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Melissa Etheridge is an American rock singer, both Oscar and Grammy winner, an enthusiastic sexual minority rights activist. The components of her success are an uncompromising confession of lyrics, melodic folk-rock and strong vocals.
Melissa was born and raised in the biggest city of the so-called Sunflower State or more common Kansas - Leavenworth. The girl was not the only child in the family. She has an elder sister with whom she was brought up by their parents John and Elizabeth Ethridge.
Melissa has been interested in music since her early childhood. Being a teenager, she began performing in some local clubs. Her favorite music genre at that time was country music. After finishing high school in 1979 a future rock star entered a famous private music educational institution - Berklee College of Music. At that time she made her first attempt to tour her native state in the form of the club circuit in the general area of Boston. However, young talent was not satisfied with the path she chose, so she gave up the college and moved to La-la Land - Los Angeles, seeking numerous opportunities in the music sphere.
In California, Melissa got to know a player of a women’s soccer team. The new acquaintances of her once came to see her performance. Karla Leopold, who also came to enjoy some good music persuaded her husband Bill, a music business manager, to see her new friend playing live. This led to a new mission of the man - the supporter and promoter of Melissa. Another useful acquaintance of the woman is Chris Backwell from the well-known recording label Island Records. Etheridge signed a contract with the label, offering to write songs for films of various genres, for instance, an American drama film “Weeds”.
The first efforts to release her debut studio work with Island Records were not successful, as the label’s representatives called it too glossy. However, Melissa did not leave off the idea of releasing the tape. She presented her self-titled work in 1988. Due to her young age and lack of experience, the album did not receive an expected dose of attention. At the same time, the single “Bring Me Some Water” was nominated for a Grammy.
The second album of the artist “Brave and Crazy” saw the world in 1989 and sold over 630 thousand of copies in the US. The album with several platinum and gold certifications was also praised by a Grammy nomination and entered the Billboard music chart, having gained the 22nd position. To the most listened and popular singles, included in the album belong “No Souvenirs”, “You Can Sleep While I Drive” and “Let Me Go”.
The next studio album of a rock star brought her so awaited and desired award - Grammy in the nomination of Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female for her single “Ain’t It Heavy”. As well as two previous albums “Never Enough” did not manage to top the music charts and took the 21st position. The album was much more personal than her previous ones and provoked some rumours about Melissa’s sexual orientation.
In the beginning of 1993, Melissa Etheridge made a shocking and not unexpected announcement - she made public the info about her being a lesbian. Several months later she released one of her most famous and best-selling albums - “Yes, I Am”, which received 8 platinum certifications in Canada and the US. The album remained in 15th place in the Billboard 200 music chart for 138 weeks ahead.
The second Grammy the rock artist got for her hit single “Come to My Window” in the category Best Rock Vocal Performance. The 5th single of the tape called “If I Wanted To”, which was presented in February of 1995 immediately entered the Billboard Hot chart at 25th position.
The same year the artist released her next studio work under the title “Your Little Secret”, which received lots of positive acclaims from the music critics and Melissa’s numerous fans. However, her previous albums were more successful. The tape remained in the Billboard chart for 41 weeks.
1996 was marked for the star as the year when she has got an ASCAP award as the Songwriter of the Year. At this time Melissa decided to take a short hiatus in order to devote all her time to her family and 2 children Bailey and Beckett, who were bornin1997 and 1998.
In the late 1990s, Melissa Ethridge made an impressive comeback with her 6th studio album running under the title “Breakdown”, which was nominated for a Grammy as the Best Rock Album. Additionally, the single “Angels Would Fall” was also nominated in a few categories: Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female and Best Rock Song.
The 21st century started for Melissa from the presentation of her other album “Lucky”. Unfortunately, the tape sold only 500 thousand copies and spent 13 weeks on music charts. “Lucky” was also nominated for a Grammy in the category of the Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.
Apart from singing and songwriting, Ethridge was and still is involved in charity work. In 2005 she took part in a four-and-a-half-hour-long benefit concert “ReAct Now: Music & Relief” in order to support the Hurricane Katrina victims. The same year Melissa wrote a soundtrack “I need to wake up” to the documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth”. The single managed to win an Oscar as the Best Original Song.