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Music / Comedy

Rosie Thomas

American · singer-songwriter, comedian

Detroit-raised indie folk singer-songwriter known for gentle Sub Pop albums and for her comic stage character Sheila Saputo.

Portrait of Rosie Thomas
Photo: Erik Joling · CC BY-SA 3.0
Also known as
Sheila Saputo
Detroit years
childhood–1990s
Field
Music, Comedy

01 / The Detroit story

The Detroit story

Rosie Thomas grew up in the Detroit area, learning piano and guitar as a child in a musical household. She moved to Seattle, where Sub Pop released her hushed, confessional debut When We Were Small in 2001, followed by Only with Laughter Can You Win (2003) and If Songs Could Be Held (2005). Her concerts mixed tender folk songs with broad comedy, especially her recurring character Sheila Saputo, a wisecracking pizza-parlor employee from Michigan. She recorded These Friends of Mine (2006) with friends including Sufjan Stevens and Damien Jurado, acted in the 2009 film Calvin Marshall and was the subject of the documentary All the Way from Michigan Not Mars, which also became the title of a 2010 album.

Highlights

  1. Debut album When We Were Small (Sub Pop, 2001)
  2. These Friends of Mine (2006) with Sufjan Stevens
  3. Comic stage character Sheila Saputo
  4. Documentary All the Way from Michigan Not Mars (2009)