Melissa Ferrick (born September 21, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter. They are a music professor at

Northeastern University Northeastern University (NU or NEU) is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded by the Boston Young Men's Christian Association in 1898 as an all-male instit ...

and at

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

Early life

Ferrick was raised in

Ipswich, Massachusetts Ipswich is a coastal town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 13,785 at the 2020 census. Home to Willowdale State Forest and Sandy Point State Reservation, Ipswich includes the southern part of Plum Island. A res ...

. Their father John was a public school teacher who managed several

free-jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

bands on the side. As a child, Ferrick would often accompany their father to clubs on

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

's North Shore to watch the bands play. They began taking classical violin lessons at the age of five, and then moved on to the piano. In elementary and junior high school, they learned the trumpet and bass. Altogether, they received 15 years of formal music training, including two years at

. They dropped out to pursue a music career.

Career

Ferrick began their career singing and playing in coffeehouses in the East Village, New York City. They received a great deal of publicity in 1991 when they replaced, at the last minute, the opening act for the singer

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

on tour. They were subsequently signed to a recording contract with

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and released their first two albums, '' Massive Blur'', in 1993 and ''Willing to Wait'', in 1995. In 1996, they—in their words–"bottomed out" on alcohol. After sobering up, they returned to music, signing with the indie label

What Are Records? What Are Records? (or W.A.R.?) is an independent record label located in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in New York City in 1991 by owner Rob Gordon, former director of A&R at EMI, the company moved to Boulder in 1994. W.A.R.? has released over 100 ...

. Ferrick released three albums on the label; ''Made of Honor'', ''Everything I Need'', and ''Freedom'', the latter inspired by

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

's ''

The Velvet Rope ''The Velvet Rope'' is the sixth studio album by American singer Janet Jackson. It was released on October 7, 1997, through Virgin Records. Prior to its release, she renegotiated her contract with Virgin for US$80 million, marking this as the la ...

''. Their 1998 album ''Everything I Need'' was nominated for Album of the Year by the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA). In 2000, Ferrick founded their own record label, Right On Records. The first studio album released on their own label was ''Skinnier Faster Live at the B.P.C.''. ''In the Eyes of Strangers'', released in October 2006, was the sixth album released on Right On Records. Ferrick partially financed the recording costs with song sales via their website. Their fourteenth album, ''Goodbye Youth'', was released September 2008. In Spring 2010, they released an album of cover songs called ''Enough About Me''. In 2011, she released the album ''Still Right Here'' featuring original songs. During live performances, Ferrick mostly self-accompanies on a Collings OM3 SB acoustic guitar. They have also experimented with loop pedals and a range of accompaniments, including, in particular, brass instruments. Ferrick's rigorous touring schedule generally includes more than 150 shows per year. They play solo gigs in small to medium-sized clubs and numerous festivals, as well as larger venues accompanied by a band. In 2007, they performed at the

Michigan Womyn's Music Festival The Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, often referred to as MWMF or Michfest, was a lesbian feminist women's music festival held annually from 1976 to 2015 in Oceana County, Michigan, on privately owned woodland near Hart Township referred to a ...

, and opened for

Ani Difranco Angela Maria "Ani" DiFranco (; born September 23, 1970) is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums. DiFranco's music has been classified as folk rock and alternative rock, although it has additional influenc ...

. Their song "Drive" from the ''Freedom'' album became popularly known as a "lesbian anthem". In 2017,

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

settled a class action lawsuit initiated by Ferrick and David Lowery who had alleged the company failed to pay proper royalties to musicians whose songs were streamed on the service. Spotify set aside US$43 million to compensate musicians, songwriters and publishers. Their musical inspirations include

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

The Pretenders The Pretenders are a British rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (ba ...

Rickie Lee Jones Rickie Lee Jones (born November 8, 1954) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. Over the course of a career that spans five decades and 15 studio albums, she has recorded in various musical styles including rock, R&B, pop, soul, an ...

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

Earth Wind and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (abbreviated as EW&F or EWF) is an American band formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1969. Their music spans multiple genres, including jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, Latin and Afro-pop. They are among the best-selling band ...

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

Dave Matthews David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB). Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...

, and

Joan Armatrading Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading (, born 9 December 1950) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her first major commercial success came with her third and fourth albums, '' Joan Armatrading'' (1976) and '' Show Some Emotion'' (1977), a ...

Personal life

Ferrick is

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

and

gender-nonconforming Gender nonconformity or gender variance is gender expression by an individual whose behavior, mannerisms, and/or appearance does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. A person can be gender-nonconforming regardless of their gender identit ...

. They use ''

they/them Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'', and ''themselves'' (also ''themself'' and ''theirself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun derived from plural they. It typically occu ...

'' pronouns but reported not completely "letting go of" ''

she/her In Modern English, ''she'' is a singular, feminine, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''she'' has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''she'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''her'': the acc ...

''.

Discography

* 1993 – '' Massive Blur'' * 1995 – ''Willing to Wait'' * 1996 – ''Made of Honor'' * 1997 – ''Melissa Ferrick +1'' (live) * 1998 – ''Everything I Need'' * 2000 – ''Freedom'' * 2001 – ''Skinnier, Faster, Live at the B.P.C.'' (live) * 2001 – ''Valentine Heartache'' * 2002 – ''Listen Hard'' * 2003 – ''70 People at 7000 Feet'' (live) * 2004 – ''The Other Side'' * 2006 – ''In the Eyes of Strangers'' * 2006 – ''Decade'' (video) * 2007 – ''Live at Union Hall'' (live) * 2008 – ''Goodbye Youth'' * 2010 – ''Enough About Me'' * 2011 – ''Still Right Here'' * 2013 – ''The Truth Is'' * 2015 – ''Melissa Ferrick''

References

External links

*
Melissa Ferrick interview on The Lesbian Podcast
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferrick, Melissa Living people 1970 births American folk singers People from Ipswich, Massachusetts Berklee College of Music alumni Lesbian singers Lesbian songwriters American lesbian musicians American lesbian writers American LGBTQ singers American LGBTQ songwriters LGBTQ people from Massachusetts Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts Guitarists from Massachusetts Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni Queer singer-songwriters 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American singer-songwriters 20th-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American LGBTQ people Non-binary singers Non-binary songwriters American non-binary musicians American non-binary writers Non-binary lesbians