Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge, 2008

Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961 in Leavenworth , Kansas ) is an American singer-songwriter and rock musician . She was awarded an Oscar and two Grammys .

Life

Melissa Etheridge was born in 1961 in Kansas to a computer specialist and math teacher . She has been playing guitar and writing songs since she was eight and made her first appearance in front of an audience at the age of 13.

In 1987 Melissa Etheridge signed her first recording deal with Island Records after label founder Chris Blackwell discovered her in a small club in Long Beach , California . In 1988 her first album, Melissa Etheridge , was released, for whose sales she received multiple platinum: "one of the most amazing debut albums of the 80s" ( All Music Guide ). She also succeeded with the albums Yes I Am (1994) and Your Little Secret (1996); She also received platinum for two further albums and gold for another .

Melissa Etheridge concert ticket, 1995

Melissa Etheridge is an openly lesbian , which she publicly admitted at the 1993 Bill Clinton swearing-in ceremony . In 1997 and 1998 she and her long-time friend Julie Cypher became the mother of two children whom Cypher carried through sperm donation from David Crosby . The two separated in 2000 and have shared custody ever since. From 2003 to 2010 Etheridge lived with the actress Tammy Lynn Michaels , with whom she also has two children (born October 17, 2006), in a registered partnership . She has been in a relationship with director and producer Linda Wallem since 2011 and has been married since June 2014. Etheridge is a well-known suffragette and LGBT supporter . She has supported the US Democratic Party on several occasions .

In October 2004, Etheridge announced that she had breast cancer . She successfully underwent several operations and chemotherapy, and announced in the spring of 2005 that she had survived the disease. In February 2005, she performed at the Grammy Awards, where she duet with Joss Stone as a tribute to Janis Joplin whose title Piece of My Heart sang. In 2007 she processed her cancer in the song Message to Myself .

In 2006 she worked on the music for the film Bear Brothers 2 . She wrote and sang the songs It Will Be Me and Welcome to this Day . She also sang Feels Like Home , a duet with Josh Kelley . Etheridge's album The Awakening was released in 2007, and Fearless Love followed in 2010 . In February 2011 she took on the role of St. Jimmy in the rock musical American Idiot on Broadway. In 2018 she was appointed to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , which awards the Oscars every year.

Awards

She won two Grammy Awards for her songs Ain't It Heavy (1992) and Come to My Window (1994), which is her best-known song alongside Like the Way I Do and Bring Me Some Water .

In 2007 she was nominated for a Grammy for I Need to Wake Up , which she wrote for the Al Gore film An Inconvenient Truth , and won an Oscar for Best Song . In September 2011 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the music recording category .

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1988	Melissa Etheridge	DE36 gold (22 weeks)DE	AT16 gold (2 weeks)AT	-	-	US22nd × 2 Double platinum (65 weeks)US	First published: May 2, 1988 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, Niko Bolas, Craig Krampf, Kevin McCormick
1989	Brave and Crazy	DE7 (27 weeks) DE	AT14 (17 weeks) AT	CH7 (10 weeks) CH	UK63 (1 week) UK	US22nd platinum (58 weeks)US	First published: September 11, 1989 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, Niko Bolas, Kevin McCormick
1992	Never enough	DE12 (24 weeks) DE	AT7 (10 weeks) AT	CH12 (8 weeks) CH	UK56 (1 week) UK	US21 platinum (26 weeks)US	First published: March 17, 1992 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, Kevin McCormick
1993	Yes I Am	DE31 (11 weeks) DE	AT22 (5 weeks) AT	CH17 (5 weeks) CH	-	US15th × 6 Six-fold platinum (138 weeks)US	First published: September 21, 1993 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, Hugh Padgham
1995	Your Little Secret	DE26 (24 weeks) DE	AT30 (15 weeks) AT	CH23 (17 weeks) CH	UK85 (1 week) UK	US6th × 2 Double platinum (41 weeks)US	First published: November 14, 1995 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, Hugh Padgham
1999	Breakdown	DE14 (7 weeks) DE	AT45 (2 weeks) AT	CH38 (4 weeks) CH	-	US12th gold (18 weeks)US	First published October 5, 1999 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, John Shanks
2001	skin	DE10 (8 weeks) DE	AT35 (4 weeks) AT	CH65 (5 weeks) CH	-	US9 (12 weeks) US	First published: July 10, 2001 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, David N. Cole
2004	Lucky	DE18 (7 weeks) DE	AT40 (5 weeks) AT	CH51 (3 weeks) CH	-	US15 (13 weeks) US	First published: February 10, 2004 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, David N. Cole, Ross Hogarth, Rick Parashar, John Shanks
2007	The Awakening	DE18 (4 weeks) DE	AT57 (1 week) AT	CH87 (2 weeks) CH	-	US13 (6 weeks) US	First published: September 25, 2007 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, David N. Cole
2008	A New Thought for Christmas	-	-	-	-	US113 (6 weeks) US	Initial release: September 30th, 2008 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, David N. Cole
2010	Fearless Love	DE10 (6 weeks) DE	AT26 (3 weeks) AT	CH51 (2 weeks) CH	-	US7 (10 weeks) US	First published: April 27, 2010 Producers: Melissa Etheridge, John Shanks
2012	4th Street feeling	DE25 (3 weeks) DE	AT50 (1 week) AT	-	-	US18 (4 weeks) US	First released: September 4th, 2012 Producers: Jacquire King, Steve Booker
2014	This is ME	DE41 (2 weeks) DE	AT61 (1 week) AT	CH96 (1 week) CH	-	US21 (4 weeks) US	Initial release: September 30, 2014 Producers: Jerry Wonda, RoccStar, Jerrod Bettis, Jon Levine, Melissa Etheridge
2016	Memphis rock and soul	DE52 (1 week) DE	AT50 (1 week) AT	CH63 (1 week) CH	-	US34 (2 weeks) US	First released: October 7, 2016 Producer: John Burk, Melissa Etheridge
2019	The Medicine Show	DE29 (2 weeks) DE	AT74 (1 week) AT	CH44 (1 week) CH	-	US95 (1 week) US	First published: April 12, 2019

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2015	A Little Bit of Me: Live in LA	DE89 (1 week) DE	-	-	-	-	First published: June 9, 2015

More live albums

• 2004: Live ... and Alone (release: March 8th, US:platinum)
• 2004: Lucky Live (release: September 28th)
• 2006: Yes + I Am Live (release: February 9th)
• 2007: The Awakening Live (release: November 20th)

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
2005	Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled	DE61 (4 weeks) DE	-	-	-	US14th gold (14 weeks)US	First published: October 18, 2005

More compilations

• 2010: Rarities Edition: Melissa Etheridge (released January 5th)
• 2011: Icon (release: March 1st)

Participation in soundtracks

• 2006: Brother Bear 2 (soundtrack to the Disney film Bärenbrüder 2 ; 2 tracks; release: August 15, 2006)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)			Remarks
		DE	UK	US
1989	Similar Features Melissa Etheridge	-	-	US94 (4 weeks) US	First published: April 1988 Author: Melissa Etheridge
	Bring Me Some Water Melissa Etheridge	-	UK100 (1 week) UK	-	First published: August 1988 Author: Melissa Etheridge
	No souvenirs Brave and Crazy	-	-	US95 (3 weeks) US	First published: August 1989 Author: Melissa Etheridge
1994	Come to My Window Yes I Am	-	-	US25th gold (44 weeks)US	First published: February 1994 Author: Melissa Etheridge
	I'm the Only One Yes I Am	-	-	US8 (40 weeks) US	First published: July 1994 Author: Melissa Etheridge
1995	Like the Way I Do / If I Wanted To Melissa Etheridge / Yes I Am	-	-	US16 (20 weeks) US	First published: February 1995 Author: Melissa Etheridge
	Your Little Secret Your Little Secret	DE99 (1 week) DE	-	-	First published: October 1995 Author: Melissa Etheridge
1996	I want to come over your little secret	DE83 (7 weeks) DE	UK100 (1 week) UK	US22 (20 weeks) US	First published: February 1996 Author: Melissa Etheridge
	Nowhere to Go Your Little Secret	-	-	US40 (19 weeks) US	First published: September 1996 Author: Melissa Etheridge
1999	Angels Would Fall Breakdown	DE88 (7 weeks) DE	-	US51 (11 weeks) US	First published: September 1999 Author: John Shanks
2005	Cry Baby / Piece of My Heart	-	-	US32 (2 weeks) US	First published: March 2005 with Joss Stone
2007	Message to Myself The Awakening	DE52 (6 weeks) DE	-	-	First published: October 2007 Author: Melissa Etheridge

More singles

1988: Don't You Need (released July 1988) 1988: Chrome Plated Heart 1989: You Can Sleep While I Drive (released September 1989) 1989: The Angels 1989: Let Me Go 1992: Ain't It Heavy 1992: 2001 1992: Dance Without Sleeping 1993: I'm the Only One 1993: Must Be Crazy for Me 1993: I Will Never Be the Same 1994: All American Girl 1994: Happy Xmas

1999: Stronger Than Me 2000: Enough of Me 2001: I Want to Be in Love 2002: The Weakness in Me 2003: Breathe 2004: This Moment 2005: I Need to Wake Up 2005: Refugee 2005: I Run for Life 2009: Fearless Love 2014: Take My Number 2015: Monster

statistics

Chart evaluation

DE  AT  CH  UK  US Number one albums DE-DE AT-AT CH-CH UK-UK US-US Top 10 albums DE3DE AT1AT CH1CH UK-UK US2US Albums in the charts DE14thDE AT12thAT CH11CH UK3UK US14thUS

DE  UK  US Number one singles DE-DE UK-UK US-US Top 10 singles DE-DE UK-UK US1US Singles in the charts DE4thDE UK2UK US9US

Awards for music sales

Golden record  Australia 1996: for the album Your Little Secret  Canada 2006: for the album Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled  New Zealand 1990: for the album Brave and Crazy 1996: for the album Your Little Secret Platinum record  Australia 1990: for the album Brave and Crazy  Canada 1992: for the album Never Enough 1995: for the album Your Little Secret  New Zealand 1989: for the album Melissa Etheridge

2 × platinum record  Canada 1989: for the album Brave and Crazy 1995: for the album Yes I Am 3 × platinum record  Australia 1990: for the album Melissa Etheridge  Canada 1990: for the album Melissa Etheridge

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / RegionAwards for Mu-sik-ver-käu-fe (country / region, awards, sales, sources)	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Australia (ARIA)	gold1	4 × platinum4th	316,000	Individual evidence
Germany (BVMI)	gold1	-	250,000	musikindustrie.de
Canada (MC)	gold1	9 × platinum9	950,000	musiccanada.com
New Zealand (RMNZ)	2 × gold2	platinum1	30,000	nztop40.co.nz
Austria (IFPI)	gold1	-	25,000	ifpi.at
United States (RIAA)	3 × gold3	13 × platinum13th	13,600,000	riaa.com
A total of	9 × gold9	27 × platinum27

literature

• Melissa Etheridge, Laura Morton: Open and honest. The Autobiography - Hannibal Verlag (April 2002); ISBN 3854452152 .

swell

1. ^ Vik Iyengar: Melissa Etheridge. In: All Music Guide . www.allmusic.com, accessed on March 28, 2008 (English): "one of the most stunning debut albums of the 1980s." 
2. ↑ Melissa and Tammy Etheridge have ended their nearly nine-year relationship ( Memento from April 20, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
3. ^ Kreiszeitung.de : Melissa Etheridge said "Yes" , accessed on June 5, 2014
4. ↑ Melissa Etheridge (feat. Joss Stone) ~ Piece Of My Heart (Janis Joplin Tribute) ( Memento from August 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ Erica Futterman: Melissa Etheridge Makes Her Broadway Debut in 'American Idiot'. In: Rolling Stone. February 2, 2011, accessed January 15, 2021 (American English). 
6. ↑ Academy invites 928 to Membersphip . In: oscars.org (accessed June 26, 2018).
7. ^ The Advocate : The Departed Wins Best-picture Oscar on a Night Heavy with Gays , February 27, 2007
8. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: Singles Albums DE UK US
9. ↑ Single in Europe ( Memento from October 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ Gold for Your Little Secret in Australia
11. ^ Platinum for Brave and Crazy in Australia
12. ↑ 3 × platinum for Melissa Etheridge in Australia

Web links

Commons : Melissa Etheridge  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website (English)
• Melissa Etheridge at AllMusic (English)
• Melissa Etheridge at Discogs
• Melissa Etheridge at the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official German website at Universal