Cindy Bullens

Cidny Bullens (born March 21, 1950) is an American singer and songwriter who grew up in Massachusetts. He released two albums in the late 1970s on United Artists and Casablanca and another in 1989. His 1978 debut album, Desire Wire is described flatly by William Ruhlmann in allmusic as: «One of the great lost rock albums of the ’70s, Bullens’ debut release is full of tough, passionate, incredibly catchy rock & roll played to the hilt and sung with fire». His early albums anticipated later work by a host of 1980s female and female-identified rock artists, from Pat Benatar, to Blondie, to the Go-Go’s, to Headpins.

He provided background vocals as one of the Sex-o-lettes on the 1974 album Disco Tex & the Sex-o-lettes. He provided vocals on three songs («It’s Raining on Prom Night,» «Mooning,» and «Freddy, My Love») on the soundtrack of the 1977 feature film, Grease. His performance on the soundtrack earned him a Grammy Award nomination for best rock vocal performance.

Bullens got his start in the music business by performing as a backup vocalist with Elton John on three major tours, his album Blue Moves, and his hit with Kiki Dee, «Don’t Go Breaking My Heart» (both released in 1976). He withdrew from the music business in the early 1980s to raise a family, returning in the early and mid-1990s as a songwriter and then later as a touring and recording artist. Since 1999, he has toured extensively all over the US, Canada, Europe and Australia, has appeared on several major TV shows, including Late Night with Conan O’Brien, Today Show, and CBS This Morning and many radio and TV stations around the world. He is featured in two documentaries, On This Island and Space Between Breaths (for which he scored the music). Cidny wrote the musical Islands in 2000, which played on Broadway for a special performance at the New Victory Theater in September 2001, two weeks after 9/11.

In 1999, Cidny’s album Somewhere Between Heaven and Earth was recorded in the first two years after the death of his daughter Jessie. It features Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, Rodney Crowell, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Bryan Adams, and top-tier musicians including George Marinelli, Benmont Tench, Kenny Edwards, and Michael Rhodes. With Cindy, Steven Soles co-produced one track, Tony Berg co-produced three tracks, and Rodney Crowell co-produced three tracks. It won the AFIM Best Rock Album in 2000 and was widely acclaimed.

In 2001, Bullens released Neverland co-produced by Cindy and Ray Kennedy, the album features Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, and John Hiatt.

In 2005, Cidny released dream #2» again co-produced with Ray Kennedy. The title track features Sir Elton John on piano. Delbert McClinton sings a duet with Bullens on «This Ain’t Love» and Boston Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield adds his voice to «7 Days».

In 2007, Bullens formed a new group, The Refugees, with music veterans Wendy Waldman and Deborah Holland. Their first CD, Unbound, was released in January, 2009. Their second album «Three» was released in February 2012.

In June 2010, Cidny Bullens released his latest album Howling Trains and Barking Dogs on MC Records (Koch). The CD is a compilation of songs Bullens co-wrote in Nashville during the early and mid-1990s with Radney Foster, Bill Lloyd, Al Anderson, Matraca Berg, Mary Ann Kennedy Kye Fleming, and Jimmy Tittle. The CD also includes two new songs written by Bullens alone.

In 1979, Cidny (at the time, Cindy) married Dan Crewe, brother of songwriter/producer Bob Crewe, and divorced in 2002. His first daughter, Reid, was born in 1982. His younger daughter, Jessie, born in 1985, died at age 11, of complications during treatment for cancer in 1996.

In 2012, he came out as a trans man and announced he would change his name from Cindy Bullens to Cidny Bullens.