a real shot in the arm because I hadn't thought about it before, but I thought I might actually be a good singer if Jonathan Edwards is hiring me." which contains songs that never made it onto a commercial recording. Distribution of the album is free, but restricted to members of her e-mail list.

Wheeler's two most-recent albums – Pointing at the Sun (2009) and Cheryl Wheeler Live (2012) – were released by her own record label, Dias Records. She and her wife, Cathleen, live in Swansea, Massachusetts. She returned to performing in 2023.

Discography Most of the following albums are still in print:

Studio albums Cheryl Wheeler (1985) Half a Book (1987) Circles and Arrows (1990) Driving Home (1993) Mrs. Pinocci's Guitar (1995) Sylvia Hotel (1999) Defying Gravity (2005) Pointing at the Sun (2009) Greetings: Cheryl Wheeler Live (feat. Kenny White) (2012)

EPs Newport Songs (1983) Live and Otherwise (1987)

Compilation albums Different Stripe (2000) No Previous Record (2003)

Other contributions Live at the World Café - Volume 9 (1999) – "If It Were Up to Me"