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Michelle Branch Profile |
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Birth Date: July 2, 1983
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Birth Place: Phoenix, Arizona, USA
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Birth Name: Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch
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Height: 5'6"
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Biography |
Michelle Branch was born July 2, 1983, in Flagstaff,
Arizona, before moving to Sedona. Although Michelle didn't
hail from a musical family -- her father is a former
plumbing contractor and her mother a restaurant manager --
she claims that music has always been in her blood. The
Beatles and other such classic tunes always resonated in the
house, which may have contributed to her musical style
today.
Michelle's musical aspiration stems from an early age, but
she wanted to be in musicals -- Cats specifically -- and she
was always inspired by movies such as The Sound of Music and
Oklahoma. Her change of heart came about after a
concert-going experience, which she describes as life
changing. She attended a New Kids on the Block concert after
having won tickets to the show, and seeing how their music
touched the thousands of fans in the audience inspired her
to be a musician rather than a Broadway star.
It was always obvious that Michelle had the voice, even at
the early age of 3, but she honed her craft with the help of
a vocal teacher named Gina Bettum, who became her mentor and
taught her to sing with soul. Before then, she was enrolled
in music lessons at the age of 8 and took her singing skills
to the church choir, every Friday night.
The next step in Michelle's ascent to musical stardom was
when she received her first guitar at age 14. She would lock
herself in her room for days, and would come out with songs
she had written herself. Too young to perform at bars,
Michelle became a staple at local fairs, festivals and
outdoor concerts. With her talented poetry and songwriting,
voice sessions and guitar lessons, Michelle was becoming
known as the young, local musical prodigy.
It was all uphill for Michelle in early 1999, when a friend
of the family was giving a man in the music business a
timeshare tour at a nearby resort and urged Michelle to come
by. The aspiring songstress, accompanied by her sister and
Jenifer Hagio (her best friend and fellow musician), hopped
onto a golf cart and headed to the resort. Demo in hand,
Michelle met with Jeff Rabhan.
Michelle had lost hope when Jeff Rabhan took a long time to
call her back, but her despair turned to delight when he
finally did make that fateful phone call. With Jeff as her
manager, Michelle recorded a full-length indie album to be
sold at shows and used as a demo -- the album is what would
later become known as Broken Bracelet. With the help of the
polished demo, Michelle landed a gig as an opening act on
Hanson's "This Time Around" tour. Luckily for her, a
Maverick representative was at the show and was impressed
with Michelle's talent. Michelle was eventually signed to
the record label Madonna founded.
She went into the recording studio in January 2001 (which
served as the inspiration of the title of her debut album),
and five weeks later, The Spirit Room was complete. The
first single off the album went to the top of the music
charts, and along with promotional tours and appearances on
talk shows, helped propel The Spirit Room to platinum status
in the US and Japan.
The Spirit Room's second single, "All You Wanted," is
Michelle's favorite song on the album, and is garnering the
same acclaim as its predecessor. The singer wrote or
co-wrote every song on the album, and always plans to
include songwriting in her musical career. Although she is
being referred to as the happier-Alanis Morissette
(ironically Maverick is Alanis' record label as well) the
younger Sheryl Crow, and the antithesis of Britney, Michelle
branches out to another level thanks to her non-angry lyrics
and poetic music.
Citing Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, Joni Mitchell, and Cat
Stevens among her musical inspirations, Michelle plans to
spend the rest of the year on the road, something she has
been doing since the release of her album. While
"Everywhere" is a love song, it really illustrates where
Michelle has been since 2001. |
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Other
Information |
She took private voice lessons at Northern Arizona
University
She attended Red Rock High School
Is Dutch-Indonesian and French on her mother's side, and
Irish on her father's side. She lists her musical influences
as The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Aerosmith, Cat Stevens,
Joni Mitchell, and CSNY (Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young).
Her album "The Spirit Room" went platinum.
She won the viewer's choice award for her song 'Everywhere'
at the 2002 VMA
Received 2 Grammy nominations for Best New Artist & Best
Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ('The Game Of Love' with
Santana)
Won the 2003 Pop Collaboration with Vocals Grammy for her
collaboration with Santana on the song "The Game of Love".
Was named after a Beatles' song
Was born 7 weeks premature
At the time of her birth, Michelle's family were living in
Flaggstaff, Arizona, but seeing as it was 4th of July
weekend, there was no room at the hospital so her mum had to
be flown to Phoenix, where she gave birth. On the way, there
was no room in the aeroplane for her father so he had to
drive and when he was pulled over for speeding, explaining
his wife was having a baby, the policeman thought he was
insane because she wasn't in the backseat of the car.
Her laptop - which is worth $4,500 and her cellphone, i-Pod,
cash and credit cards were stolen from her hotel room at the
Aladdin in Las Vegas whilst she was attending the Radio
Music Awards. Nelly also had $1million worth of jewlery
stolen from the same hotel, on the same night, by the same
people. All items have yet to be recovered. [October 27th
2003]
Nominated for "Best Female Rock Vocal Performance" for her
song "Are You Happy Now?" at the Grammy Awards 2004.
[December 4th 2003]
Caused an outrage after posing topless for the January 2004
cover of adult magazine "Maxim".
Her second single, "Breathe", from "Hotel Paper" flopped
after her Maxim spread.
Second album "Hotel Paper" was a critical flop, but went
straight in at #2 in the US and since it's June 24th 2003
release it has gone platinum.
There is a 19 year age gap between Michelle and her
bassist-husband Teddy Landau (b. 1964) - who has been
touring with her since May 2003.
Plays the cello, guitar, accordian, drums and piano
Learned to speak French from her younger sister
Picked as #20 for 'Maxim' top 100 list for 2004
Has bought a house in Hollywood, California, USA with 40
year old boyfriend Teddy Landau. [2004]
Her record label, Maverick, refused to pay for a video for
her third single from "Hotel Paper", "Til I Get Over You",
and the song was never released. [April 2004]
Her brother, David, is actually her half-brother from one of
her father's previous relationships and works as her
assistant tour manager.
Her father runs the Merchandise section of her official
website.
Weighed only 3 lbs., 11 oz. at her birth.
Currently has her own line of lipsticks and nail polish at
Flirt Cosmetics. The products will be named after songs from
her sophomore album, "Hotel Paper".
Uses Taylor and Gibson guitars
Is collaborating with best friend/fellow musician Jessica
Harp on her next project. The two have formed a band which
was recently called The Wreckers. They were not able to use
the name, because a band in Canada was also called "The
Wreckers". The band is currently searching for a new name.
Michelle calls the new project with her friend a "mix of
country and folk".
Shares a birthday with Lindsay Lohan.
Is friends with Kelly Osbourne.
One of her favorite hobbies is photography.
Favorite city is Moab, Utah.
Has two cats, Gibson and Winky.
Big fan of Aimee Mann and Lisa Loeb.
Said in Us Weekly that her close family knew about her
engagment to Teddy Landau before she got married.
Customized her wedding dress.
The Gibson Hummingbird she used in her video for Breathe was
made entirely out of styrofoam.
Like Yanni and Paul Shaffer, she possesses the rare trait
known as absolute pitch.
She is a huge Patty Griffin fan. The Wreckers recorded a
Patty Griffin song - "One More Girl" - on their album Stand
Still Look Pretty.
Her sister Nicole starred in the role of Sine, in the short
film Curry Cookies (2004).
Daughter Owen Isabelle Landau was born August 3rd, 2005 in
Los Angeles, weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ounces
Endured 19 hours of labor. Had to go into emergency
C-Section because her daughter's heart rate was slowing
down. She and her daughter had to spend an extra five days
in the hospital to treat a case of ileus, an intestinal
ailment common following abdominal surgery causing severe
abdominal pain, vomiting, and constipation.
Was a vegetarian for a few months in 2002 but quickly went
back to eating meat. However, she had an aversion to red
meat (and yellow mustard) during her pregnancy.
Sister-in-law of Michael Landau. |
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