Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. She is noted for her idealistic and optimistic subject matter, and incorporation of various genres into her rock-oriented sound, including blues, country, folk, and pop.
She has released twelve studio albums, five compilations, and three live albums, and contributed to several film soundtracks. Her most popular songs include "All I Wanna Do", "Strong Enough", "If It Makes You Happy", "Everyday Is a Winding Road", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "My Favorite Mistake", "Picture", and "Soak Up the Sun".
Crow has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and has won nine Grammy Awards from 32 nominations. In 2023 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In addition to her music career, she has appeared in television series and films, including 30 Rock, Cop Rock, GCB, Cougar Town, One Tree Hill, and NCIS: New Orleans.
Early life and education
Crow was born on February 11, 1962, in Kennett, Missouri, the daughter of Bernice, a piano teacher, and Wendell Wyatt Crow, a lawyer and trumpet player. Her great-grandfather was Congressman Charles A. Crow. She has two older sisters, Kathy and Karen, and a younger brother, Steven.While studying at Kennett High School, Crow was a majorette and an all-state track athlete, winning medals in the 75-meter low hurdles. She also joined the pep club, the National Honor Society, and the National FFA Organization, and was crowned Paperdoll Queen in a celebrity-judged beauty contest during her senior year.
She then enrolled at the University of Missouri in Columbia and in 1984 received a BS Ed degree in music education. While at the university, she sang in the local band Cashmere. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women, and the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, as well as working as a summer welcome orientation leader.
Career
1987–1991: Early career
After graduating from the University of Missouri, Crow worked as a music teacher at Kellison Elementary School in Fenton, Missouri. Teaching during the day gave her the opportunity to sing in bands on the weekends. She was later introduced to local musician and record producer Jay Oliver. He had a 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. Soon after, she sang in commercial jingles for McDonald's and Toyota. She was quoted in a 60 Minutes segment as saying she made $40,000 on the McDonald's ad alone.Crow toured with Michael Jackson as a backing vocalist during his Bad World Tour 1987–1989, and often performed with Jackson on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". She also recorded background vocals for Stevie Wonder, Belinda Carlisle, Jimmy Buffett, Kevin Gilbert and Don Henley. Crow played keyboards and sang backing vocals for Gilbert's band Toy Matinee in the early 1990s.
In 1989, Crow contributed backing vocals to the Neal Schon track "Smoke of the Revolution" from his album Late Nite.
Crow also sang in the short-lived Steven Bochco drama Cop Rock series finale in 1990 and her song "Heal Somebody" appeared in the film Bright Angel. In 1991, her recording of "Welcome to the Real Life" featured on the soundtrack to the Brian Bosworth action film Stone Cold. Later that year, her performance of "Hundreds of Tears" was included on the Point Break soundtrack and she sang a duet with Kenny Loggins on the track "I Would Do Anything", from his album Leap of Faith.
1992: Scrapped debut album
In 1992, Crow recorded her first attempt at a debut album with Sting's record producer Hugh Padgham. The self-titled debut album was due to be released in September 1992, but Crow and her label mutually decided that the album did not merit release. Crow described it as "too produced" and "slick". However, a handful of cassette copies of the album were leaked, along with press folders for album publicity. This album has been widely dispersed via file sharing networks and fan trading. In the meantime, Crow's songs were recorded by major artists such as Celine Dion, Tina Turner and Wynonna Judd.1994–1997: International success
Crow began dating Kevin Gilbert and joined him in an ad hoc group of musicians known to themselves as the "Tuesday Music Club". The group existed as a casual songwriting collective prior to its association with Crow; however, it rapidly developed into a vehicle for her debut album after Crow's arrival. Group members Gilbert, David Baerwald, and David Ricketts, Bill Bottrell, Brian MacLeod, and Dan Schwartz share songwriting credits with Crow on her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club, released in 1993. Her relationship with Gilbert became acrimonious soon after the album was released, and disputes arose about songwriting credits. Tuesday Night Music Club 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 October 1994. The singles "Strong Enough" and "Can't Cry Anymore" were also released, with the first song charting at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Can't Cry Anymore" hitting the Top 40. Tuesday Night Music Club went on to sell more than 7 million copies in the US and UK during the 1990s. The album also won Crow three Grammys at the 37th Annual Grammy Awards in 1995: Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.Crow performed at the 1994 Woodstock Festival and appeared in the "New Faces" section of Rolling Stone in 1994. She also supplied background vocals to the song "The Garden of Allah" from Don Henley's 1995 album Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits.
In 1996, Crow released her self-titled second album. She produced the album herself and also played a variety of instruments, from various guitars, bass or pedal steel to various organs and piano. The debut single, "If It Makes You Happy", became a radio success and netted her two Grammys for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Album at the 39th Annual Grammy Awards in 1997. Other singles included "A Change Would Do You Good", "Home", and "Everyday Is a Winding Road". The album was banned from sale at Walmart, because in the lyrics to "Love Is a Good Thing" Crow says that Walmart sells guns to children. The album also features a protest song called "Redemption Day", which was covered by Johnny Cash on his posthumous album American VI: Ain't No Grave.
Crow performed at Another Roadside Attraction in 1997. Also in 1997, Crow contributed the theme song to the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. Her song "Tomorrow Never Dies" was nominated for a Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for Television at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards and Best Original Song at the 55th Golden Globe Awards.
1998–1999: ''The Globe Sessions'' and live album
Crow collaborated on Scott Weiland's 1998 album, 12 Bar Blues. Also 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 Clapton, but Crow says otherwise—that the song is about a philandering ex-boyfriend. Crow has refused to say who the song was about, telling Billboard magazine on the release of her album, "Oh, there will be just so much speculation, and because of that there's great safety and protection in the fact that people will be guessing so many different people and I'm the only person who will ever really know. I'm really private about who I've had relationships with, and I don't talk about them in the press. I don't even really talk about them with the people around me." Despite the difficulties in recording the album, Crow told the BBC in 2005 that, "My favorite single is 'My Favorite Mistake'. It was a lot of fun to record and it's still a lot of fun to play." The album won Best Rock Album at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999. 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. The song won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000. Other singles included "There Goes the Neighborhood", "Anything but Down", and "The Difficult Kind". Crow's live recording of "There Goes the Neighborhood" won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2001. The Globe Sessions peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 chart, achieving US sales of 2 million as of January 2008. Later in 1998, Crow took part in a live concert in tribute to Burt Bacharach, contributing vocals on "One Less Bell to Answer".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. Also in 1999, she appeared in Prince's album Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, singing backing vocals in the song "Baby Knows". Prince included a cover of her "Everyday Is a Winding Road" in the album. She also appeared in Zucchero Fornaciari's collection Overdose d'amore/The Ballads featuring the song "Blue".
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, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton. It included her Grammy winning performance of "There Goes the Neighborhood".