Melissa Etheridge
(born May 29, 1961,
Leavenworth
,
Kansas
, U.S.) is an American musician known for her raspy-voiced
rock-and-roll
singing
. She also was noted for her early openness about her
sexual orientation
.
Etheridge began playing the
guitar
at age 8 and writing songs by age 11. She
honed
her skills playing in local bands throughout her teens (emulating influences such as
Bruce Springsteen
and
Pete Townshend
of
the Who
) and briefly attended the Berklee College of Music in
Boston
before returning to Kansas. On her 21st birthday, Etheridge left home for
Los Angeles
, where she played in clubs and bars until 1986, when
Chris Blackwell
, founder of Island Records, signed her to a recording contract. Her first album,
Melissa Etheridge
(1988), with its hit single “Bring Me Some Water,” earned her a
Grammy Award
nomination. Success continued with the release of
Brave and Crazy
(1989) and
Never Enough
(1992), which garnered a Grammy for the single “Ain’t It Heavy.”
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In early 1993, at a gay-and-lesbian celebration of the inauguration of Pres.
Bill Clinton
, Etheridge announced to the crowd what many of her most devoted fans had assumed: she was a
lesbian
. The album
Yes I Am
followed later that year, with the hit singles “Come to My Window” (another Grammy winner) and “I’m the Only One.” Soon Etheridge’s relationship with film director
Julie Cypher became a matter of public record. The couple, who had been together since 1990, appeared on the cover of
Newsweek
magazine in 1996, and in 2000 they revealed in an article in
Rolling Stone
that musician
David Crosby
had supplied the sperm for the two children Cypher had borne. When she separated from Cypher later that same year, Etheridge chronicled the details of their relationship and breakup in her memoir,
The Truth Is…My Life in Love and Music
, and on her album
Skin
, which were both released in 2001.
In 2004 Etheridge was diagnosed with
breast cancer
, and after undergoing
treatment
she made a memorable appearance during the 2005 Grammy Awards ceremonies. Still bald from
chemotherapy
treatments, Etheridge sang a characteristically heartfelt rendition of
Janis Joplin
’s “Piece of My Heart,” bringing many in the audience to tears. Etheridge returned to touring the following year. She also wrote and performed the
Academy Award
-winning
song
“
I Need to Wake Up
” for the 2006 Oscar-winning documentary
An Inconvenient Truth
.
Following the release of her album
The Awakening
(2007), an audio autobiography of her career in
music
, Etheridge staged a concert tour in 2008 that was similarly designed to tell the story of her life through a progression of highly personal songs. That same year she released the holiday-themed
A New Thought for Christmas
. Her later albums included
4th Street Feeling
(2012), on which she played all the guitar parts;
Memphis Rock and Soul
(2016), a collection of classic covers; and
The Medicine Show
(2019), her 15th studio album. For
One Way Out
(2021), Etheridge performed songs that she had written decades earlier.
In 2020 Beckett Cypher, Etheridge’s eldest son, died after struggling with opioid addiction.
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