Time and Place
Date: Wednesday, Feb 6 & 7 @ 9:00 PM
Venue: The Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza
Street: 17 Irving Place
City: New York
State/Province: New York
Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American blues rock singer, guitarist, bassist, and songwriter. Her music blends country, pop, folk, and blues rock into one mainstream sound, and she has won nine Grammy Awards. Crow is also a noted political activist.
Music career
Early career
Crow graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Education. She was a member of the school's Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and is also a member of Sigma Alpha Iota, a women's music fraternity. After graduation, she worked as a elementary school music teacher at Kellison in Fenton, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Teaching during the day allowed her the opportunity to sing in bands on the weekends.
She was introduced to local musician and producer Jay Oliver. He had a thriving studio in the basement of his parents' home in St. Louis and helped her by using her in advertising jingles. Her first jingle was a back-to-school spot for the St. Louis department store Famous-Barr. McDonald's and Toyota commercial jingles soon followed. She was recently quoted in a 60 Minutes segment as saying she made $50,000 on her McDonald's commercial alone.
She toured with Michael Jackson during the BAD world tour in 1987-1989 and sang with him during the performance of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".[citation needed]
In 1992, Crow recorded her first attempt at her debut album with Phil Collins' producer, Hugh Padgham. The self-titled debut album was slated to be released on September 22, 1992, but was ultimately rejected by her label. However, a handful of cassette copies of the album were leaked along with press folders to be used for album publicity. This album has been widely dispersed via file sharing networks and fan trading over the years.
Sheryl then began dating Kevin Gilbert and joined him in an ad hoc group of musicians known to everyone in the group as the Tuesday night music club (hence the name of Sheryl's first album), who came together on Tuesdays to work on the album. Many of them share songwriting credits with Crow.
The group existed as a casual songwriting collective prior to its association with Crow, but rapidly developed into a vehicle for her debut album after her arrival (she was at the time dating Kevin Gilbert, who actually co-wrote most of the songs for the TNMC album along with Crow, Baerwald, Ricketts, Bottrell, Schwartz and MacLeod). Her relationship with Gilbert became acrimonious soon after the album release and there were disputes about songwriting credits. Crow claimed to have written them in interviews later. Both Gilbert and Baerwald castigated Crow publicly in the fallout, although Baerwald would later soften his position. A similar tension would arise with TNMC member Bill Bottrell after her second album, over which he collaborated, at least in the early stages.
Tuesday Night Music Club went on to sell some 7.6 million copies in the US and UK during the 1990s. The album also won Crow three Grammy Awards in 1995: Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Performance.
Solo success
Crow appeared in the "New Faces" section of Rolling Stone in 1993. The album featured many of the songs written by Crow's friends, including the second single, "Leaving Las Vegas". The album was slow to garner attention, until "All I Wanna Do" became an unexpected smash hit in the spring of 1994. As she later stated in People, she found an old poetry book in a used book store in the L.A. area and used a poem as lyrics in the song. To their credit, she and then-collaborator Bill Bottrell tracked down the author, Wyn Cooper, and he ended up being paid royalties on the song. The singles "Strong Enough" and "Can't Cry Anymore" were also released, with the former charting in the Top Ten and the latter hitting the Top 40. Crow received several Grammy awards in 1994: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "All I Wanna Do"; Record of the Year for "All I Wanna Do"; and Best New Artist.
In 1996, Crow released her self titled second album, which earned her the cover of Rolling Stone. The album was darker and grittier and far more political, with songs about abortion, homelessness and nuclear war. The debut single, "If It Makes You Happy", became a radio hit, and netted her two Grammy awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Rock Album. Other singles included "A Change Would Do You Good", "Home" and "Everyday Is A Winding Road". Crow produced the album herself. The album was banned from sale at Wal-Mart; in "Love Is A Good Thing," Crow suggests that guns sold by Wal-Mart too easily fall into the hands of children.
In 1997, Crow contributed the theme song to the James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies. Her song Tomorrow Never Dies was nominated for a Grammy Award.
The Globe Sessions, acting, and Live from Central Park
In 1998 Crow released The Globe Sessions. During this period, she discussed in interviews having gone through a deep depression, and there was speculation about a brief affair with Eric Clapton. The debut single from this album, "My Favorite Mistake", was rumored to be about him, although Crow claims otherwise. The album won Best Rock Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards. It was re-released in 1999, with a bonus track, Crow's cover of the Guns N' Roses song "Sweet Child o' Mine", which was included on the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. This song won the 1999 Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Other singles included "There Goes the Neighborhood", "Anything But Down" and "The Difficult Kind".
Later in 1998, Crow took part in a live concert in tribute to Burt Bacharach, in which she contributed vocals on One Less Bell To Answer, while wearing a full-length black formal dress.
In 1999, Crow also made her acting debut as an ill-fated drifter in the suspense/drama The Minus Man, which starred her then-boyfriend Owen Wilson as a serial killer. Shortly thereafter, she sported an unexpected short hairstyle.
She also released a live album called Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park. The record featured Crow singing many of her hit singles with new musical spins and guest appearances by many other musicians including Sarah McLachlan, Stevie Nicks, the Dixie Chicks, and Clapton. "There Goes the Neighborhood" was included in the album, eventually winning the Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Crow also appeared on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, duetting with Emmylou Harris on the Parsons' song, "Juanita".
2000s
Crow had been involved with the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) since the late 1990s, performing at fund raisers and befriending Sharon Monsky. In 2002, as a result of her friend Kent Sexton dying from scleroderma, she interrupted work on her new album C'mon C'mon to record the traditional hymn "Be Still My Soul", to be played at his funeral. In November of that year it was released as a single, with the proceeds going to SRF.
Crow opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, wearing a shirt that read "I don't believe in your war, Mr. Bush!" during a performance on Good Morning America and posting an open letter explaining her opposition on her website.
Crow duetted with rapper Kid Rock on the crossover hit single "Picture". There was speculation about a brief affair with Kid Rock.[citation needed]
In 2003, Crow released a greatest hits compilation called The Very Best of Sheryl Crow. It featured many of her hit singles, as well as some new tracks. Among them was the ballad "The First Cut is the Deepest" (originally a Cat Stevens song), which became her biggest radio hit since "All I Wanna Do". She also released the single "Light In Your Eyes", which received limited airplay. "The First Cut is the Deepest" earned her two American Music Awards for Best Pop/Rock Artist and Adult Contemporary Artist of the Year, respectively.
In 2004, Crow appeared as a musical theater performer in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely.
Recent activity
On the red carpet at the 2006 CMA Awards, Crow reported that she was working on a country music album. According to Entertainment Weekly, Wildflower, at one point was to be followed, in about six months, by a "pop record." According to Crow, Wildflower was the "art record," which she felt she had earned the right to make, following the success of The Very Best of Sheryl Crow.
At the 2006 CMA Awards, Crow performed the songs "What You Give Away" with Vince Gill, and "Building Bridges" with Brooks & Dunn and Vince Gill.
Crow is due to appear in a series of magazine advertisements in February for Revlon. In this, she uses the Buddy Holly classic "Not Fade Away" to sell the cosmetics of her sponsor. The iTunes page states that net proceeds will benefit breast cancer research.
Sheryl Crow In The Studio - Webisode #1more info
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