Ann Powers
Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. She writes for NPR's music news blog, The Record, and she can be heard on NPR's newsmagazines and music programs.
One of the nation's most notable music critics, Powers has been writing for The Record, NPR's blog about finding, making, buying, sharing and talking about music, since April 2011.
Powers served as chief pop music critic at the Los Angeles Times from 2006 until she joined NPR. Prior to the Los Angeles Times, she was senior critic at Blender and senior curator at Experience Music Project. From 1997 to 2001 Powers was a pop critic at The New York Times and before that worked as a senior editor at the Village Voice. Powers began her career working as an editor and columnist at San Francisco Weekly.
Her writing extends beyond blogs, magazines and newspapers. Powers co-wrote Tori Amos: Piece By Piece, with Amos, which was published in 2005. In 1999, Power's book Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America was published. She was the editor, with Evelyn McDonnell, of the 1995 book Rock She Wrote: Women Write About Rock, Rap, and Pop and the editor of Best Music Writing 2010.
After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University, Powers went on to receive a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of California.
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Ann Powers picks her favorite chart-topping, radio-dominating songs of 2012. -
Ann Powers says her infatuation with The Boss grew into adult respect for the strivers in his songs. -
Once, American Idol helped establish a new pop songbook and distilled the essence of contemporary stardom. NPR Music's critic, Ann Powers, says those days are gone. -
Summer, who died on Thursday at 63, created dozens of hits, including "Love To Love You Baby" and "Bad Girls." Over five decades, she combined a light touch, pop theatricality, innovative sounds and an attention to detail that made her into one of pop's best performers. -
The band's performance during last year's Grammy Awards show gave the song a second life. -
The Grammys reward industry insiders, and Mars is no stranger to the business. -
Out of the Vinyl Deeps is a tribute to The New Yorker's first pop critic — a writer whose words were as accessible as a great backbeat. The articles, collected and edited by Willis' daughter, are like conversations that feel relevant and real.
