Melissa Etheridge is one of rock music’s great female icons. Her critically acclaimed eponymous debut album was certified double platinum. Etheridge’s popularity built around such memorable songs as “Bring Me Some Water,” “No Souvenirs” and “Ain’t It Heavy” for which she won her first Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal. Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am, featuring the massive hits “I’m the Only One” and “Come to My Window,” a searing song of longing that brought her a second Grammy. The six times platinum album spent more than two and a half years on the album chart. Etheridge is also an Oscar winner for Best Original Song in 2007. In 2011 Melissa made her Broadway debut as St. Jimmy in Green Day’s rock opera, American Idiot, where she replaced Billie Joe Armstrong for one week, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Etheridge is scheduled to release MEmphis Rock and Soul, a new album honoring Stax Records, in fall of 2016. She recently completed recording at Royal Studios in Memphis on what will be her first album since 2014’s critically lauded This Is M.E. On June 20, 2016, Etheridge released a song called “Pulse.” The singer wrote the song in reaction to the mass shootings that took place in Orlando on June 12, 2016. As she told Rolling Stone, “We want to try to make sense. We want to try to heal. We want to bring some meaning, some purpose. We also want to put it down forever in history. That’s how I’m coping.” All proceeds from the sale of “Pulse” will benefit Equality Florida, the states largest LGBT civil rights organization.
