Trust Your Heart

The life of singer Judy Collins, in the vanguard of the folk movement of the '60s and still active as songwriter and performer, is, in her view, professionally successful but privately, personally, a dark journey toward light and serenity. Traumas such as early bouts of polio and tuberculosis, periods of drug abuse and a nasty custody fight for her son, now an adult, are among the emotional crises she recalls in a journal that she begins with an appreciation of her blind songwriter father, a radio performer in the state of Washington and her ""greatest inspiration.'' Throughout a career that includes the recording of 22 albums that have placed her stamp on popular music (``Both Sides Now,'' ``Send in the Clowns''), Collins participated vigorously in many civil-rights campaigns. She speaks circumspectly of the men in her life, less reticently of the several therapeutic programs through which she sought inner peace. This intimate glimpse of a multi-talented woman in the stifling world of the performer is lightened by Collins's portrayal of her affectionate family. Photos not seen by PW. (November 16)