Tret Fure‘s career spans 4 decades. She began her professional work at the age of 16, singing in coffeehouses and campuses in the Midwest, moving to Berkeley where, after performing weekly on the campus of UC Berkeley where she attended college, she discovered that music really was her life. At 19, she moved to LA to pursue a songwriting and musical career. Within a year she was performing as guitarist and vocalist for Spencer Davis, touring with him and penning the single for his album “Mousetrap”. She went on to record her own album in 1973 on MCA/UNI Records, with the late 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, Tret became interested in sound engineering, learning the trade and becoming one of the first women engineers in LA. Over the course of her career she has engineered and produced countless recordings by a variety of artists, including her own work and that of Cris Williamson. In the early 80s, Tret left the mainstream music industry. Armed with a fierce desire 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 legendary “Meg and Cris at Carnegie Hall”. She worked as a duo with Cris Williamson throughout the 90s releasing 3 CDs together during those years.

Now after 5 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 2 out of 3 categories. 2004 also brought her recognition with the prestigious Jane Schliessman Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women’s Music. And in 2009, she received the Janine C Rae Award for her work in Women’s Music. 2009 also found her voted “Pride In The Arts Favorite Female/Lesbian Musician”;br>
Fure also markets her own line of clothing named after her popular song, “Tomboy gir”. In addition, while not on the road, Tret teaches guitar and songwriting individually and in workshop settings. An accomplished cook, Fure has also published a cookbook, Tret’s Kitchen, featuring her own recipes. Along with bridging the marketing, production, and music worlds, Tret serves as President of Local 1000, The Traveling Musicians Association–a union geared toward helping traveling musicians find security and longevity. She also co-chairs The New Harvest Foundation, a foundation that channels charitable contributions exclusively to organizations working to promote LGBT rights, services, culture and community development.

“Women’s music legend Tret Fure continues to turn out marvelous albums, her latest being “True Compass” (Tomboy Girl). Who else could have written a love song such as “Look What Love Has Given Me”? It’s a song that is at once personal and universal in its affectionate expression of happiness. Fure keeps it coming in the jazzy flourishes of the title track, the acoustic twang of “Six Beers,” the heartache of “32 Years,” the political voice of “Try” and the rhythmic “Leap of Faith.””

– Gregg Shapiro, Chicago Free Press, Oct 24, 2007 Vol. 9, No. 9