Melissa Ferrick
Encyclopedia
Early life
Ferrick was raised in Ipswich, MassachusettsIpswich, Massachusetts
Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 12,987 at the 2000 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island...
. Her
father John was a well-liked public school teacher who managed several free-jazz bands on the side. As a child, Ferrick would often accompany her father to clubs on Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's North Shore to watch the bands play. She began taking classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
lessons at the age of five, and then moved on to the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
. In elementary and junior high school, she learned the trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
and bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
. Altogether, she received 12 years of formal music training, including two years each at the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
and the New England Conservatory of Music
New England Conservatory of Music
The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent school of music in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of...
. Ferrick taught herself to play the acoustic guitar at Berklee, and dropped out after two years to pursue her music career.
Music
Ferrick began her career singing and playing in coffeehouses in the East VillageEast Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
, New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. She received a great deal of publicity in 1991 when she replaced, at the last minute, the opening act for the singer Morrissey
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey , known as Morrissey, is an English singer and lyricist. He rose to prominence in the 1980s as the lyricist and vocalist of the alternative rock band The Smiths. The band was highly successful in the United Kingdom but broke up in 1987, and Morrissey began a solo career,...
on tour. She was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
and released her first studio album, Massive Blur, in 1993.
Ferrick's relationship with Atlantic was rocky. She was dropped when her first two albums did not meet the producers' financial expectations.
In 1996, she—in her words -- "bottomed out", drinking and "taking a bunch of pills". After sobering up, she returned to music, signing with the indie label W.A.R.? - What Are Records?. Ferrick released three albums on this label.
In 2000, Ferrick founded her own record label, Right On Records. The first studio album released on her own label was Valentine Heartache. Since her departure from Atlantic, the rise in her popularity has been driven by her fan-base, by reviews in the independent and alternative press, and by word-of-mouth.
In the Eyes of Strangers, released in October 2006, was the sixth album released on her own label. Ferrick partially financed the recording costs for In The Eyes of Strangers with digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
s of acoustic versions of select songs which fans could purchase directly via her website. Her fourteenth album, Goodbye Youth, was released September 2008. In Spring 2010, she released an album of cover songs called Enough About Me, and announced plans to release an album of original material later that same year.
During live performances, Ferrick mostly accompanies herself on a Collings
Collings Guitars
Collings Guitars is an Austin, Texas based stringed instrument manufacturer. Founded by Bill Collings in 1973, Collings today produces acoustic guitars, electric guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins, and ukuleles.- History :...
OM3 SB acoustic guitar. She has also experimented with loop pedals and a range of accompaniments, including, in particular, brass instruments.
Ferrick's rigorous touring schedule generally includes more than 150 shows per year. She plays solo gigs in small to medium-sized clubs and numerous festivals, as well as larger venues accompanied by a band. In 2007, she performed at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
Michigan Womyn's Music Festival
The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, called "the Original Womyn's Woodstock" and often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, is an international feminist music festival occurring every August since 1976 near Hart, Michigan...
, and opened for Indigo Girls
Indigo Girls
The Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. They met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area...
and Ani Difranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
.
Her musical inspirations include Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, Simon and Garfunkel
Simon and Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...
, Earth Wind and Fire, The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...
, Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
, Dave Matthews
Dave Matthews
David John "Dave" Matthews is a South African–born American musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band...
, Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Initially part of the group Whiskeytown, Adams left the band and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000...
, and Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco
Ani DiFranco is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is widely considered a feminist icon.-Biography:...
.
Personal life
Melissa Ferrick is openly gayGay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
, and some of her lyrics deal with lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
themes. Her album Everything I Need was named 1999 Album of the Year by the Gay and Lesbian American Music Association, and she has received positive reviews in the queer publication The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
. In interviews and articles she speaks openly not only about her sexuality
Human female sexuality
Human female sexuality encompasses a broad range of behaviors and processes, including female sexual identity and sexual behavior, the physiological, psychological, social, cultural, political, and spiritual or religious aspects of sex...
, but also about her love life, and her personal life in general.
Discography
- 1993 - Massive Blur
- 1995 - Willing to Wait
- 1996 - Made of Honor
- 1997 - Melissa Ferrick +1 (Live)
- 1998 - Everything I Need
- 2000 - Freedom
- 2001 - Skinnier, Faster, Live at the B.P.C. (Live)
- 2001 - Valentine Heartache
- 2002 - Listen Hard
- 2003 - 70 People at 7000 Feet (Live)
- 2004 - The Other Side
- 2006 - In the Eyes of Strangers
- 2006 - Decade (video)
- 2007 - Live at Union Hall (Live)
- 2008 - Goodbye Youth
- 2010 - Enough About Me
- 2011 - Still Right Here