The musical career of Tret Fure has spanned four decades. She began her professional work at the age of 16, singing in coffeehouses and campuses in the Midwest, and moving to Berkeley, California. After performing weekly on the campus of UC Berkeley, where she attended college, she expanded the role of music in her life. At 19, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a songwriting and musical career. Within a year she was performing as guitarist and vocalist for Spencer Davis, on tour with him, and wrote the single for his album Mousetrap (1970). She went on to record her own album in 1973 on MCA/UNI Records, with Lowell George of Little Feat as her producer. With the success of that release, she opened for such bands as Yes, Poco, and the J. Geils Band.

While recording her second album, Fure became interested in sound engineering, learning the trade at Heritage Studios in Los Angeles and becoming one of the first women engineers there. Over the course of her career, she has engineered and produced numerous recordings by a variety of artists, including her own work and that of Cris Williamson.

In the early 1980s, Fure left the mainstream music industry. In an effort to retain full artistic control, she began exploring the independent side of the industry and soon discovered the blossoming genre known as Women's Music. She has been a major player in that field ever since, recording with and producing some of the best of women's music including the noted Meg and Cris at Carnegie Hall. She worked as a duo with Cris Williamson throughout the 1990s, releasing 3 CDs together during those years.

Now after seven acoustic releases on her own label, Tomboy Girl Records, she has re-established herself in the folk world, winning the 2004 South Florida Folk Festival Singer/Songwriter Competition in two out of three categories, Best Overall and Best Up-Tempo Song. 2004 also brought her recognition with the prestigious Jane Schliessman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women's Music. In 2009, Fure was voted "Pride In The Arts Favorite Female/Lesbian Musician". In the same year she received the Janine C Rae Award for her work in Women's music. She consistently maintains a place on the top 20 CD charts for OutVoice.net and is #1 on Reverbnation in Newport News, Virginia.

Her acclaimed solo releases include Tret Fure (1973), Terminal Hold (1984), Edges of the Heart (1986), Time Turns the Moon (1990), Back Home"(2001) which took both album of the year and single of the year awards for 2001 from OutVoice Top 40, My Shoes (2003) about which Sing Out! Magazine wrote, "Fure's new solo venture signals her intent to do more than just move on. This album soars. . . . She has never sounded better. . . . This mature effort surely ranks among Fure's finest works and will be savored by old-time fans and new fans alike; Anytime Anywhere(2005); and True Compass (2007), a collection of songs of love and passion that lived in the top 20 charts of Outvoice for over a year. The Horizon (2010) was also in the top 10 charts and her title song "The Horizon" placed #1 in the Dec. 2010 charts. A Piece of the Sky (2013) is #3 in the top 20 charts. Fure released her 15th album, Rembrandt Afternoons, in 2015.

Fure also markets of her own line of clothing named after her popular song "Tomboy Girl". While not on the road, Fure teaches guitar and songwriting individually and in workshop settings. She paints pet portraits on commission and, an accomplished cook, Fure has also published a cookbook, Tret's Kitchen, featuring her own recipes. Along with bridging the marketing, production, music and art worlds, Fure also serves as President of Local 1000, The Traveling Musicians Association, a union geared toward helping traveling musicians find security and longevity.

Discography

Tret Fure has recorded several albums, including:

• Mousetrap (1972, Spencer Davis album)
• Tret Fure (1973)
• Terminal Hold (1984)
• Edges of the Heart (1986)
• Time Turns the Moon (1990)
• Postcards from Paradise (1993, with Cris Williamson)
• Between the Covers (1999, with Cris Williamson)
• Radio Quiet (1999, with Cris Williamson)
• Back Home (2001)
• My Shoes (2002)
• Anytime Anywhere (2005)
• True Compass (2007)
• The Horizon (2010)
• A Piece of the Sky (2013)
• Rembrandt Afternoons (2015)

References

External links

• {{official|http://www.tretfure.com}}
• [https://www.reverbnation.com/tretfure Tret Fure on Reverb Nation]
• Tret Fure on Facebook