Alix Cecil Dobkin[1] (August 16, 1940 – May 19, 2021)[2] was an American folk singer-songwriter, memoirist, and lesbian feminist activist.
[3] Dobkin was born in New York City into a Jewish Communist family, named after her uncle Alix who died fighting against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War.
[5][6] Starting in 1973, she released a number of albums as well as a songbook and toured throughout the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand promoting lesbian culture and community through women's music.
She gained some unexpected fame in the 1980s when comedians such as David Letterman and Howard Stern tracked down her Lavender Jane Loves Women album, and began playing phrases from the song "View From Gay Head" on the air.
By the 21st century, Dobkin had ceased writing and recording new material, but continued to tour until her death, stating she had "lost interest" and that writing her memoir had "sucked up all the creativity.”[7] In 1977, she became an associate of the American nonprofit publishing organization Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP).
The meeting was subsequently described as "love at first sight" and the two women came out as a couple and moved in together in 1971, residing with Dobkin's daughter Adrian.