alanis morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-American [1] singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Her international debut album, Jagged Little Pill (1995), sold thirty million copies.

Biography

Early life

Alanis Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Alan and Georgia Morissette. The couple brought their three children (Alanis, her twin brother Wade and their older brother Chad) up as Roman Catholic, but Alanis later chose to convert to Buddhism. From 1977 to 1980, the family lived in Lahr (Black Forest), Germany.

At the age of nine, she wrote her first song. With the money saved from her stint on the children's television show You Can't Do That on Television, Morissette released an indie single "Fate Stay with Me" with the B-side "Find the Right Man". She appeared onstage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society. Morissette attended Glebe Collegiate Institute in Ottawa during her high school years.

In New York City, Morissette landed a spot on Star Search, a popular American talent competition. She used her stage name, Alanis Nadine. Morissette flew to Los Angeles to appear on the show, but lost after one round.

It is known that during that time Morissette had her first homosexual experience and suffered from anorexia and bulimia nervosa, catalysed by professional pressure and manager demandings. She recalls "being called to a meeting at the recording studio, and the person said, 'I know I called you to redo vocals, but I actually wanted to talk to you about your weight. You can't be successful if you're fat,' (...)" and subsisting for months on toast, carrots, and black coffee.

Alanis and Now Is the Time

In 1990 Morissette signed with MCA Records Canada, and she released her full-length debut album, Alanis, in 1991 with producer Leslie Howe. At the time, Morissette dropped her stage name and was credited simply as Alanis. The dance-pop album, which was only released in Canada, went double platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top five on the Canadian singles chart. Subsequent singles included "Walk Away", "Feel Your Love" and "Plastic".

In 1992 Morissette was nominated for three Juno Awards: "Single of the Year", "Best Dance Recording", and "Most Promising Vocalist (Female)", the last of which she won. In the same year she released Now Is the Time, her second album, which attempted to move away from her debut's dance-pop sound and featured the top ten single "An Emotion Away". However, the album sold less than half the number of copies that her debut album did, and, with her two-album deal with MCA Canada complete, she was without a major label contract.

Move to Los Angeles

In 1993, Morissette moved from her home town of Ottawa to Toronto. Living alone for the first time in her life, Morissette met with a bevy of songwriters, but the results frustrated her. A visit to Nashville a few months later also proved fruitless.

Morissette began making trips to Los Angeles and working with as many musicians as possible, in the hopes of meeting a collaborator. During this time, Morissette met producer and songwriter Glen Ballard.

According to Ballard, the connection was "instant" and within 30 minutes of meeting each other, they had begun experimenting with different sounds in Ballard's home studio. Ballard and Morissette penned their first song together, called "The Bottom Line."

The turning point in their sessions was the song "Perfect," which was written and recorded in 20 minutes. Morissette improvised the lyrics on the spot, while Ballard played guitar. The version of the song that appeared on Jagged Little Pill was the only take the pair had ever recorded.

Ballard and Morissette recorded the songs on Jagged Little Pill literally as they were being written. According to Morissette, Ballard was the first collaborator who had encouraged her to express her emotions. By the spring of 1995, Morissette penned a deal with Maverick Records.

Morissette would later reveal that during her stay in L.A. she was confronted on a deserted street, with a gun, and robbed. The writings and brainstormings that would eventually make up Jagged, luckily, had not been taken from her purse. After that happening, Morissette developed an intense and general angst, which she revealed during random daily panic attacks, even on planes. She was hospitalized and attended psychotherapy sessions, but it didn't improve her emotional status. So, as Morissette later revealed in interviews, she focused all her inner problems on the soul-baring lyrics of the album for her own health.

Jagged Little Pill era (1995–1998)

Swallow it down (what a jagged little pill)
It feels so good (swimming in your stomach)
Wait until the dust settles
-You Learn

In 1995, at the age of 21, Morissette released her first international album, Jagged Little Pill. Since expectations for the album were low, Morissette's manager and long-time friend Scott Welsh would later admit that he did not expect the album to sell any more than around 250,000 copies. The album debuted at number 118 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Things changed quickly when a Los Angeles DJ from an influential radio station stumbled onto "You Oughta Know" and began playing it non-stop. The song instantly garnered attention and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV. The subject of the song, an ex-boyfriend (widely rumored to be Dave Coulier of Full House fame), became the most guessed-about antagonist since Carly Simon's "You're So Vain."

While "You Oughta Know" was a hit, it was the bevy of hit singles that followed that sent Jagged Little Pill to its meteoric rise to the top. Following "Hand in My Pocket", the third single, "Ironic", went on to become Morissette's biggest hit. (However, critics noted that many of the situations described by Morissette did not actually qualify as being ironic.) "You Learn" and "Head Over Feet", the fourth and fifth singles, respectively, kept Jagged Little Pill on the Billboard Top 20 charts for over a year.

Jagged Little Pill went on to sell 16 million copies in the United States, and over 30 million copies worldwide. In Ireland, just as Under Rug Swept was released in 2002, Jagged Little Pill re-entered the album charts on 21 February 2002 at #72 [2] and reached a peak of #19 on 7 March [3]. It took nine weeks before it departed the charts again on 2 May of that year.

Morissette was attacked for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Ballard, although she was responsible for all of Pill's lyrics and much of the album's music, and though such a collaboration was not uncommon for many solo artists at the time. Her early albums in Canada also proved a hindrance for her respectability, particularly in her native country.

The album was nominated for six Grammy Awards. At the 1996 ceremony, Morissette performed "You Oughta Know." That night, Morissette won awards for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album, and Best Album.

Later that year, Morissette embarked on an 18-month world tour in support of Jagged Little Pill, beginning in small clubs and ending in large venues. She released the DVD Jagged Little Pill, Live which chronicled the bulk of this tour, and later won a Grammy award for Best Video Long Form.

During the tour, Morissette became disillusioned with the music industry, and declared being tired of constant travelling, quick and superficial relationships and parties full of drugs; subjects which made her think of ditching her own career. Then, she started practicing Iyengar Yoga for balancing and after the last December 1996 show in Hawaii, Morissette headed to India with her mother and a friend to study Eastern beliefs like Buddhism and Hinduism for several months.

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie era (1998–2002)

Supposed former infatuation junkie
I sink three pointers and you wax poetically
-So Pure

In 1998, Morissette recorded "Uninvited", a song from the soundtrack to City of Angels. The track was never officially released as a single, but nevertheless received widespread radio airplay.

Later that year, Morissette released Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, once again collaborating with Ballard. Fans and critics alike were unprepared for Morissette's new songwriting approach, as most of the songs on the disc, including "Would Not Come" and "Unsent", challenged traditional song formulas, including one-chord drone melodies and Alanis singing over chronical/letter-like prose texts with long-taking or lacking choruses. In "The Couch", Alanis converses and opens up to a loved one cryptically and honestly:

So here we both are battling similar demons (not coincidentally)
you see in getting beyond knowing its solely intellectually
you're not relinquishing your majestry.
You are wise, you are warm, you are courageous, you are big
and I love you more now than I ever have in my whole life.

Upon release, the album sold extremely well. Privately, the label hoped for a million copies upon initial release, but it sold about half of that. Nevertheless, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, breaking the record for the most albums sold in a single week by a female artist, with sales at 470,000 copies (eventually eclipsed by Britney Spears's Oops!... I Did It Again.) As a follow-up to Jagged Little Pill, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie had very little staying power, however; its wordy, personal lyrics turned many fans off. After 28 weeks, it left the Billboard 200, selling 2.6 million, a huge drop from Jagged. Worldwide, the album sold about 8 million copies. However, it received positive reviews, including a four-star review from Rolling Stone. In 1999, the song "Uninvited" won two Grammy Awards for Best Rock Song and Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The first single, "Thank U", was also nominated for a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. The video for this song, which featured Morissette nude, generated mild controversy.

Also in 1999, Morissette released the live acoustic album MTV Unplugged. That album included a song she wrote with her main guitar player, Nick Lashley, called "No Pressure Over Cappuccino". She also contributed vocals to the songs "Don't Drink the Water," and "Spoon," on the Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets as well as "Mercy" and "Innocence," two tracks from Jonathan Elias's project "The Prayer Cycle."

Morissette then expanded her résumé by again delving into acting (following her childhood role on You Can't Do That On Television). She appeared as God in the Kevin Smith film Dogma. Smith, a fan of Morissette's, asked her to be in the film several times. She had to turn down the female lead and by the time her schedule allowed her to participate in the film, only the role of God, which involves virtually no dialogue and only an appearance at the very end of the film, was left.

She also appeared on the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm and starred in the play The Vagina Monologues.

Morissette also toured with fellow female singer-songwriter Tori Amos during this time.

Under Rug Swept era (2002–2004)

What part of our history's reinvented and under rug swept?
What part of your memory is selective and tends to forget?
What with this distance it seems so obvious?
-Hands Clean

In 2002, after a four year absence, Morissette released her third international studio album Under Rug Swept, with the notable absence of Jagged Little Pill and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie collaborator Ballard. For the first time, Morissette took on the role of sole writer and producer. She had her band: Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, Gary Novak help her in this. They played the majority of the instruments. However, shortly after recording Alanis hired an entirely new band composed of Jason Orme, Zac Rae, David Levita, and Blair Sinta; who have been with her ever since.

The album spawned the hit single "Hands Clean", while the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 215,000 in the first week. Under Rug Swept would eventually sell close to a million copies in the U.S. alone, though only "Hands Clean" received any substantial radio airplay. The album was overlooked by the Grammy Awards, but Morissette won yet another Juno Award for Producer of the Year.

In December 2002, Morissette released a CD/DVD combination package, Feast on Scraps, which included live concert footage and eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. The album was nominated for a Juno Music DVD of the Year award.

In November 2003, Morissette appeared in the off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Sunny Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent.

So-Called Chaos era (2004)

I want to be naked, running through the streets
I want to invite this so called chaos, that you’d think I dare not be
I want to be weightless, flying through the air
I want to drop all these limitations and return to who I was meant to be
- So-Called Chaos

In May 2004, Morissette released her fourth international studio album, So-Called Chaos. She wrote all of the songs again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and John Shanks.

Selling over 115,000 copies in its first week of release, the album débuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally favourable critical reviews. The album’s lead single, "Everything," was released in March 2004, and saw some commercial success on adult contemporary radio. In an effort to avoid a censor "bleep" in the first line of the song, the radio and music video versions changed the word "asshole" to "nightmare." The radio and music video version also edited out several verses from the album version. Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps," soon followed but neither matched the success of "Everything." A dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a top ten hit on US dance music charts.

In June 2004, Morissette announced her engagement to actor and fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds. Morissette expanded her own acting credentials with the July release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer.

Morissette also hosted the 2004 Juno Awards and had a successful US summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians, the Barenaked Ladies.

Reflection Era: Jagged Little Pill: Acoustic and The Collection (2005-2006)

On February 11, 2005, Morissette became a naturalized citizen of the United States while still maintaining her Canadian citizenship. Morissette refers to herself as a Canadian–American.

That same month, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation along with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of Jagged Little Pill, Morissette released a studio acoustic version on June 13, 2005 entitled Jagged Little Pill Acoustic. CNN reported that the album would be exclusively released through Starbucks' Hear Music retail concept through their coffee shops for a six-week run, much like Ray Charles' successful album Genius Loves Company. This move caused much controversy, with companies such as HMV in Canada removing their entire Morissette catalog for the duration of the deal in protest. The album sold about 330,000 copies in the US and one million worldwide. Her first single from "Jagged Little Pill: Acoustic" was "Hand In My Pocket".

The album went into wide release to all retail chains the last week of July. This version included enhanced features not included on the Starbucks release version. The accompanying Jagged Little Pill: Acoustic tour ran for two months in the summer of 2005, with Morissette playing small, intimate theatre venues.

On October 14, Morissette released a cover of the 1991 Seal song "Crazy" (mixed by James Michael and Glen Ballard) as the first single from her greatest hits album, The Collection. The song reached number 9 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart.

On February 13, Morissette performed a Jam Sessions concert in Los Angeles where she was joined on stage by Avril Lavigne. The pair dueted on "Ironic" and Avril's song "Losing Grip". Avril has frequently said that as a young performer she always looked up to Alanis and admired her career. [4]

The Collection was released on November 15, 2005, followed by a limited edition version of the album on December 6, 2005. The limited edition features a DVD including a documentary with videos of two unreleased songs from Morissette’s 1996 Can’t Not Tour: "King of Intimation" and "Can't Not" (the latter appeared in a reworked version on Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie). The DVD also includes a 90-second clip of the unreleased video for the song "Joining You."

Morissette contributed a song entitled "Wunderkind" to the soundtrack of the film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The song was nominated for a Golden Globe award for Best Original Song.

In 2006, Morissette's official Myspace site announced that she would be taking an indefinite hiatus [5]. In April MTV.com reported that Morissette would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from May 23 through the 28th. [6]

On June 7, 2006, People Magazine reported that Morissette split from fianceé Ryan Reynolds, however neither party has confirmed this report, and the legitimacy of their break up is still in question. [7]. On July 20, 2006, a source cited that they were indeed together [8], and on July 28, 2006, Contact Music reported that their split was a "rumor." [9]

On July 27, 2006, Morissette and Reynolds were spotted holding hands in Los Angeles, sinking rumors about their supposed break-up. [10]

It is said Alanis is in between intense writing sessions for her 2007 upcoming studio album, and she is going to spend the rest of the year working on a memoir. About her book, she says "it will be all the wisdom I've accrued in the thirty-one years of my life (...) A lot about relationships, fame, travel, body-image issues, spirit -- with a lot of self-deprecating humor peppered throughout, 'cause I just can't help it."

More recently, Alanis has been delving back into acting, guest starring in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International. It was also announced that Alanis will guest star in three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian.[11][12]

Trivia

• Taylor Hawkins, currently the drummer of the Foo Fighters, was the touring drummer for Alanis' backing band, Sexual Chocolate.
• Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers plays bass on the track "You Oughta Know", along with then-bandmate Dave Navarro on guitar.
• She played the role of "God" in one scene of Kevin Smith's films Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
• Alanis dated Dave Coulier, "Joey" on the 90s sitcom "Full House" in her teens; the songs "You Oughta Know" "Not the Doctor" and "Hands Clean" are rumored to be written about those tumultuous years.

Discography

Main article: Alanis Morissette discography

Albums

• Alanis (Canada-only release) (1991) #25 Canada, Platinum
• Now Is the Time (Canada-only release) (1992) Gold
• Jagged Little Pill (1995) #1 US (12 weeks), 16x Platinum (14.5 million copies sold), #41 Poland (85 000 copies sold), #1 Israel, #1 Australia, 14x Platinum, #2 Italy, #6 France, #1 UK, 10x Platinum (worldwide sales: 30 million)
• Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998) #1 US (2 weeks), 3x Platinum (3.5 million copies sold), #4 Poland(30 000 copies sold),'#1 Israel, #1 Italy, #2 Australia, #5 France, #3 UK, #5 Spain,: Platinum (worldwide sales: 8 million)
• Unplugged (1999) #63 US, Gold (630,000 copies sold), #6 Italy (worldwide sales: 3 million)
• Under Rug Swept (2002) #1 US (1 week), 2xPlatinum (2.5 million copies sold), #1 Ireland, #1 Italy,#3 Poland (20 000 copies sold), , #1 Australia, #2 France, #2 UK, #2 Israel, #1 Spain Gold (worldwide sales: 5 million)
• Feast on Scraps (2002) #194 US (CD/DVD set) [13](73,000 copies sold in the US)
• So-Called Chaos (2004) #5 US, Gold (800,000 copies sold), #5 France, #4 Italy, #12 Israel, #15 Australia, #8 UK, Silver (worldwide sales: 2.5 million)
• Jagged Little Pill Acoustic (2005) (released for Starbucks outlets on June 13; other retailers on July 26) #50 US (308,000 copies sold), #8 France, #15 Israel, #26 Australia, #11 UK (worldwide sales: 1 million)
• The Collection (2005) #51 US (350,000 copies sold), #16 Italy, #44 UK, #18 Germany, #9 Switzerland, #41 Ireland, #7 Israel, #6 Norway, #5 Portugal (worldwide sales: 0,5 million)
• TBA (2007)

19.67 million copies sold in the US alone - (25 million albums shipped/21 million albums certified) Sales are according to Ask Billboard

Virtual Albums

• iTunes Originals - Alanis Morissette

Singles

Promos

• "Uninvited" (charted from airplay, 1998) — #1 U.S. Top 40 Mainstream, #1 Brazil, #1 U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40

Guest contributions

• "Spoon" and "Don't Drink the Water"; as well as spoken vocals on "Halloween" (on Before These Crowded Streets by Dave Matthews Band, 1998)
• "Uninvited" (on City of Angels soundtrack, 1998)
• "Still" (on Dogma soundtrack, 1999)
• "Mindfield", "Drift Away" and "I Was Walkin'" (on Vertical Man by Ringo Starr, 1998)
• "Mercy", "Hope", "Innocence", and "Faith" (on The Prayer Cycle compilation, 1999)
• "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" (on De-Lovely soundtrack, 2004)
• "Wunderkind" (on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe soundtrack, 2005) — #1 Philippines

Stage, film, and television

• You Can't Do That on Television (1986)
• Just One of the Girls, herself (1992)
• South Park: Chef Aid, (1998)
• Dogma, God (1999)
• The Vagina Monologues (1999)
• Sex and the City, Dawn (episode "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl", 1999)
• Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, That Woman (God) (2001)
• Curb Your Enthusiasm, herself (episode "The Terrorist Attack", 2002)
• The Exonerated, Sunny Jacobs (2003)
• De-Lovely, unnamed singer (2004) ("Let's Do It, Let's Fall In Love")
• American Dreams, Singer in the Lair (episode "What Dreams May Come", 2004)
• Degrassi: The Next Generation, principal (episode "Goin' Down the Road: Part 1", 2005)
• Fuck, (2005)
• Just Friends, herself (Deleted scene), (2005)
• Lovespring International (2006)
• Nip/Tuck (2006)
• We're With the Band, herself (2006) ("Hands Clean," "Baba," "You Oughta Know," "Thank U")

Videography

• Jagged Little Pill, Live (1997)
• Live in the Navajo Nation (2002)
• Feast on Scraps (2002)
• VH1 Storytellers (2005)
• Global Warming: The Signs and The Science (2005) Hosted.

Tours

• 1995 Jagged Little Pill Tour
• 1995 Intellectual Intercourse Tour
• 1996 Can’t Not Tour
• 1998 D Club Tour
• 1999 Junkie Tour
• 1999 5 ½ Weeks Tour
• 1999 Junkie Tour (Leg II)
• 2000 One Tour
• 2001 Under Rug Swept Tour
• 2002 Toward Our Union Mended Tour
• 2003 All I Really Want / Feast on Scraps Tour
• 2004 All Naturale Tour
• 2005 Diamond Wink Tour
• 2005 Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour

See also

• Best selling music artists

References

• Rock on the Net
• All Music Guide
• Canadian Chart Positions courtesy of the RPM 100 Singles chart listings

External links

• Alanis Morissette at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website