Melissa Etheridge “fires it up like Janis Joplin” in Wichita
Melissa Etheridge is known for her high-energy music, craggy vocals, and for being one of the first rock stars to be openly gay. She “came out” publicly at a 1993 inaugural ball for President Clinton, making her an icon of LGBT+ Pride. Now Wichita music lovers can see her live on July 23 at the Orpheum theatre.
Melissa Etheridge is one of rock music’s great female icons. Her critically acclaimed eponymous debut album was certified double platinum. Etheridge’s popularity built around such memorable songs as Bring Me Some Water, No Souvenirs and Ain’t It Heavy for which she won her first Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal.
Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am, featuring the massive hits I’m the Only One and Come to My Window, a searing song of longing that brought her a second Grammy. The six times platinum album spent more than two and a half years on the album chart.
Etheridge is also an Oscar winner for Best Original Song in 2007. In 2011 Melissa she made her Broadway debut as St. Jimmy in Green Day’s rock opera, American Idiot, where she replaced Billie Joe Armstrong for one week, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In late 2016, Melissa Etheridge released Memphis Rock & Soul, her first album since 2014’s critically lauded This Is M.E. The album has received stellar reviews from the likes of Entertainment Weekly, Parade, Rolling Stone, American Songwriter and more.
Guitar World raved “the album is a triumphant application of Etheridge’s signature rasp and substantial guitar chops to this classic genre,” while Edge Media Network declared Melissa “is a singer who can fire it up like Janis Joplin, touch the heart like Elvis Presley and steam up the windows like her musical hero, Otis Redding.”
After her 1993 coming out, Etheridge and longtime companion, filmmaker Julie Cypher, gave birth to a daughter, Bailey Jean, in 1997 and a son, Beckett, in 1998. They separated in 2000 and Etheridge began dating actress Tammy Lynn Michaels in 2001. They had a wedding ceremony in Malibu in September of 2003, although same-sex marriage wasn’t legal then in California. They had twins, a son Miller Steven and a daughter Johnnie Rose, in October 2006.
Tickets to M. E. Live, July 23 at the Orpheum theatre, are $55 to $125.50. They are available online at www.wichitaorpheum.com or www.selectaseat.com, by phone at (855) 755-SEAT, or in person at the Intrust Bank Arena Box Office.
Copyright 2017 The Gayly – July 10, 2017 @ 11:20 a.m.