- Singer, songwriter and musician born in 1983 in Sedona Arizona.
- Branch began singing at 3 years of age, and took vocal lessons at 8. She received a guitar at 14, and within 1 week, she had written her first song. She continued to write and record, and at 16 she posted 2 of her songs on the Rolling Stone magazine website. The songs caught the attention of the boy band Hanson. By the year 2000, she opened for Hanson at 2 of their concerts. Later that year, she self produced and released an album, Broken Bracelet – a compilation of songs that she wrote when she was 14 and 15 years old.
- This generated interest from major record labels, and in 2001, she signed a recording contract. Her debut album, The Spirit Room, was released that year. The album had 3 singles that charted – Everywhere peaked at #12 on the Hot 100, All You Wanted reached #6 and Goodbye To You made it to #21. The album ultimately was certified 2x platinum.
- Now a pop music phenom, Branch collaborated in 2002 with Santana to produce the song The Game of Love, released on Santana’s Shaman album. The song hit #5 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, and it won a Grammy award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.
- Her next album, 2003’s Hotel Paper, debuted at #2 on the album chart, and sold over 1 million copies in the U.S. The song Are You Happy Now? peaked at #16 and earned a Grammy nomination, but other singles from the record were not so popular. Branch began appearing in TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American Dreams, and Charmed, as well as the film The Hot Chick.
- In 2005, she joined her backup singer and friend Jessica Harp, forming a band called The Wreckers. They played country music, and in 2006, The Wreckers released an album, titled Stand Still, Look Pretty. The song Leave The Pieces topped the US Country chart, and reached #34 on the Hot 100. It was the first time since 1991 that a first-time charting duo topped the country chart, and it was the first time since 1953 that a female duo did it. A second single, My, Oh My, also reached the top 10 of the country chart. The Wreckers also contributed to a Santana blues rock song – I’m Feeling You. The Wreckers ended their collaboration in 2007.
- After her days with The Wreckers, Branch sang with artists like Timbaland, Chris Isaak, and Dwight Yoakam, and she recorded an album titled West Coast Time that mysteriously was never released. Her most recent album, Hopeless Romantic, was released in 2017. The songs on the album were co-written and produced by Patrick Carney, drummer for the blues rock band The Black Keys – with whom Branch lives and will have a child with later in 2018. While well received by critics, the album and title track have not charted – it seems that today you have to be a hip hop artist to sell records! Unfortunate!
- Michelle Branch was one of the many women of the new millennium that became very popular in the 00s – definitely the period where women began to dominate popular music. I think it’s great – I really love women with powerful vocals who rock! Here’s my favorite, Are You Happy Now?