Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch (born July 2, 1983) is a singer,
songwriter and guitarist. She has released three albums: Broken
Bracelet (2000), The Spirit Room (2001) and Hotel Paper (2003), the
latter two of which have been certified platinum by the RIAA.
She was born 7 weeks premature in Flagstaff, Arizona and was named
after The Beatles' song "Michelle". Her father is of Irish ancestry
and her mother is of Dutch, Indonesian (Javanese), and French
ancestry. She has an older half-brother, David, and a younger sister,
Nicole. She attended Red Rock High School in Sedona.
Branch first wanted to write songs as soon as she hit her teens,
beginning to write shortly after that. She asked for -- and got -- a
guitar on her 14th birthday, and later signed up for vocal classes. In
high school, she made arts her focus, choosing classes that augmented
and enhanced her creativity. All throughout high school Branch was
writing extensively -- in fact, she claims she wrote Sweet Misery
during an algebra class. She never finished high school, opting
instead to follow her dreams and become a singer/songwriter. She
played clubs for years, releasing Broken Bracelet independently.
She was signed to Madonna's record company Maverick while opening for
Hanson, signing a record deal in December 2000. Her first major hit,
"Everywhere", hit radio in 2001, and was followed by another hit, "All
You Wanted", both from her album The Spirit Room which was released
August 14, 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. In 2003 she released her second
full-length album Hotel Paper. The first single "Are You Happy Now"
again jumped on the top 20 of the Billboard single chart.
She gained acclaim alongside such artists as Avril Lavigne 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. 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.
Branch 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. Her music influences are The Beatles, Led Zeppelin,
Queen, Aerosmith, Cat Stevens and Joni Mitchell. While her musical
tastes lean more toward the classics, she also loves bands like
Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, and Silverchair, current
songwriters like Lisa Loeb and Patty Griffin, and she has also
expressed her admiration for classical music. She plays several
instruments, including the cello, the guitar, the accordion, the
drums, the piano, and the harmonica. She also has absolute pitch. Her
nicknames are Meech and Chelle. Her height is 5'6" (1.68m). She
currently has twelve tattoos, and she tends to get tattoos whenever
something significant happens in her life. She mainly uses Taylor and
Gibson guitars. Her favorite is a Taylor 614ce, and she currently uses
a Gibson Hummingbird. She owns 14 guitars. She enjoys watching movies
and taking photos, among other things, but still says that songwriting
is her favorite thing to do.
In July, 2005 Branch announced the completion of an album with country
singer Jessica Harp. The longtime friends and collaborators dubbed
themselves The Wreckers, and created an album combining Michelle's
pop-rock influence with Harp's country-folk style.
The album was originally due for release in June 2005 but was delayed
to early January 2006 due to promotion reasons. A song Branch co-wrote
with Harp called "The Good Kind" is currently featured on the original
soundtrack of the WB teen drama One Tree Hill.
The soundtrack release was followed by a brief appearance on "One Tree
Hill" with Harp (playing themselves) and then a month-long tour
featuring The Wreckers, Gavin DeGraw, and "One Tree Hill" star Tyler
Hilton and Bethany Joy Lenz.
Branch made notable guest appearances on other hit television shows
including Buffy The Vampire Slayer and American Dreams.
In Mexico, on May 23, 2004, she married her tour band's bass player,
Teddy Landau, who is 19 years older than her. She gave birth to a 7lb.
12oz. baby girl named Owen Isabelle on August 3, 2005.
Branch's biggest hits "Everywhere", "All You Wanted", and "Are You
Happy Now?" continue to be played in recurrent rotation on CHR and Hot
AC playlists today.
Michelle helps other artists create hits as she works on her next LP.
She helped Mandy Moore with her new album Once Moore, it is still
unknown what song she wrote with Mandy.
Michelle closed down The Wreckers Message Boards on December 4th,
2005, after being hurt by things "fans" said about her. Whether or not
this will have any impact on her career remains to be seen.
The Wreckers' first single from their upcoming album is "Leave the
Pieces" and will be released in March. Their album will be released on
May 30th, 2006.
Discography
* Broken Bracelet (2000) (Uncertified)
* The Spirit Room (2001) #28 U.S. RIAA Certification: platinum
* Hotel Paper (2003) #2 RIAA Certification: platinum
* Stand Still, Look Pretty (2006) - The Wreckers (May 30th, 2006)