Michelle Jacquet Branch (born 2 July 1983) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for "The Game of Love", a 2002 collaboration with Santana.
Branch was born in Sedona, Arizona, to Peggy and David Branch. She is of Dutch-Indonesian and French descent through her mother and Irish descent through her father. Her maternal grandmother was from East Java, Indonesia, and was interned in a Japanese camp during the Second World War before later settling in the Netherlands. Branch's mother emigrated with her family to the United States at the age of five, where they settled in Arizona.
Branch began singing at the age of three and took voice lessons at Northern Arizona University from the age of eight. She received her first guitar for her 14th birthday and taught herself to play, writing her first song, "Fallen", within a week. She attended Sedona Red Rock High School before completing her final two years of secondary education through home schooling to concentrate on her music career.
With the support of her parents, Branch performed at local venues in Sedona and recorded the independently released album "Broken Bracelet", which was issued in 2000 by Twin Dragon Records. The album consisted of songs she had written from the age of 14 onwards. In 1999, she posted songs on the Rolling Stone website, attracting the attention of Hanson and record producer Jeff Rabhan, which led to opening performances for Hanson in 2000. The original recordings of "Broken Bracelet" were destroyed during the 2010 Nashville floods.
In 2001, Branch signed with Maverick Records and began working with producer John Shanks on her second album. "The Spirit Room" was released in August 2001 and included the singles "Everywhere", "All You Wanted", and "Goodbye to You". "Everywhere" received the MTV Video Music Award Viewer's Choice Award in 2002. The album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold approximately three million copies worldwide.
Branch contributed vocals to the song "Deeper" from Hanson's 2004 album "Underneath". She also collaborated with the band Justincase on several tracks for its 2002 self-titled album, including the single "Don't Cry for Us".
In 2002, Branch collaborated with Santana, Gregg Alexander and Rick Nowels on "The Game of Love", which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. She was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2003.
Her third studio album, "Hotel Paper", was released in 2003 and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200. It was certified platinum by the RIAA. The lead single, "Are You Happy Now?", earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The subsequent singles, "Breathe" and "'Til I Get over You", achieved more moderate commercial success. During this period, Branch also made television appearances in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "American Dreams", and "Charmed", and appeared in the 2002 film "The Hot Chick".
In 2005, Branch formed the country music duo The Wreckers with Jessica Harp. Their debut album, "Stand Still, Look Pretty", was released in 2006 and included the single "Leave the Pieces", which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The duo also contributed the song "I'm Feeling You" to Santana's album "All That I Am", toured with Rascal Flatts, and appeared in the television series "One Tree Hill". "Stand Still, Look Pretty" was certified gold by the RIAA. The Wreckers disbanded in 2007, after which Branch relocated from California to Nashville, Tennessee.
Following the group's dissolution, Branch wrote songs for other artists and film soundtracks, including material for Mandy Moore's album "Wild Hope" and the song "Together" for "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2". She also collaborated with Chris Isaak on the duet "I Lose My Heart" for his 2009 album "Mr. Lucky", recorded a cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You", and worked with Timbaland on the song "Getaway".
The project "Everything Comes and Goes", originally intended as a full-length album, was released instead as a six-track extended play in 2010. During this period, Branch also worked on another album, "West Coast Time". Although several songs from the project were released or performed live, and the single "Loud Music" was issued in 2011, the album remained unreleased despite multiple announced release dates.
In 2012, Branch co-hosted the online cooking programme "Cook Taste Eat" with chef Michael Mina. She also performed "Leave the Pieces" with Kelly Clarkson during the "Stronger Tour".
After moving on from the unreleased "West Coast Time", Branch began recording new material with producer Martin Terefe. In 2015, she signed with Verve Records. She appeared on "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" in 2016, performing "Goodbye Ted Cruz", a parody adaptation of her song "Goodbye to You". Her fourth studio album, "Hopeless Romantic", was released in 2017. Later that year, she parted ways with Verve Records. She also recorded a cover of "A Horse with No Name" with Patrick Carney for the soundtrack of the television series "BoJack Horseman".
In 2021, Branch re-recorded "The Spirit Room" to mark its 20th anniversary. The new version was released following a virtual concert in which she performed the album in full.
Branch released the single "I'm a Man" in July 2022. It was included on her fifth studio album, "The Trouble with Fever", which was released in September 2022. The album's cover photograph was taken by her father-in-law, James Carney.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Branch
Studio albums
Broken Bracelet (2000)
The Spirit Room (2001)
Hotel Paper (2003)
Hopeless Romantic (2017)
The Trouble with Fever (2022)
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…shrink me down again