Melissa Etheridge: A short portrait

(b. 29 May 1961, Leavenworth, Kansas, USA) 

Etheridge was still only a teenager when she began playing piano and guitar in various covers bands around Kansas. After this grounding she had a more formal training at the Berklee College Of Music before playing the club circuit around Boston, Massachusetts. However, it was after she relocated to Los Angeles and was spotted performing by Island Records chief Chris Blackwell, that her career took off. Signed in 1986, her first break was writing the music for the movie Weeds. She had recruited one band to work with her but when this did not work out, she settled for a simple trio with Kevin McCormick on bass and Craig Kampf on drums. The first album was recorded live in the studio and spawned the single ‘Bring Me Some Water’. A turntable hit, it took some time to pick up sales but ended up a Grammy nominee. Former Iggy Pop sideman Scott Thurston had made a guest appearance on the first album and he returned for the second, alongside artists including Waddy Weichtel, and Island Records cohort Bono (U2). Kampf did not play on the album as he had been replaced by Maurigio Fritz Lewak.

In the early 90s Etheridge’s third album, the excellent Never Enough, won a Grammy award. The follow-up Yes I Am was a similar mix of up-tempo, "love crazy" material, showing a lyrical side of Etheridge that tolerated no fools, yet maintained the romantic tradition. "If I Wanted To" for example: "If I wanted to I could run as fast as a train, be as sharp as a needle that’s twisting your brain, If I wanted to I could turn mountains to sand, have political leaders in the palm of my hand". She also announced herself as a lesbian by jumping onstage to kiss Elvira at the gay and lesbian Triangle Ball during the inaugural celebrations of President Clinton’s victory. The Hugh Padgham-produced Your Little Secret was further confirmation of her writing talents. 

Etheridge won the 1996 ASCAP Songwriter Of The Year award, but took a lengthy break from the music business to concentrate on her domestic arrangements. She returned in 1999 with the intimate, but low-key Breakdown. Far more high profile was the media’s obsessive interest in unearthing the biological father of her and then partner Julie Cypher’s two children. The sperm donor turned out to be David Crosby. Following the mediocre 2001 release Skin, Etheridge made an excellent return to form three years later with Lucky. Later in the year the artist announced she was battling breast cancer. At the 2005 Grammy Awards (the same ceremony for which "Breathe" was nominated), she made a return to the stage and, although bald from chemotherapy, performed (together with Joss Stone) a tribute to Janis Joplin with the song "Piece of My Heart". 

Her most recent release is One way Out released on September 17, 2021.