Etheridge's climb to success began in Kansas, where she started writing songs on the guitar at the age of 10 and was playing in local bands by her teens. At 18, she enrolled at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and regularly played local coffeehouses, honing her style until, like so many, she headed to L.A. to seek her musical fortune. But what came next really wasn't the standard procedure: Playing at various clubs in the area--some of them extremely off the beaten path--she was spotted at a Long Beach bar by no less than Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, who was so taken with her he signed her instantly.  

Etheridge contributed four songs to the DEG film Weeds before settling down to make her debut set. Halfway through the making of it, it was decided overproduction was burying the natural live intensity Etheridge projected; the solution, unusually, was to go back and re-record everything live in the studio as a three-piece band (with select overdubs added later). The strategy worked, and Etheridge at once was perceived as something unique and genuine by her audience. Bolstered by uniformly rave reviews greeting her numerous live performances, Melissa Etheridge, her 1988 debut, stayed on the charts for 65 weeks and climbed to No. 22.  

When Etheridge's follow-up arrived in late 1989, some trendwatchers pointed to the success of Bonnie Raitt's Nick Of Time and wondered aloud if a resurgence of "female rockers" was taking place. To some extent it was--Brave And Crazy quickly duplicated its predecessor's success, peaking again at No. 22 and staying on the chart for more than a year. Additionally, Etheridge copped three Grammy nominations for the set and won Canada's prestigious Juno Award as Best International Entertainer of the Year.  

"Ain't It Heavy," from Etheridge's third album Never Enough, brought the singer her first Grammy (in the best female rock performance category) and further helped expand her fan base, still growing through her extensive live performances. Etheridge became a regular for many political causes, including the 1992 presidential campaign, and in 1993 was one of many performers at the Clinton inauguration ceremonies. Perhaps more notably, she was extensively involved with various women's causes and benefits and caused something of a stir by publicly acknowledging she was a lesbian. Thought to be further acknowledgment was the title of her 1993 album, Yes I Am. The robust set contained several songs with themes seemingly aimed at women, however ambiguously, including "I Will Never Be The Same" (from the film Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael), "Silent Legacy," and "All American Girl." But it would be three other songs from that album which would take Etheridge to the top of the charts--"Come To My Window," "If I Wanted To," and "I'm the Only One," the latter of which reached No. 8 and became her biggest hit single to date.  

Though the sales performance of 1995's Your Little Secret was viewed by some as a disappointment--many had expected it to go multi-platinum--it was nonetheless a solid, well-written and performed set which further established Etheridge as one of the major female performers of the '90s.