ARTIST BIOS 
Joan Jett and The Blackhearts
Melissa Etheridge
Big & Rich, Party Like Cowboyz with Special Guest Cowboy Troy
 

  

JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS
Sat., July 20th

Joan Jett is an originator, an innovator, and a visionary. As the leader of the hard-rocking Blackhearts, she's had eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics "Bad Reputation," "I Love Rock "n" Roll" "I Hate Myself For Loving You", and ""Crimson and Clover". She sits at the head of her own independent label, Blackheart Records. Jett has acted in movies and television, including 1987's Light of Day and in a Tony-nominated Broadway musical, The Rocky Horror Show. She has appeared on such acclaimed television shows as Oprah (the last season) and Law and Order.

As a producer, she has overseen albums by Bikini Kill, Circus Lupus, as well as Germs' LA punk masterpiece, GI.

Her music has become a permanent force in mainstream culture. Faith Hill sings "I Hate Myself for Loving You" as the theme for NBC's Sunday Night Football, and her music is heard in countless films and TV shows including Easy A, Kick Ass, The Runaways, Shrek, Baby Mama, and many more.

Since co-founding the Runaways, the pioneering all-girl punk quintet, at age 15, Jett's determination and drive have kept her in the public eye. Jett was able to see her story told in The Runaways, the film based on (lead singer of The Runaways) Cherie Currie's book Neon Angel starring Kristen Stewart as Jett, and her fellow A-lister Dakota Fanning as Currie. Jett was close to the project: She served as an executive producer.

The two discs of the Greatest Hits set, meanwhile, present twenty blazing tracks from Jett's three-decade-plus career. It's a comprehensive look at one of rock's most iconic figures. Of course, the hits collection was released through Jett's own Blackheart Records, a label she founded with long time songwriting partner and producer Kenny Laguna, in 1980 - which made her the first femaile artist to own and operate an independent record company.

Blackheart Records is currently home to such up-and-coming groups as San Antonio-based female threesome Girl in A Coma (Both Before I'm Gone, Trio B.C., Adventures in Coverland) and Los Angeles' pop-punk trio the Dollyrots (Because I'm Awesome, A Little Messed Up). The label continues to add new artists to its roster.

Jett and the Blackhearts continuously tour across the globe to throngs of adoring fans. Joan Jett has spent her lifetime breaking barriers and challenging expectations - this is, after all, a woman who is both a spokesperson for PETA and a devloted supporter of the US Military. She's fought hard for all of her historic accomplishments, yet she remains humble and appreciative.

"I've had a blessed career," she says. "I consider myself so lucky to have been able to do things my own way."

  

MELISSA ETHERIDGE
Fri., August 2nd

Melissa Etheridge has been a core Island Records artist since the release of her critically-acclaimed eponymous RIAA double-platinum debut album,. For several years, Etheridge's popularity built around such memorable songs as "Bring Me Some Water" (from her debut), "No Souvenirs" (from Brave And Crazy) and "Ain't It Heavy" (from Never Enough), for which she won her first Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal. Etheridge hit her commercial and artistic stride with her fourth album, Yes I Am, featuring the massive hits "I'm the Only One" and "Come to My Window," a searing song of longing that brought her second Best Female Rock Grammy. The album went six times platinum and spent more than two and a half years on the album chart. Her highest charting album, Your Little Secret (#6 on the Billboard Top 200), included the hit single, "I Want to Come Over." Her astounding success led Etheridge to receive the Songwriter of the Year honor at the ASCAP Pop Awards in 1996, and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2007.

  

BIG & RICH, PARTY LIKE COWBOYZ
With Special Guest Cowboy Troy
Sat., August 10th

They are America's Technicolor cowboys, brothers-in-arms in service to the creed that great music has no boundaries. Individually, John Rich and Big Kenny Alphin are first-rate musicians, songwriters, producers and entertainers. Together, they are one of the most truly original musical forces ever unleashed on a welcoming world.

With the release of Hillbilly Jedi, they reassert their position as modern music's best party soundtrack with songs like "Party Like Cowboyz," "Rock the Boat" and "Get Your Game On." As might be expected, though, given the wide sweep of their talent, they do a great deal more. Their music has always displayed great range, with well-crafted songs about love, loss, patriotism and social issues all interspersed among those party anthems, and that is especially true here. Hillbilly Jedi covers a great deal of stylistic ground, from "Last Words," which John describes as "Roy Orbison meets Queen," and "Lay It All On Me," a meditation on happiness and love set amid a hauntingly beautiful track complete with choir, to "'Cause I Play Guitar," a bluesy bauble celebrating the fruits of the rocking life.

 

 

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