MELISSA ETHERIDGE: THIS IS ME SOLO

MELISSA ETHERIDGE

In February 2007, Melissa Etheridge celebrated a career milestone with a victory in the
“Best Song” category at the Academy® Awards for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the
Al Gore documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth. Over the course of her
more than two decades as a performer and songwriter, Etheridge has shown herself to
be an artist who has never allowed “inconvenient truths” to keep her down. Earlier in her
recording career, Etheridge acknowledged her sexual orientation when it was
considered less than prudent to do so. In October 2004, Etheridge was diagnosed with
breast cancer, a health battle that, with her typical tenacity, she won. Despite losing her
hair from chemotherapy, Etheridge appeared on the 2005 Grammy® telecast to sing
“Piece of My Heart” in tribute to Janis Joplin. By doing so she gave hope to many
women afflicted with the disease.

Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, Melissa Etheridge picked up the guitar at the age of eight
and began playing in local bands in her teens. After completing high school, Etheridge
was accepted as a student at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, but left after only one
year to make her way as a performer in Los Angeles. Her bluesy vocal style and riveting
stage presence began earning Etheridge a strong following. Legend has it that in a
chance encounter at a small club in Long Beach with music industry legend and Island
Records founder Chris Blackwell she was signed on the spot leading Blackwell to
confess that he felt “The future of Rock and Roll has a female face”.

Melissa's first album, Melissa Etheridge (1988), was a critically-acclaimed debut that led
to an invitation to sing on the 1989 Grammy® Awards broadcast. For several years, her
popularity built around such memorable originals as "Bring Me Some Water," "No
Souvenirs" and "Ain't It Heavy," for which she won a Grammy® in 1992. Etheridge hit
her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am (1993). The collection
featured the massive hits, "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window," a searing song
of longing that brought Etheridge her second Grammy® Award for Best Female Rock
Performance. In 1995, Etheridge issued her highest charting album, Your Little Secret,
which was distinguished by the hit single, "I Want to Come Over." Her astounding
success that year led to Etheridge receiving the Songwriter of the Year honor at the
ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996.

Melissa continued to write, record, and tour throughout the ‘90s and into the new
millennium, releasing Skin (2001) and the upbeat Lucky (2004) along with her DVDs
Live And Alone (2002) and Lucky Live (2004). 2005 marked the release of Greatest
Hits: The Road Less Traveled, which includes "I Run for Life," commissioned by Ford
Cares as part of their cancer initiative in support of The Susan G. Komen Race For The
Cure. The album was recently re-released in an Eco-pak, to include Melissa's Oscar®
winning song "I Need To Wake Up." In April 2007, Melissa Etheridge received the
distinguished ASCAP Founders Award and released her ninth studio album, The
Awakening, selected by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of their Top 50 Albums of 2007.
In 2009, Melissa released her 10th studio album, Fearless Love, to a Top 10 Billboard
debut. 2011 was an exciting year for Melissa. She made her Broadway debut as St.
Jimmy in Green Day’s rock opera, American Idiot, and received her Star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2012, she released her most recent album 4th St. Feeling.
Melissa will perform sold out shows throughout Europe, Australia, and North America.
When Melissa is not on tour, she records her syndicated Melissa Etheridge Radio Show
for daily broadcast on stations throughout the US and Canada.

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