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Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
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Singer Joan Osborne was born on July 8, 1962, in the town of Anchorage, KY, but it wasn't until relocating to New York City in the early '90s (to study at NYU's film school) that she began to take a singing career seriously after singing Billie Holiday's classic "God Bless the Child" at a local bar's open-mike night. In addition to Holiday, Osborne looked to such legendary vocalists as Etta James and Ray Charles as role models, as the up-and-coming singer decided not to cater to major record companies and formed her own label, Womanly Hips, which resulted in such releases as 1992's in-concert Soul Show, among others. But eventually Osborne decided to sign on with a major label, Mercury, which in turn issued the singer's next release, Relish, in March 1995. The album proved to have a long life, as almost a year after its initial release the track "One of Us" became a massive MTV and radio smash, camping out at the number one spot on the U.S. singles chart for two weeks, and Relish eventually racked up sales of three million copies. Further tracks ("Right Hand Man" and "St. Teresa") failed to match the success of Osborne's first hit, but the singer still managed to connect with a large and appreciative audience, especially during touring as part of the 1997 edition of Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour. Osborne also received numerous Grammy nominations in both 1996 and 1997.

Producing a worthy follow-up to Relish proved to be a time-consuming challenge for Osborne. Mercury tried to buy some time by issuing a compilation release, Early Recordings (which collected the early releases Live at Delta '88 and Blue Million Miles). In the meantime, Osborne focused on supporting a few groups/causes she felt strongly about, such as Rock the Vote and Planned Parenthood (eventually being named an honorary member of Planned Parenthood's board of advocates), in addition to covering "I'm Just a Bill" as a duet with Isaac Hayes on the 1998 Schoolhouse Rocks the Vote! benefit album. She also studied briefly with late Qawwali master Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and performed alongside such notables as Stevie Wonder, Melissa Etheridge, Taj Mahal, Luciano Pavarotti, Spearhead, Bob Dylan, and the Chieftains. September 2000 finally saw the release of Osborne's next all-new studio album, titled Righteous Love, which failed to match its predecessor's commercial success and sank from sight shortly after release. She bounced back in 2002 with How Sweet It Is, a collection of covers that leaned heavily on classic soul and R&B tunes from the 1960s and '70s. A career retrospective, One of Us, followed in 2005. Vanguard picked her up shortly after this, and Osborne released her first full-length on that label, a country-tinged effort called Pretty Little Stranger, in 2006. It was followed in 2007 by Breakfast in Bed and in 2008 by Little Wild One. ~ Greg Prato, All Music GuideMore

Official Profile

Joan Osborne
Singer Joan Osborne was born on July 8, 1962, in the town of Anchorage, KY, but it wasn't until relo...
Songs: 9, Videos: 2, Playlists: 1, Blog Posts: 0, Polls: 0, Battles: 0

Most Popular Music Videos (2)

Right Hand Man
(Duration: 4:33)
Jul 14th, 10:58pm
St. Teresa
(Duration: 4:30)
Jul 22nd, 12:12am
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Fan Comments

Apr 29th, 1:37pm
Saw you at Toads Place in Richmond Va and loved it. In fact, I didn't think it could get any better until I saw you again at the Birchmere in Alexandria. Wow. You were absolutely phenomenal. Please don't ever stop making music and coming back to Va. Love you and love your new album.
Dec 20th, 1:07am
hey J.O.!

just passing by to wish you all the best next year, although....



hahahaha.....

keep it up Joan!
Dec 11th, 3:58am
Hi JOAN OSBOURNE!!! I so love your songs!!! Can you pls make more albums? I like your song Sweeter Than The Rest and One of Us... so soothing..
Jul 16th, 12:44pm
Hey ,Joan thank you for adding me .I hope this is the real Joan Osborne .Message or post me when you get a chance :Later Don

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12/04 New York, NY - Symphony Space
Nicole Atkins, Dan Bern, Chris Bliss, David Bromberg, Dana Fuchs, Lucy Kaplansky, The Kennedys, Bettye LaVette, Joe Raiola, Rich Pagano
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