Beautiful People 2008: Rachelle Garniez

Raised on the Upper West Side by a classical pianist and a professor of French literature, Rachelle Garniez had the kind of childhood you might think only exists in Woody Allen movies -- a rarified utopia of intellectuals, artists and well-worn rugs in pre-war brownstones. But Garniez was having none of it. She never learned to read music, aspired to do anything but focus on music and in 1983, at 17, fled the safety of home for Europe. By default, she picked up the guitar and started playing on the streets of the continent's great cities. She wound up on a beach in Spain, where she lived with Gypsies and started developing her musical patois.

After a year, she moved back to New York and lived in a squat on 89th Street before settling in the East Village. "I just really wanted to be around hip-hop," she says, "and the action." It was 1987 and on those potholed, needle-strewn streets, Garniez found her calling in the accordion. She started playing in the subways, but soon moved above ground to the clubs. Since then, Garniez has played her hybrid of jazz-ska-pop-country-bluegrass to sold-out rooms worldwide. But she is foremost a performer, and her work with The Citizens Band, a 15-member cabaret collective, gives Garniez a more theatrical outlet than her solo work. It also reflects her optimism and synergistic approach to both art and life. "I like things that are intermixed and inclusive," she says, adding that attitude is key to success in New York. "It's not fun to walk around grouchy. That's not productive." Garniez's fourth solo record, Melusine Years, is out this spring.
David Alm

Rachelle wears rings by Ksubi, necklace by Barbara Clay and bracelet by Ben-Amun.

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