Melissa Etheridge, 62: ‘There Was No Plan B’ for My Career

Melissa Etheridge isn’t shy about reflecting on her life. This fall, the 62-year-old singer-songwriter released her second memoir, Talking to My Angels, and performed a limited-engagement Broadway show, Melissa Etheridge: My Window, featuring storytelling and music. Next up is a documentary about a recent concert she played at a women’s prison in her hometown of Leavenworth, Kansas, as well as a corresponding live album. We sat down with Etheridge for insights into some important moments from her past.

What do you consider your musical awakening?

My mother and father had a really cool record collection of ’50s and ’60s artists, and so I kind of grew up with music. But the big aha moment was probably when I was 6 or 7 or 8. My parents took me into Kansas City to see the movie Funny Girl. And when Barbra Streisand was singing “People,” it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard and seen. It opened the floodgates to want to create music and make people feel like that. Ray Charles had that effect on me, too. When I heard him on the radio, it touched a place inside of me.

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What was the first record you bought with your own money?

My father bought me my first record, and that was Carole King’s Tapestry. I loved that. And I think the first one I bought with my own money might have been, like, Loggins and Messina. But my sister was four years older than me; she was the rock and roll wild child. She had Led Zeppelin; she had the Rolling Stones, Humble Pie — great heavy rock artists. And later I started listening to that. I [was] probably right around 15, you know, right when you really start changing.

Photo by Dylan Coulter

When did making your own music happen?

My father brought a guitar home for my sister when I was 8, and I begged and pleaded to play it. They said, “No, your fingers will bleed.” I went and took lessons and my fingers did bleed, but I kept playing. I got serious at 10 and started writing, and it started unfolding. I was in a talent show, then I was playing in prisons and old folks’ homes. From there, I played in country bands in bars. Now I have very strong calluses.