By Maraithe Thomas, News Correspondent

‘ Juliana Hatfield, a veteran singer and songwriter from the Boston area, spoke Wednesday in Snell Library to a crowd of about 30 people.
The musician was scheduled to give readings from her new book and to perform, but was unable to sing due to what she called a severe sore throat. She said she was in the middle of recording a new album and strained her vocal chords.
Hatfield, a graduate of Berklee, appeared on the music scene when she formed the band Blake Babies in 1986. She continued a solo career after the band’s breakup in 1991 and enjoyed success throughout the ’90s, including performances at the first Lilith Fair and on ‘Late Night with Conan O’Brien.’ She has released 13 albums as a solo artist, the most recent in 2008.
The singer read from her recently published memoir ‘When I Grow Up,’ which chronicles her life and music career, which has spanned three decades.
As the singer read, she appeared solemn, barely cracking a smile even when she made occasional jokes. She said at the end of her readings that the past few months have included a bad breakup, poor health and the death of her dog.
‘Sometimes it’s more interesting to talk about the dark stuff,’ Hatfield said. ‘I write music about the dark stuff. It’s comforting to people.’
Her first selection was a chapter about her parents’ loveless marriage and how it made her feel like there was no such thing as true love. Throughout the talk, she touched several times on the fact that she doesn’t believe she’ll ever be able to sustain a healthy relationship.
Hatfield’s most lighthearted moment of reading was a chapter about being on the road and playing at small clubs where bathrooms were rarely available before shows. She told a story about having to pee in a cup, more than once, before going on stage.
‘I don’t particularly enjoy the fact that random cups filled with my bodily fluids are littering backstage rooms around the country,’ she joked.
During the Q&A portion of the event, Hatfield received questions that brushed upon personal topics, like her love life, to more timely questions, like the current state of the music industry.
‘People have been forced into the position to put out and distribute their own music,’ she said of the effect of ailing record labels on musicians. ‘Labels won’t sign anything unless it’s a sure bet. It’s all about money now.’
Dan Fonseca and Ryan Schmidt, both freshman music industry majors, said they enjoyed listening to Hatfield speak, but wished she had performed. Fonseca, who asked a question on making songs about private subjects public, said he learned a lot from Hatfield.
‘You have to get over [making private subjects public],’ he said. ‘As a musician, you’re investing in yourself and you have to put the music out there.’
Schmidt said he was happy to listen to what Hatfield had to say.
‘I really admire her honesty,’ he said. ‘We’re musicians and to always be able to give off such emotion is really great of her.’
Hatfield said she was happy to give advice to the students who asked questions related to their own musical aspirations and was also blunt about the often not-so-glamorous music scene.
‘I was like a fish out of water in the modern rock world,’ she said. ‘They’re not cool. I’m not cool. We’re all just secretly freaking out.’