Sonny Ochs

Sonia "Sonny" Ochs is a music producer and radio host. She is known for the "Phil Ochs Song Nights" she organizes, at which various musicians sing the songs of her brother, singer-songwriter Phil Ochs.

Ochs was born in Scotland on April 12, 1937, to an American father and Scottish mother. The following year, her family moved to the United States. Her brother Phil was born in 1940, followed by Michael in 1943. The Ochs family moved frequently: to San Antonio, Texas, then to Austin, Texas; to Far Rockaway, New York, and then to Perrysburg in upstate New York.

After she graduated from high school, Ochs was sent by her parents to a finishing school in Switzerland. While she was away, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio. Ochs married a soldier in early 1957, but the couple were divorced by 1963. The couple had one child: Robyn. She later remarried and had two sons: David and Jonathan.

In January 1976, Phil Ochs—who was suffering from alcoholism and bipolar disorder—moved to his sister's Far Rockaway, New York, home. She hoped she could nurture him back to health. He saw a psychiatrist who prescribed medication; he told his sister he was taking it. On April 9, 1976, Phil Ochs hanged himself in the bathroom of Sonny's house.

Ochs was a school teacher in Far Rockaway and upstate New York. Since the 1980s, she has hosted her own radio program, currently on WIOX, and volunteered at numerous folk festivals. Since 1983, she has organized a series of "Phil Ochs Song Nights", concerts at which various musicians perform her brother's songs. Some of the performers have included Greg Greenway, Kim and Reggie Harris, Pat Humphries, Magpie, Fred Small, and Sammy Walker.

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