Sheryl Suzanne Crow was born Feb. 11, 1962 in Kennett, Missouri, a small town bordering Tennessee. Sheryl was joined by 2 older sisters (Kathy, Karen) and a younger brother (Steve). Mr. and Ms. Crow were part of the music scene in Kennett and the Crow children were influenced by it at an early age. Young Sheryl and her siblings were encouraged to take up music and were given piano lessons. At the age of four, Sheryl could play a song by ear. As a little girl, Sheryl would perform in front of her family by singing to them. They reffered to her as "their little rock star"(or something similar). Little did they know that she would someday become one.
Sheryl graduated in 1981 and decided to attend the University of Missouri. Sheryl's high school days were pretty good (or so I've heard) She ran track, made decent grades, and was in the school choir(I'm not positive on that) At "Mizzou" Sheryl got a degree in some kind of music field (I can't remember Everything). During her College days, she was the lead singer in a band called Cashmere(After a Led Zepplin song). During one of their gigs at a bar, a waitress slipped and hit Sheryl in the mouth with a couple of beer mugs and clipped a couple of her teeth, which is why she has had dental work done and is the reason behind the rumor that she wears false teeth in her videos and photoshoots and stuff like that.
After college, Sheryl moved to St. Louis to try and make a living. She got a job teaching kids music at a local school. She also did some gigs at night clubs, and used the same keyboard for both school and her music career. Sheryl also began writing jingles and songs during that time. Her first jingle was for Mcdonalds I believe. During this time she had many rocky relationships with some guys and was getting frustrated in St. Louis. The final straw for her was when an ex-boyfriend told her "If you ain't singing for the Lord, you shouldn't be singing at all" Bet he feels like an idiot.
Sheryl then packed most of her belongings and drove non-stop to L.A. By the time she hit the freeway, she broke down in the car and wondered if moving to L.A was the right decision. SHeryl struggled in LA for a long time. She took jobs as a waitress and began writing jingles again. She was trying to make a name for herself by singing for commercials and doing some back up work, but she still was just an anonymous voice. One day she caught her big break when she heard about an invitation only audition for a backup singer on Michael Jackson's Bad tour (1987). Sheryl crashed the audition and ended up getting the gig.
Not that the stress didn't catch up with her though. She had to wear a stupid blond wig on stage when she sang with Michael and the press was relentless. Rumors swirled around that Sheryl and Michael were in love and that she was having his baby (YiKeS!) After this tour ended, she had made a ripple in the music industry, but not without a price. After the Bad tour, Sheryl had to get counseling for depression. She picked herself up though, and eventually did some back up work for Don Henly and Foreigner for a while before establishing a name for herself.
Sheryl began writing some songs, but ended up selling them for other singers to sing (Wynonna Judd) among others. She had a deal with A&M records and was set to release her debut album in 1992. After reviewing the album both Sheryl and A&M decided not to release the album because that was not the direction Sheryl wanted to go. The album supposedly was lite pop and sounded overproduced. So Sheryl went back and decided to try it again.
In 1993 Sheryl met some guys and began hanging out and jamming with them. This usually occured on Tuesday Nights. Sheryl began trying out some of her stuff and the guys(who shall remain nameless) helped her write and played on the tracks that ended up on her album. She ended up calling her album Tuesday Night Music club (which she later regretted) after the late night drinking and jamming sessions.
Sheryl's album was released in mid to late 1993 and really didn't go anywhere. Her first single "LEaving Las Vegas" was barely played or noticed. Then in 1994 a song which barely even made the record was released called "All I Wanna Do". This song made an almost immediate buzz and was being played on radio stations and music video channels all over the country. THe song stayed at the top of the charts for a long time, peaking at #2. People began talking about SHeryl Crow and some dismissed her as a one hit wonder, thinking that All I Wanna Do was what her music was all about. THey couldn't be more wrong. SHeryl went on to release "STrong Enough" which did well in the US and "Can't Cry Anymore" which didn't do that great-peaking around 30 on the charts. Then in 1995 Sheryl embarked on a long and exhausting tour in support of her album.
After the successs of her album, some of the members who helped write and played on the album began getting jealous of Sheryl's success and claimed that they made her Successfull and that she wasn't capable of it herself. Lots of negative press began surrounding Sheryl and people began believing the worst about her. The worst part of the whole thing is when one member suggested she was responsible for some one's suicide(the writer of the screen play of leaving las vegas, which was inspiration for the song of the same name). Even though the family completely absolved her, this person still kept hinting that she was partly to blame, as if she purposely decided to take all the credit on her first apperance on TV(It was David Letterman and he was so impressed he told her to come back anytime she wanted) Anyways the whole thing started when Dave asked Sheryl if Leaving Las Vegas was autobiographical. She blurted out yes, which had angered Mr. O'Brien. She quickly corrected herself and said it was metaphorical, but the damage had been done, and there was no turning back. These guys were out to ruin Sheryl's name.
On Sept. 24 1996, Sheryl struck back with the release of her second album, the self titled "Sheryl Crow". She produced most of the record on her own and hooked up with some new partners. SHe took more credit for this record, and the critics were praising the album, which proved that she could do it without those creeps, thank you very much. And while this album did not sell as much as TNMC, it was more satisfying and complete for Sheryl.
Unfortunately, this record came with it's own scandal. Wal Mart took offense to a lyric "Watch Our Children as they Kill Each Other with a Gun they bought at Wal Mart discount stores" Wal Mart demanded that she remove or change the lyric or they wouldn't carry her album. Sheryl did not oblige with these demands, and lost as much as 7% of sales for her album, but she didn't care about the money and left the lyric in. Wal Mart claimed it was "irresponsible" but an MTV special showed that the comment wasn't as "irresponsible" as Wal Mart said it was after a couple of teens, including a gang member easily obtained guns from Wal Mart stores. At the 39th annual grammy awards in February of 1997 Sheryl walked away with 2 awards for "Sheryl Crow" (Best rock female performance(IMYH) and best rock album. Sheryl spoke out saying she was really honored but that she felt it was a "reward" for the wal-mart scandal. She also spoke our against wal-fart saying they "black balled her album" and that she felt they were violating the first amendment. Sheryl gained a lot of respect for her stance, but still not enough to completely abolish the negative stuff about her.
Sheryl released "If it Makes you Happy", "Everyday is A Winding Road", "A Change", and "Home" off of her self titled disc. Each song showed Sheryl's different singing styles and attracted some new fans who wouldn't have considered buying TNMC. Sheryl once again went on the road in support of this CD in early 97 and did a couple of lilith fair dates with Sarah Mclachlan, Jewel, Paula Cole, and other talented female artists. Then after all of that she opened for the Rolling Stones a couple of times on their "Bridges to Babylon" tour. Talk about busy!
On September 29, 1998 Sheryl released the Globe Sessions. She appeared on Shows like Rosie O' Donnel, The tonight show, and the Late Show with David Letterman. The first single, My Favorite Mistake, did very well on the charts, staying on the top 40 for months. In the 6 months the album has been available, it has went platinum, and been nominated for 6 grammys. While Sheryl only picked up 1 award (best rock album)it was a nice showing to be nominated so many times. In march Sheryl began her U.S tour, lasting till the middle of May where she'll head off to The UK to do some opening gigs of the Stones. Sheryl will be hard at work making appearances at WoodStock 99 in July and possibly a headlining gig at the Lilith Fair, plus she will be producing Stevie Nicks' new album. Sheryl's not finished yet :P Look for another album sometime in the Y2K.
This bio is all from information I have read and gathered about Sheryl, there maybe be some things i missed or misinterpertedMail Me
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