Michelle Branch
Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch (born July 2, 1983) is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. She has released three albums: Broken Bracelet (2000), The Spirit Room (2001) and Hotel Paper (2003), the latter two of which have been certified platinum by the RIAA.
Biography and music career
She was born 7 weeks premature in Flagstaff, Arizona and was named after The Beatles' song "Michelle". Her father is of Irish ancestry and her mother is of Dutch, Indonesian (Javanese), and French ancestry. She has an older half-brother, David, and a younger sister, Nicole. She attended Red Rock High School in Sedona.
Branch first wanted to write songs as soon as she hit her teens, beginning to write shortly after that. She asked for — and got — a guitar on her 14th birthday, and later signed up for vocal classes. In high school, she made arts her focus, choosing classes that augmented and enhanced her creativity. All throughout high school Branch was writing extensively — in fact, she claims she wrote Sweet Misery during an algebra class. She never finished high school, opting instead to follow her dreams and become a singer/songwriter. She played clubs for years, releasing Broken Bracelet independently.
She was signed to Madonna's record company Maverick while opening for Hanson, signing a record deal in December 2000. Her first major hit, "Everywhere", hit radio in 2001, and was followed by another hit, "All You Wanted", both from her album The Spirit Room which was released August 14 2001. In 2002, she appeared as lead vocalist on Carlos Santana's song "The Game of Love" (not to be confused with the Mindbenders song of the same name). The song went on to win a Grammy Award for best pop collaboration. In 2003 she released her second full-length album Hotel Paper. The first single "Are You Happy Now" again jumped on the top 20 of the Billboard single chart.
She gained acclaim alongside such artists as Avril Lavigne and Vanessa Carlton as a young woman performing pop music that was not "bubblegum," or marketed based on the artist's sexy image rather than musical integrity. However, recent steamy photoshoots with magazines like Maxim and Blender have put her previous clean cut, less sexualized image into question, in a fashion broadly reminiscent of fellow American pop stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
Branch is also noted for writing or co-writing all of her songs on her albums. Critics have commended her thoughtful lyrics and interesting guitar chords. Her music influences are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Aerosmith, Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell. While her musical tastes lean more toward the classics, she also loves bands like Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, and Silverchair, current songwriters like Lisa Loeb and Patty Griffin, and she has also expressed her admiration for classical music. She plays several instruments, including the cello, the guitar, the accordion, the drums, the piano, and the harmonica. She also has absolute pitch. Her nicknames are Meech and Chelle. Her height is 5'6" (1.68m). She currently has twelve tattoos, and she tends to get tattoos whenever something significant happens in her life. She mainly uses Taylor and Gibson guitars. Her favorite is a Taylor 614ce, and she currently uses a Gibson Hummingbird. She owns 14 guitars. She enjoys watching movies and taking photos, among other things, but still says that songwriting is her favorite thing to do.
In July, 2005 Branch announced the completion of an album with country singer Jessica Harp. The longtime friends and collaborators dubbed themselves The Wreckers, and created an album combining Michelle's pop-rock influence with Harp's country-folk style.
The album was originally due for release in June 2005 but was delayed to early January 2006 due to promotion reasons. A song Branch co-wrote with Harp called "The Good Kind" is currently featured on the original soundtrack of the WB teen drama One Tree Hill.
The soundtrack release was followed by a brief appearance on "One Tree Hill" with Harp (playing themselves) and then a month-long tour featuring The Wreckers, Gavin DeGraw, and "One Tree Hill" star Tyler Hilton and Bethany Joy Lenz.
Branch made notable guest appearances on other hit television shows including Buffy The Vampire Slayer and American Dreams.
In Mexico, on May 23 2004, she married her tour band's bass player, Teddy Landau, who is 19 years older than her. She gave birth to a 7lb. 12oz. baby girl named Owen Isabelle on August 3, 2005.
Branch's biggest hits "Everywhere", "All You Wanted", and "Are You Happy Now?" continue to be played in recurrent rotation on CHR and Hot AC playlists today.
Michelle helps other artists create hits as she works on her next LP. She helped Mandy Moore with her new album Once Moore, it is still unknown what song she wrote with Mandy.
The Wreckers' first single from their upcoming album is "Leave the Pieces" and will be released soon. Their album will come out in May 2006.
Michelle closed down The Wreckers Message Boards on December 4th, 2005, after being hurt by things "fans" said about her[1]. Whether or not this will have any impact on her career remains to be seen.
Discography
Albums
- Broken Bracelet (2000) (Uncertified)
- The Spirit Room (2001) #28 U.S. RIAA Certification: platinum
- Hotel Paper (2003) #2 RIAA Certification: platinum
- Stand Still, Look Pretty (2006) - The Wreckers(May, 2006)
Singles
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | U.S. Hot 100 | U.S. AC | Hot AC | UK Singles Chart | AU Top 50 | Indonesia Chart | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "Everywhere" | #12 | - | #9 | #18 | #18 | #1 (2 weeks) | The Spirit Room | ||||||
| 2002 | "All You Wanted" | #6 | #30 | #4 | #33 | #27 | #4 | The Spirit Room | ||||||
| 2002 | "Goodbye To You" | #21 | - | #15 | - | - | #8 | The Spirit Room | ||||||
| 2002 | "The Game Of Love (Santana featuring Michelle Branch)" | #5 | #1 | #1 | #16 | #19 | #1 (1 week) | Shaman | ||||||
| 2003 | "Are You Happy Now?" | #16 | - | #3 | #31 | #35 | #1 (3 weeks) | Hotel Paper | ||||||
| 2003 | "Breathe" | #36 | #27 | #13 | - | #38 | #2 | Hotel Paper | ||||||
| 2004 | "'Til I Get Over You" | Failed to Chart | - | - | - | - | #40 | Hotel Paper | ||||||
| 2005 | "The Good Kind" (The Wreckers) | Promo | - | - | - | - | #48 | One Tree Hill Soundtrack | ||||||
| 2005 | "I'm Feeling You" (Santana featuring Michelle Branch and The Wreckers) | #55 | #16 | #9 | - | - | #1 (1 week ) | All That I Am | ||||||
| 2006 | "Leave the Pieces" (The Wreckers) | Coming Soon | - | - | - | - | Stand Still, Look Pretty | |||||||
Quotes
- “I have a pirate fetish — I just always thought eye patches were sexy. If you want to get my attention, wear a pirate outfit.” - Maxim
- "I'm not a normal girl, I like shopping for guitars more than clothes."
- "Magazines ask me questions like 'What kind of jeans do you wear?' and I'm like, 'I'm a musician. I wear the same clothes everyday. Can we talk about my guitars now?"
- "My audience is my age, basically, and to have them say 'We're listening to this and we get it' is really cool. They'll grow up when I grow up."
- "Guitars are like shoes. You have to make sure it really fits with you."
- "Oh no, they have no buns, so that means there is no hot dogs! I won't shoot till I get my hot dog."
- "I can't believe some people will think that oh, this girl is going to have brown hair not blonde hair, and she's going to play guitar, and I hope they don't think that because, I really love what I do."
- "Girls come up to me and complain of artists in their videos with perfect bodies and impossible beauty and feel disappointed. Then they look at me and say it's okay, I don't need to be perfect."
- "When I'm having a bad day, I pick up my guitar. Music is my release."