Melissa Etheridge

Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and musician Melissa Etheridge – born in Leavenworth, Kansas on May 29, 1961 - rose to prominence in the late 1980s after her self-titled album became an underground success before emerging into the charts and peaking at number 22. She is a high-profile gay rights activist and began her career playing in the LGBT bars in and around Los Angeles, California before being discovered by Island Record's Chris Blackwell. The album Melissa Etheridge – which featured “Bring Me Some Water” and “Like the Way I Do” - marked the start of an illustrious career which has seen her nominated for Grammy Awards on 15 occasions, winning two. After the release of acclaimed albums Brave and Crazy (1989) and Never Enough (1992), her 1993 album Yes I Am proved to be her breakthrough record and established the singer-songwriter as a mainstream act in the USA after spending 138 weeks in the Billboard charts peaking at number 15. The album featured four singles including “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window.” Melissa Etheridge went on to record a series of multi-platinum selling albums – including Your Little Secret (1995), Breakdown (1999), Skin (2001), and Lucky (2004) - but her career went on temporary hold when she underwent cancer treatment in 2005. She returned to action in 2007 with the album The Awakening. Melissa Etheridge has continued to release a series of studio albums – Fearless Love (2010), 4th Street Feeling (2012), This is M.E. (2014), Memphis Rock and Soul (2016), The Medicine Show (2019), and One Way Out (2021) – and remains a popular although sometimes controversial celebrity figure in the US. She is also a top live attraction on the concert circuit. In 2024, she announced the release of her live album, I’m Not Broken (Live from Topeka Correctional Facility). Throughout her career, Melissa Etheridge has been honored with many awards including two Grammy Awards (1993 and 1995), one Academy Award (2007), five GLAAD Media Awards (1994, 1995, 1999, and two in 2006), and five ASCAP Awards (three in 1996, and one in 1997 and 1998). In 2026, she released Rise, featuring a duet with Chris Stapleton on "The Other Side of Blue."