Ok. Let’s get this out of the way early. Melissa Etheridge is a stone cold badass, and anyone dares tell you any differently is wrong. And possibly jealous. It’s very easy to be jealous of Melissa Etheridge. Anyway, as she nears her thirtieth year in the music industry, it’s sometimes easy to forget what a radical figure and unabashed force for good she is to this day. So let’s go over that, shall we?
Her story begins at eight years old, which was when she first picked up the guitar. During her teenage years she performed with several country bands before shipping up to Boston to study at the Berkeley College of Music.
She honed her craft over three semesters before dropping out and making a proper try at a music career in Los Angeles. She almost immediately hit the ground running, finding the man who manages her to this day while performing for some friends of hers at a bar in Pasadena, and she was picked up by Island Records soon after.
Her first effort for the label remained unreleased as, according to the label, it was too glossy and polished. Turns out they had a point; she re-recorded and remastered it in four days, the subsequent album was an underground hit and its lead single “Bring Me Some Water” was nominated for a Grammy.
There’s no real way I can sum up Etheridge’s career without being given a book to do so, the 90’s gave her the kind of stardom that most would sell their family's souls for. With her fourth album “Yes, I Am” being certified six times platinum and giving her a top ten single in the form of “I’m The Only One”.
She has since performed with Bruce Springsteen, won an Academy Award, and won a life threatening battle with breast cancer. As if that wasn’t enough, she stole the show at the 2005 Grammy awards with a rendition of Janis Joplin’s “Piece Of My Heart” while still bald from her chemotherapy.
She’s a true icon, as a gay woman to make it in Rock and Roll, as a cancer survivor, as one of the best songwriters of her generation, you name it, there’s inspiration you can take from this woman. Not to mention how she can still kick it live with the best of them. But don’t take my word for it, see her at the next chance you get and know you’re in the presence of a once in a lifetime talent.
I have been watching Melissa Etheridge since I can remember, all the way back to when MTV had music videos and there was only one MTV not 10 different spin-offs. I still believe that "I'm The Only One" is one of the sexiest videos ever. Melissa is very inspirational, having survived cancer and still rocking on stage, just amazing. She came to Summerfest in Milwaukee, WI this year and although it rained almost no one left her stage. We were mesmerized and unable to move.
She played guitar, harmonica and drums and I am not sure I have ever heard a woman play the harmonica before and it was great. I loved every second of it. When she played the drums she was actually playing them at the same time as the drummer it was very cool to have them both pounding away at them, it sounded so cool.
You could tell looking up at her during her guitar solos that she was in another place almost, kind of like she was just playing for her, playing for the joy of playing. She was happy and glowing, I just got goose bumps thinking about it actually. She also mentioned that she recently got married to a Wisconsinite and is now part of the Green Bay Packer family as all Wisconsinites are.
She was fun and smart and looked great. Better than she has in a long time. I can only hope that at her age I can find something that still brings me so much joy and ability to share with the world. She truly is a hero in my mind.
K8_S
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