Suzanne Vega returns with album, tour

Singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega has scheduled a tour around the Sept. 25 release of "Songs in Red and Gray," her first album since 1996's "Nine Objects of Desire."

Her tour kicks off on Sept. 14 in Naples, Fla., and concludes in Minnesota on Dec. 6.

The 13-song "Songs in Red and Gray" (Interscope), produced by Rupert Hine (Tina Turner, Thompson Twins, Rush), comes on the heels of her time off from recording and touring to raise her daughter, Ruby, now 6. The experiences of being a mother inspired Vega's new effort, according to a press release.

Vega emerged on the music scene in the early '80s, but she found mainstream success in 1987 with the album "Solitude Standing," which spawned the hit "Luka." Her 1990 record "Days of Open Hand" earned Vega a New York Music Award for Best Rock Album of 1992.

In 1999 she added "author" to her resume with the release of "The Passionate Eye: The Collected Writings of Suzanne Vega," published by Spike/Avon Books. HarperCollins issued the book, a collection of lyrics, essays and poems, in paperback in May.

Vega served as a judge on the panel for the United Kingdom's Orange Award for Fiction.