Alanis Morissette

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Template:Cleanup-date {{Infobox_band | band_name = Alanis Morissette | image = Image:Alanis morissette live in munich april 2005 1.jpg | caption = Alanis Morissette performing live in Munich on April 15 2005. | years_active = 1991–present | origin = Ottawa, Ontario | music_genre = Rock | record_label = MCA (1990–1992)
Maverick (1995–present) }} Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1 1974) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian-American singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Her international debut album, Jagged Little Pill, (1995) sold 30 million copies. Three more studio albums followed – Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), Under Rug Swept (2002), and So-Called Chaos (2004).

1 Biography
2 Discography
3 Stage, film, and television
4 Videography
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

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Biography

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Early life

Alanis Morissette was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to school teachers Alan and Georgia Morissette. Her father is French Canadian and her mother is Hungarian. She has an older brother, Chad, and a twin brother named Wade. When she was between the ages of three and six, the family lived in Lahr (Black Forest), Germany.

Morissette showed a talent for singing and songwriting at an early age. When she was 9 years old, Morissette 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.

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.

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Alanis and Now Is the Time

In 1990, Morissette signed with MCA Records Canada and 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 10 on the Canadian charts. Subsequent singles included "Feel Your Love," "Walk Away" and "Plastic."

In 1992, Morissette was nominated for three Juno Awards: Single of the Year, Best Female Pop Record, and Most Promising Vocalist (Female), the last of which she won. In the same year, she released Now Is the Time, her follow-up to Alanis. The album attempted to move away from her debut album's dance-pop sound and featured the 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.

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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 with 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. As a result, Morissette shared everything, from her infatuations in "Head Over Feet", to her enraged response to a relationship gone bad in "You Oughta Know." By the spring of 1995, Morissette penned a deal with Maverick Records.

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Jagged Little Pill era (1995–1998)

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, 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, making it the most successful debut record of all time. 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 [1] and reached a peak of #19 on 7 March [2]. It took nine weeks before it departed the charts again on 2 May of that year.

Morissette was dismissed by some as a record industry puppet. She was attacked for collaborating with producer and supposed image-maker Ballard, although Morissette 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.

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Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie era (1998–2002)

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 "The Couch" and "Unsent", challenged traditional song formulas. Morissette also used her band from the Jagged Little Pill tour (known as Sexual Chocolate, including Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney and Gary Novak) to play on this record.

Upon release, the album started selling 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 469,000 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 2.5 million, a huge drop from Jagged. Worldwide, the album sold about 7 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 in the nude, generated mild controversy.

That same year, 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.

In 1999, Morissette 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.

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Under Rug Swept era (2002–2004)

Image:AlanisMorissette.01.jpg 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.

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.

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So-Called Chaos era (2004)

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

Selling over 115,000 copies in its first week of release, the album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally favorable 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.

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Jagged Little Pill:Acoustic and The Collection era (2005)

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 10th 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's 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 310 000 copies. The album went into wide release to all retail chains the last week of July. This version included enhanced features not included on the Starbuck’s 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 14th, Morissette released a cover of the 1991 Seal song "Crazy" as the first single from her greatest hits album, Alanis Morissette: The Collection. The song reached number 10 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 chart during the week of December 5.

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.

At the end of 2005, Morissette dyed her hair blonde.

In several articles, Morissette has said that a new album is in the works and is expected to be released during 2006. The sound is rumored to be more "exotic."

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Discography

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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), #1 Australia, #2 Italy, #6 France, #1 UK, 10x Platinum (worldwide sales: 30 million)
Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998) #1 US (2 weeks), 3x Platinum (2.6 million copies sold), #1 Italy, #5 France, #3 UK, #5 Spain Platinum (worldwide sales: 7 million)
MTV Unplugged (1999) #63 US, Gold (630,000 copies sold), #6 Italy (worldwide sales: 3 million)
Under Rug Swept (2002) #1 US (1 week), Platinum (1.0 million copies sold), #1 Ireland, #1 Italy, #2 France, #2 UK, #1 Spain Gold (worldwide sales: 4 million)
Feast on Scraps (2002) (CD/DVD set) (73,000 copies sold in the US)
So-Called Chaos (2004) #5 US, Gold (456,000 copies sold), #5 France, #4 Italy, #8 UK, Silver (worldwide sales: 2 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
Alanis Morissette: The Collection (2005) #51 US (127,413 copies sold), #16 Italy, #44 UK, #18 Germany, #9 Switzerland, #41 Ireland, #7 Israel, #6 Norway, #5 Portugal
TBA (2006)

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

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Singles

from Jagged Little Pill

"You Oughta Know" #1 US Modern Rock Tracks, #22 UK, #4 Australia, 1# Brazil, #2 top arc weekly top 40
"Hand in My Pocket" #1 US Modern Rock Tracks, #26 UK, #12 Australia, 1# Brazil, #3 top arc weekly top 40
"You Learn" #6 US Hot 100, #24 UK, #20 Australia, 1# Brazil, #1 top arc weekly top 40
"Ironic" #4 US Hot 100, #11 UK, #8 Germany, #3 Australia, #1 Latvia, #1 Brazil, #1 Spain, #1 Arc weekely top 40
"Head over Feet" #1 US Top 40 Mainstream, #1 top arc weekly top 40, #7 UK, #73 Germany, #12 Australia, 1# Brazil, #6 Spain
"All I Really Want" #59 UK, #38 Australia, #33 Spain, #22 top arc weekly top 40

from Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

"Thank U" #17 US Hot 100, #1 US Modern Rock Tracks, #5 UK, #19 Germany, #13 Australia, #1 Canada, #6 Italy, #16 Latvia, #1 Brazil, #1 Spain, #1 top arc weekly top 40
"Joining You" #16 US Modern Rock Tracks, #28 UK, #28 Germany, #21 top arc weekly top 40
"Unsent" #58 US Hot 100, #7 top arc weekly top 40
"So Pure" #38 US Top 40 Mainstream, #38 UK, #12 Brazil, #20 top arc weekly top 40

from MTV Unplugged

"That I Would Be Good" #21 Latvia, #15 top arc weekly top 40
"King of Pain" #1 Brazil
"You Learn"

from Under Rug Swept

"Hands Clean" #23 US Hot 100, #12 UK, #18 Germany, #8 Australia, #1 Canada, #3 Italy, #4 Latvia, #1 Brazil, #5 Spain, #3 top arc weekly top 40
"Precious Illusions" #23 US, #53 UK, #77 Germany, #36 Australia, #4 Canada, #8 Brazil, #23 Spain, #23 top arc weekly top 40

from So-Called Chaos

"Everything" #76 US Hot 100, #22 UK, #29 Germany, #11 Australia, #3 Canada, #3 Italy, #6 Italy, #2 India, #3 Canada, #14 Chile, #19 Netherlands, #3 Portugal, #20 Spain, #24 top arc weekly top 40
"Out Is Through" #56 UK, #75 Germany, #37 Netherlands, #32 Spain
"Eight Easy Steps" #3 US Hot Dance Singles Sales

from The Collection

"Crazy" (James Michael Mix) #65 UK, #3 Italy, #9 US Billboard Adult Top 40, #6 US Club/Dance Play charts, #12 Spain, #6 Finland, #1 Israel, #20 Austria, #38 Germany, #13 Latvia, #6 Taiwan, #11 Brazil, #3 Dance/Trance World top 30 Singles, #29 Canada, #18 World Adult Top20 Singles, #27 Top Arc Weekly Top40

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Promos

"Hand in My Pocket (acoustic)" (promo from Jagged Little Pill Acoustic) (2005) #7 Spain
"Simple Together" (Europe-only promo from Feast on Scraps) (2002)
"Surrendering" (Canada-only promo from Under Rug Swept) (2002)
"Uninvited" (promo, charted from airplay (1998) #1 US Top 40 Mainstream, #1 Brazil, #1 top arc weekly top 40

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Guest contributions

"Spoon" (on Before These Crowded Streets by Dave Matthews Band, 1998)
"Uninvited" (on City of Angels soundtrack, 1998)
"Still" (on Dogma soundtrack, 1999)
"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

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Stage, film, and television

You Can't Do That on Television (1986)
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)
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 (Documentary), 2005
Just Friends, herself (Deleted scene), 2005