Melissa Ferrick
Melissa Ferrick (born September 21, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and Professor of the Practice at Northeastern University.

Early life
Ferrick was raised in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  Her father John was a public school teacher who managed several free-jazz bands on the side.  As a child, Ferrick would often accompany her father to clubs on Boston's North Shore to watch the bands play. She began taking classical violin lessons at the age of five, and then moved on to the piano. In elementary and junior high school, she learned the trumpet and bass. Altogether, she received 15 years of formal music training, including two years each at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music.  Ferrick taught herself to play the acoustic guitar at Berklee, and dropped out after two years to pursue her music career.

Career

Ferrick began her career singing and playing in coffeehouses in the East Village, New York City. She received a great deal of publicity in 1991 when she replaced, at the last minute, the opening act for the singer Morrissey on tour. She was subsequently signed to a recording contract with Atlantic Records and released her first two albums, Massive Blur, in 1993 and Willing to Wait, in 1995.

In 1996, she—in her words – "bottomed out" After sobering up, she returned to music, signing with the indie label What Are Records?. Ferrick released three albums on the label; Made of Honor, Everything I Need, and Freedom, the latter inspired by Janet Jackson's The Velvet Rope. Her 1998 album Everything I Need was nominated for Album of the Year by the Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA).

In 2000, Ferrick founded her own record label, Right On Records. The first studio album released on her 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 her own label.  Ferrick partially financed the recording costs for In The Eyes of Strangers with digital downloads of acoustic versions of select songs which fans could purchase directly via her website. Her fourteenth album, Goodbye Youth, was released September 2008. In Spring 2010, she released an album of cover songs called Enough About Me, and announced plans to release an album of original material later that same year.

During live performances, Ferrick mostly accompanies herself on a Collings OM3 SB acoustic guitar. She has 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. She plays solo gigs in small to medium-sized clubs and numerous festivals, as well as larger venues accompanied by a band.  In 2007, she performed at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, and opened for Ani Difranco. Her song "Drive" from the Freedom album became popularly known as a "lesbian anthem".

Her musical inspirations include Bruce Springsteen, The Pretenders, Rickie Lee Jones, Paul Simon, Earth Wind and Fire, Tori Amos, Radiohead, Dave Matthews, and Joan Armatrading.

Personal life
Melissa Ferrick identifies as a gender-nonconforming queer.

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

Goldenrod Music

Living people
1970 births
American women singer-songwriters
American folk singers
People from Ipswich, Massachusetts
Berklee College of Music alumni
Lesbian artists
American lesbian musicians
LGBT singers from the United States
LGBT songwriters
LGBT people from Massachusetts
Singer-songwriters from Massachusetts
Guitarists from Massachusetts
Harvard Graduate School of Education alumni
20th-century American women guitarists
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American women singers
21st-century American women guitarists
21st-century American guitarists
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people