Sheryl Crow

Sheryl Crow came to fame the long way around. Born in Kennett, Missouri, in 1962, she earned a music-education degree from the University of Missouri, taught music at an elementary school in Fenton, Missouri, and sang advertising jingles on the side (one for McDonald's alone paid her $40,000, she said on 60 Minutes). From 1987 to 1989 she was a backing vocalist on Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour, often singing "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" with him. Her first attempt at a debut album, made in 1992, was shelved when she and her label agreed it didn't merit release; she later called it "too produced" and "slick."

The album that worked, Tuesday Night Music Club (1993), came out of the Tuesday Music Club, a casual songwriting circle whose members shared the credits with her (the credits were disputed soon after). It was slow to catch on until "All I Wanna Do," released in July 1994, turned into a smash that fall. Its lyrics were adapted from "Fun," a poem by Wyn Cooper that producer Bill Bottrell found in a used bookstore in Pasadena, in a book first printed in a run of just 500 copies. The song spent six weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains her biggest U.S. hit. "Strong Enough" reached number five, the album sold more than 7 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. during the decade, and at the 1995 Grammys she won Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

She produced her self-titled second album herself in 1996. "If It Makes You Happy" won Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and the album won Best Rock Album, "Everyday Is a Winding Road" and "A Change Would Do You Good" followed, and Walmart refused to stock the album over a lyric accusing the chain of selling guns to children. She sang the theme for the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, won Best Rock Album for The Globe Sessions (1998) with "My Favorite Mistake," and won another Grammy for her cover of "Sweet Child o' Mine" from the Big Daddy soundtrack.

The run carried into the new decade with "Picture," her duet with Kid Rock, and 2002's "Soak Up the Sun." She has won nine Grammys from 32 nominations and sold more than 50 million albums, and in 2023 she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.