ARTIST

Sheryl Crow

In the past few years, not many singer-songwriters have enjoyed the success of Sheryl Crow. As a back-up singer for Eric Clapton, Don Henley, Michael Jackson, and Rod Stewart, Crow worked the less than glamorous side of the business for the best part of the '80s and early '90s. Assembling with a loose aggregation of musicians, dubbed the Tuesday Night Music Club, Crow set about working up material with her cohorts. Bill Botrell produced and notably David Baerwald wrote the songs that eventually became Tuesday Night Music Club. The album stiffed initially upon its release, but the song "Leaving Las Vegas" became a minor hit and revived interest in the album. The album's second single "All I Wanna Do" was a much bigger hit, and the hard-working Crow found herself getting the recognition she'd never received as a back-up singer. Crow toured relentlessly (opening for Bob Dylan, among many others), played as many high-profile festivals as possible, appeared on late night television, and made as many videos as her album would allow. The magic number turned out to be four. The brittle ballad "Strong Enough" and "Can't Cry Anymore," an even harsher mid-tempo number, both cemented Crow's relationship with the MTV and VH1 generation.

Her self-titled second album was a bit harder in tone than the down-home stew of Tuesday, and the first video "If It Makes You Happy" showed Crow off to be a grunge fashion queen--an image that caused a minor negative reaction among those drawn in by the neo-hippie sound of her music. Crow quickly recanted and looked far more traditional for the "Everyday Is A Winding Road" video.

While her hooks remain determined to get into your head, Crow also has carefully crafted her image in the video age. Her next album, The Globe Sessions, spawned the hit single, "My Favorite Mistake," the Samuel Bayer-directed video. However, with her long-awaited newest album, C'mon C'mon, she continues to establish herself as one of the strongest and most resilient female voices in rock 'n' roll, making her image secondary to her music itself.

Written by Rob O'Connor