Melissa Etheridge

Diagnoses

Passions

Vocation

Notable

Family

American musician, a singer, songwriter and rock superstar, nominated for a Grammy early 2000 in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance category for "Angels Would Fall." Her early work had periodic hits, but since 1988 she's been solid on the charts. Melissa began playing the guitar and writing her own songs as a kid but did not leave Kansas until she was 21. By then she had a little more awareness of who she was and wanted to be, and her first gigs in California were in lesbian bars. In 1986 she was discovered by Island Records and cut her first album. At age 17, Melissa had her first romantic relationship with a woman and life changed forever. Her hits include "Yes I Am," 1993 and "Your Little Secret," 1995, in which she acknowledges her sexual orientation. In 1988, Melissa met 22-year old video and film director Julie Cypher, who divorced Lou Diamond Philips the following year. Her record company asked that she not go public with their relationship for the sake of her career, and it was not until January 1993 at Clinton's inauguration ball that she and Julie came out publicly as a couple and she openly acknowledged her homosexuality. In February 1997, they had a baby girl, Bailey Jean. The couple refused for several years to make any comment on the father until March 2000 when they revealed that their good friend, musician David Crosby had fathered both Bailey and recently born Beckett, their son. Julie is the natural mother of both kids and Melissa has adopted them. In 1999 Etheridge put out "Breakdown," a heartfelt collection of songs that includes "Scarecrow," a tribute to gay-bashing victim Matthew Shepard. After a ten-year relationship, Etheridge announced on 9/19/2000, that she and Julie were parting. The couple said in a joint statement, "Though elements of our lives will change, our family will always remain intact." Giving it more than lip-service, they took homes that were next-door to each other so that their kids could share time with both moms. Their friend, David Crosby, acknowledges his paternal role and drops around to visit the kids periodically. For her 40th birthday bash in 2001, she introduced her new girlfriend, 14-year-younger actress Tammy Lynn Michaels. Her autobiography, "The Truth Is...." arrived in stores in June 2001, a pull-no-punches book that includes an account of childhood sexual abuse between the ages of seven and ten by her older sister, Jennifer . Etheridge says that she realized that she was lesbian as an adolescent and began seeing a therapist at 22. At age 42, on September 20, 2003, the musician united with a 28 year old woman, Tammy Lynn Michaels, in a commitment ceremony with both brides reciting their vows in front of 150 guests in Malibu, CA. In his officiating role, Reverend Charles Hall declared them "beloved wives." On October 7, 2004, the singer’s publicist revealed that Etheridge had been diagnosed with breast cancer. Two days later, on October 9, she had a lumpectomy in Los Angeles. She cancelled the remainder of her North America tour in order to undergo treatment. The singer and her partner Tammy Lynn Michaels had twins on October 17, 2006 in Los Angeles, a boy named Miller Steven and a girl named Johnnie Rose. Michaels conceived the children via an anonymous sperm donor. She won a 2007 Academy Award for her song “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” Link to Wikipedia biography