A Timeline of Anne Feeney's Life

  • July 1, 1951: Anne Feeney was born July 1, 1951, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, to Annabelle and Edward J. Feeney. Her mother was a homemaker and her father a chemical engineer at Westinghouse Electric Co. She had one sister, Kathleen.
  • 1954: The family moved to the nearby Brookline neighborhood of the city of Pittsburgh.
  • 1968: Feeney graduated from Fontbonne Academy, a Catholic girls' high school in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. She enrolled at University of Pittsburgh and joined Thinking Students for Peace, a group that protested the Vietnam War and apartheid in South Africa.
  • 1968: Feeney bought her first guitar, a Martin D-28, which she played for 40 years.
  • 1969: Feeney had her first performance at an anti-war protest in 1969, playing a song by Phil Ochs.
  • 1972: Feeney was arrested in Miami at the Republican National Convention where she was protesting Richard Nixon's re-nomination for President of the United States.
  • 1972: Feeney attended the annual Conference on Women and the Law. Inspired by the group that founded "Women Organized Against Rape" in Philadelphia, Feeney began a campaign for a rape crisis center in Pittsburgh which became Pittsburgh Action Against Rape (PAAR), which still provides services to rape survivors in the Pittsburgh area.
  • 1974: Feeney graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She then enrolled in Law School at University of Pittsburgh.
  • 1976: Feeney joined a bluegrass band, Cucumber Rapids.
  • 1977: The bluegrass group Cucumber Rapids disbanded, but Feeney carried on performing locally.
  • November 19, 1977: Feeney married labor attorney Ron Berlin. She and Berlin had two children, Dan and Amy.
  • 1978: Graduated from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law. She worked for 12 years as a trial attorney. While a lawyer, Feeney's clients were mainly refugees and domestic violence survivors. She was a member of the Gender Bias Committee of the Allegheny County Bar Association.
  • 1980s-2010s: Feeney served on the board of Pittsburgh's Thomas Merton Center, devoted to advocating for peace and justice causes. She was also chapter president of NOW and served on the organization's state executive board in Pennsylvania.
  • 1989: Feeney decided to focus on her music career after she won a national song writing contest, the Kerrville New Folk contest.
  • 1991: Feeney toured North America and the world to perform and participate in political and labor rallies and events.
  • 1992: Feeney’s first recording, Look to the Left, was released.
  • 1995: Feeney and Berlin divorced.
  • 1997-1998: Feeney served as president of the Pittsburgh Musicians' Union, the first and only woman ever elected to this position.
  • 2002: Feeney married Swedish political artist Julie Leonardsson.
  • 2003: Political cartoonist Mike Konopacki included her recording of "Union Maid" in a flash animation.
  • April 25, 2004: Feeney and her daughter, Amy Berlin, performed Feeney's song "Ain't I a Woman" at the March for Women's Lives in Washington, D.C.
  • 2005: Feeney was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the Labor Heritage Foundation.
  • August 2010: While touring in Sweden, Feeney was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer. She underwent treatment, recovered and returned to touring.
  • 2015: Cancer returned.
  • February 3, 2021: Feeney was in rehabilitation for a fracture in her back when she contracted COVID-19-related pneumonia. She died with her family by her side at UPMC Shadyside hospital in Pittsburgh at age 69.
A Timeline of Anne Feeney's Life