Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Meredith Brooks was born in Corvalis, Oregon on June 12, 1958. She is best known for her Grammy-nominated 1997 hit single “Bitch”. She began her musical career in 1976 as a member of Sapphire, an all-female band formed in Eugene, Oregon. The band relocated to Seattle, Washington and after achieving minimal success, they split up in 1982. Brooks moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue a solo career. Her self-titled debut album was released in 1986, but only had limited success in Mexico. In the late 1982., she had formed pop trio The Graces with former Go-Go’s guitarist Charlotte Caffey and vocalist Gia Ciambotti. They released their 1989 debut album, Perfect View, which included the hit single “Lay Down Your Arms”. The other three singles didn’t chart and Brooks left the band after they were dropped by their label in 1991. Four years later, Brooks signed a solo deal with Capitol Records. She spent two years working on her second solo album, Blurring the Edges. The first single from the album was “Bitch” (1997), which hit the Top 20 in many countries around the world. Her Blurring the Edges album reached Number 22 on the Billboard 200. Brooks toured the U.S., Europe, and South America to promote the album, opening for the Rolling Stones in Argentina. Later in the year, her previous label released the album See It Through My Eyes, which was a repackaging of her 1986 debut album. Her next official album, Deconstruction, was released in 1999, although it didn’t achieve the same success as her previous album. Brooks left Capitol and signed with Gold Circle Records. In 2002, she released the album Bad Bad One. Five years later, she issued the children’s music album If I Could Be… Brooks then decided to focus on producing, songwriting and developing artists including Becca, Hilary Duff, Brooke Allison, and others. In 2018, Bebe Rexha released the single “I’m a Mess”, which borrowed some of the melody from Brooks’ “Bitch”, earning her a co-writing credit on the song.
