Melissa+etheridge

Talk about the human condition. When Melissa Etheridge released Lucky in early 2004, it was in celebration of a new romance and her status as a veteran singer/songwriter. Sadly, just a few months later, she announced she had breast cancer. But then, almost exactly a year after Lucky's release, Etheridge was on-stage at the Grammys singing a powerful version of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." Her bold, and bald, performance proved that cancer wasn't Melissa Etheridge's goodbye. But it also gave hope to anyone experiencing the same ordeal. Etheridge celebrates her career again with 2005's Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled, which joins highlights and singles from her albums to unreleased material and a rousing studio version of "Piece of My Heart."

2010 album from the best-selling singer/songwriter. The album was produced by John Shanks, whose first producer credit was Etheridge's Breakdown, her four-time Grammy-nominated album of 1999. Fearless Love expands on the multiple strengths that have made Etheridge one of the most beloved figures in Rock. It follows The Awakening, her revealing album of 2007, with a rousing tone at once tough and tender, as only she can be. It is that force of presence which has earned her, among other accolades, the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and two Grammy Awards.

The core of the album is seven songs she wrote in the late 1980s and early ‘90s —“One Way Out,” “As Cool As You Try,” “I’m No Angel Myself,” “For the Last Time,” “Save Myself,” “That Would Be Me” and. “Wild Wild Wild.” Rounding out the set are two other previously unreleased songs, “You Have No Idea” and “Life Goes On,” recorded at an intimate and boisterous 2002 concert at the Roxy in West Hollywood. These songs bristle with energy and emotion, a rock ’n’ roll edge and personal depth as sharp as anything in her canon.

I'm Not Broken is a 12-track live performance album of Melissa's hits, plus a brand-new track she wrote specifically for the project. The record will be released in tandem with a two-part limited series for Paramount+ centered around Melissa Etheredge putting on a concert in a women's prison in Kansas. Melissa is originally from Leavenworth, Kansas and grew up playing shows in the prisons in her hometown before becoming a full-blown rock star, award-winning musician, celebrity, and activist. This project is about coming home to your roots, redemption, and the healing power of music. It will be released via Sun Records, a perfect home in line with Johnny Cash's iconic "Live From Folsom Prison" record.

On her fifth album, Melissa Etheridge mixed her primary musical influences–a lot of Bruce Springsteen, some Led Zeppelin, a little U2–with a set of directed love lyrics–a lot of "you," some "I," a little "they"–that seemed to revolve around a romantic triangle. Etheridge's emotional concerns were specifically same sex-oriented, not so much because she flaunted her lesbianism as because of the way she thought about sex and relationships. Her lyrics were full of references to exchanges of identities between lovers: "I really like you, baby / I want to be you"; "Please let me into your eyes"; and "Spend the night inside of my skin" in a song called, "I Could Have Been You."

Punning title aside, This Is M.E. doesn't necessarily play like an affirmation of Melissa Etheridge's core strengths. Rather, this 2014 album – her 12th studio set – finds the veteran singer/songwriter stretching her legs, trying a lot of different sounds, all with the assistance of a diverse cast of collaborators. While Jerrod Bettis, a writer who previously worked with Adele and Gavin DeGraw, might seem like an easy fit, the big surprise is that Etheridge chooses to work with several R&B producers and songwriters, including Roccstar, Jon Levine, and Jerry Wonder. The difference is immediately apparent from the beginning of This Is M.E., as it opens with the wall of sound of "I Won't Be Alone Tonight," a surging piece of AAA pop that does play a bit like Adele spliced with Roccstar.

Melissa Etheridge wasn't out of the closet when she released Yes I Am in 1993, yet it's hard not to notice the defiant acclamation in the album's title. This barely concealed sense of sexual identity seeps out from the lyrics, and it informs the music as well, which is perhaps the most confident she has ever been. It's also the most professional she's ever been (perhaps not a coincidence), as she belts out these unapologetically anthemic numbers with a sense of finesse that's suited to lifestyle newspaper pages, not rock & roll, thereby setting herself up for her bout with celebrity during the second half of the '90s. Yes I Am wouldn't have been as convincing if it wasn't so slick, though; her Springsteen-isms and Janis tributes are tempered by songs that work as album rock favorites, even if they aren't as epic or passionate as their inspirations. She may not have songs as great as she did the first time out – "Somebody Bring Me Some Water" remains her finest moment – but she has a sense of purpose and identity that suits her well.

I'm Not Broken is a 12-track live performance album of Melissa's hits, plus a brand-new track she wrote specifically for the project. The record will be released in tandem with a two-part limited series for Paramount+ centered around Melissa Etheredge putting on a concert in a women's prison in Kansas. Melissa is originally from Leavenworth, Kansas and grew up playing shows in the prisons in her hometown before becoming a full-blown rock star, award-winning musician, celebrity, and activist. This project is about coming home to your roots, redemption, and the healing power of music. It will be released via Sun Records, a perfect home in line with Johnny Cash's iconic "Live From Folsom Prison" record.