Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist.

She started to play in local country music groups in her teenage years and graduated from high school in 1979.

While attending college at Berklee College of Music, Etheridge played the club circuit around Boston.

After three semesters, Etheridge decided to drop out of Berklee and move to Los Angeles to attempt a career in music.

Etheridge was discovered at Vermie's, a bar in Pasadena, California.

She had made some friends on a women's soccer team, and those new friends came to see her play.

One of the women was Karla Leopold, whose husband, Bill Leopold, was a manager in the music business.

Karla convinced Bill to see Etheridge perform live.

He was impressed, and became a pivotal part of Etheridge's career.

This, in addition to her gigs in lesbian bars around Los Angeles, led to her discovery by Island Records chief Chris Blackwell.

She signed a publishing deal to write songs for films including the 1986 movie Weeds.

After an unreleased first effort that was rejected by Island Records as being too polished and glossy, she completed her stripped-down, self-titled debut in just four days.

Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success.

Her eponymous debut album Melissa Etheridge (1988), was an underground hit, and the single "Bring Me Some Water" performed well on radio and was nominated for a Grammy Award.

At the time of the album's release, it was not generally known that Etheridge was a lesbian.

It peaked at No. 22 on the Billboard 200 and its lead single, "Bring Me Some Water", garnered Etheridge her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female in 1989.

Her second album, Brave and Crazy, appeared that same year and earned Etheridge two more Grammy nominations.

John Etheridge died in August 1991.

Etheridge began guitar lessons aged eight.

In 1992, Etheridge released her third album, Never Enough, and its lead single, "Ain't It Heavy", won Etheridge her first Grammy Award.

In 1993, she released what would become her mainstream breakthrough album: Yes I Am.

Its tracks "I'm the Only One", "If I Wanted To", and "Come to My Window" all reached the Top 40 in the United States, while the latter earned Etheridge her second Grammy Award.

Yes I Am spent 138 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at No. 15, and earned a RIAA certification of 6× Platinum, her largest selling album to date.

She has been a gay and lesbian rights activist since her public coming out in January 1993.

Her fifth album, Your Little Secret, was released in 1995 and peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, her highest charting album to date.

Its tracks "Nowhere to Go" and "I Want to Come Over" both reached the Top 40 in the United States.

Etheridge achieved further success with her albums Breakdown (1999), Skin (2001), and Lucky (2004).

In October 2004, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and underwent surgery and chemotherapy.

At the 2005 Grammy Awards, she made a return to the stage, performing a tribute to Janis Joplin with Joss Stone.

Stone began the performance with "Cry Baby" and Etheridge, bald from chemotherapy, joined her to perform the song "Piece of My Heart".

Their performance was widely acclaimed, and India.Arie later wrote "I Am Not My Hair" about Etheridge.

Later that year, Etheridge released her first compilation album, Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled.

A great commercial success, it peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard 200, and went Gold almost immediately.

Etheridge has released 16 studio albums to date, the most recent being One Way Out (2021).

Etheridge is known for music with a mixture of "confessional lyrics, pop-based folk-rock, and raspy, smoky vocals".

Among her various accolades, Etheridge has received two Grammy Awards (from 15 nominations), and an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "I Need to Wake Up" from the film An Inconvenient Truth (2006).

She received the Berklee College of Music Honorary Doctor of Music Degree in 2006.

The following year, she was honored with the ASCAP Founders Award.

In September 2011, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Etheridge was born in Leavenworth, Kansas, the younger of two daughters of Elizabeth (Williamson), a computer consultant, and John Etheridge, an American Constitution teacher at her alma mater, Leavenworth High School.