Michelle Branch

Michelle Branch

Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch-Landau (born July 2, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She made her debut in 2000, and released the platinum-selling albums The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper in August 2001 and June 2003 respectively. During this period, she collaborated with Santana on the single "The Game of Love", which won a Grammy Award. In 2004, she formed the musical duo The Wreckers with fellow musician Jessica Harp.

Biography

Early life and solo career

Branch was born seven weeks premature in Flagstaff, Arizona on July 2 1983 , and was named after the Beatles' song "Michelle". Her father is of Irish ancestry while her Eurasian mother was born in the Netherlands; her maternal grandmother was from East Java and was held in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, while her maternal grandfather was Dutch. She has an older half-brother, David, and a younger sister, Nicole.

Branch started taking voice lessons at a local university when she was 8 years old. She received a guitar for her fourteenth birthday from her uncle. She locked herself in her room and taught herself chords; within a few days she had composed her first song. She focused on the arts during high school, and was writing songs extensively. She attended Sedona Red Rock High School in Sedona but with the support of her parents, decided to continue her high school education through homeschooling, which allowed her to follow her dreams of becoming a singer-songwriter. She had begged her parents to allow her to leave regular high school, and one night at dinner she asked why she had to go back to school, and to her surprise, her father replied with, "Yeah, why does she?" She played clubs for years and released her debut album Broken Bracelet independently in 2000.

She signed a record deal with Madonna's record company Maverick while opening for Hanson in December 2000. Her first album under Maverick, The Spirit Room, was released in August 2001 and went on to sell over one million copies in the U.S. The single "Everywhere" became a worldwide top-twenty hit, and was followed by the U.S. top-ten hit "All You Wanted" and the top-forty single "Goodbye to You". Branch was frequently compared (both positively and negatively) to other singer-songwriters like Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, and Vanessa Carlton who rose to prominence at around the same time as she. In 2002 Branch was the lead vocalist on Carlos Santana's song "The Game of Love", which became her first single to reach the U.S. top five; it went on to win a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals".

Michelle Branch performing in Toronto on October 19 2003.

In 2003, she released her second full-length album, Hotel Paper, which became her second RIAA-certified platinum album but was met with mixed reviews. The lead single "Are You Happy Now?" became another top-twenty hit for Branch in the U.S., but follow-up singles "Breathe" and "'Til I Get over You" failed to achieve substantial success. In June 2004 she hosted MTV's Faking the Video alongside Nick Lachey and JC Chasez.

Branch married her tour band's bass player, Teddy Landau, who is 19 years her senior, in Mexico on May 23, 2004. On August 3, 2005, Branch gave birth to a 7lb. 12oz. (3.5 kg) baby girl named Owen Isabelle.

The Wreckers

Main article: The Wreckers

In July 2005 Branch announced the completion of an album with country singer Jessica Harp. The longtime friends and collaborators were dubbed "The Homewreckers" as a joke by Branch's husband, and they shortened it to The Wreckers. The album combined Branch's pop-rock sensibility with Harp's country-folk style. The album was originally due for release in June 2005 but was delayed because of promotional reasons surrounding Branch's pregnancy.

One of the songs Branch co-wrote with Harp for the album was featured on the original soundtrack to the WB television teen drama One Tree Hill. Branch and Harp made a brief appearance as themselves on One Tree Hill, and then went on a month-long concert tour with Gavin DeGraw and One Tree Hill stars Tyler Hilton and Bethany Joy Lenz. Branch has sung on the television shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in the episode "Tabula Rasa") and Charmed (in the episode "Centennial Charmed").

Branch closed down the message boards for The Wreckers' official website in December 2005 after being displeased by comments posted there. The Wreckers' first single, "Leave the Pieces", was released in February 2006; the album Stand Still, Look Pretty was released that May. During this period, they joined country music stars Rascal Flatts and Gary Allan on a sold out U.S. tour.

Branch has written songs for other artists, including one for Mandy Moore's next album. As of 2006, her biggest hits ("Everywhere", "All You Wanted", and "Are You Happy Now?") continue to be played in recurrent rotation on CHR and Hot AC radio stations.

In December 2006, the Wreckers were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the song "Leave the Pieces".

Musical style

Branch writes or co-writes all of her own material, and her music influences are the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Aerosmith, Patsy Cline, Cat Stevens, Stevie Nicks and Joni Mitchell. While her musical tastes lean more toward older musicians, she also enjoys contemporary bands such as Incubus, Soundgarden, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, and Silverchair and current songwriters including Lisa Loeb, Sheryl Crow, and Patty Griffin. She has also expressed her admiration for classical music.

Branch owns over fourteen guitars but mainly uses a Gibson Hummingbird after retiring her famous blue Taylor 614ce in 2002. In addition to the guitar, Branch plays instruments such as the cello, accordion, drums, piano, harmonica, and the mandolin.

Branch enjoys playing the Hummingbird more for live performances and recordings due to the fact that the sound quality is better than the Taylor. As of 2006 she has also been using an electric guitar during live performances of songs such as Tennessee and Cigarettes.

Discography

Main article: Michelle Branch discography

Albums

• 2000: Broken Bracelet
• 2001: The Spirit Room
• 2003: Hotel Paper

Singles

from The Spirit Room

• 2001: "Everywhere"
• 2002: "All You Wanted"
• 2002: "Goodbye To You"

from Santana's Shaman

• 2002: "The Game Of Love" (Santana & Michelle Branch)

from Hotel Paper

• 2003: "Are You Happy Now?"
• 2003: "Breathe"
• 2004: "One of These Days"
• 2004: "'Til I Get Over You"

from Santana's All That I Am

• 2005: "I'm Feeling You" (Santana, Michelle Branch & the Wreckers)

Filmography

• 2002: The Hot Chick (as DJ at dance club)

She also appeared in the episode Tabula Rasa of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as a guest singer.

In Centenniel Charmed of the show, Charmed, she also appeared as a guest singer for Piper's club, P3.

She also made appearances on One Tree Hill with friend Jessica Harp as The Wreckers.

Quotes

• "If I wanna be alone, or if I'm having a bad day, I pick up my guitar. Music is my release"

• "...It's not an innie and it's not an outie. It's like an 'inbetweenie'. It's like weird." (on her belly button).

External links

• Official site
• Michelle Branch at IMDb
• Template:Tvtome person
• Feature story on The Wreckers