Michelle Branch
Michelle Jacquet Branch (born July 2, 1983) is a singer, songwriter and guitarist. She was born in Flagstaff, Arizona. She is a Eurasian of Irish, French, Dutch, Spanish-Mexican, and Indonesian descent. Her first major hit, "Everywhere," hit radio in 2001. In 2002, she appeared as lead vocalist on Carlos Santana's song "The Game of Love" (not to be confused with the Mindbenders song of the same name). The song went on to win a Grammy Award for best pop collaboration.
She gained acclaim alongside such artists as Avril Lavigne, Alicia Keys and Vanessa Carlton as a young woman performing pop music that was not "bubblegum," or marketed based on the artist's sexy image rather than musical integrity. She is also noted for writing or co-writing all of her songs on her albums. Critics have commended her thoughtful lyrics and interesting guitar chords. However, recent steamy photoshoots with magazines like Maxim and Blender have put her previous clean cut, less sexualized image into question, in a fashion broadly reminiscent of fellow American pop stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera.
In late June or early July 2004 she secretly married her band's bass player, Teddy Landau, who is reportedly 19 years her senior.
Discography
