Michelle Branch

Michelle Branch burst onto the scene in 2001 when "Everywhere" and "All You Wanted" climbed the charts, offering bright, melodic pop that carried a resilient, roots-inflected edge amid the teen-pop wave of the early 2000s. She leaned further into her singer/songwriter foundation by joining Santana on the 2002 hit "The Game of Love," which earned her a Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals, then formed the country duo the Wreckers alongside fellow songwriter Jessica Harp in 2005. After those early breakthroughs, Branch navigated years of label conflicts before resurfacing on Verve with Hopeless Romantic in 2017; her renewed momentum carried forward to the 2022 release The Trouble with Fever.

Growing up in Arizona, she sang from childhood yet only began playing guitar after receiving one as a gift on her 14th birthday. Within days she had composed her first original song. Her parents opted to homeschool her, freeing additional time for local performances around Sedona and the development of her music career. After issuing the independent album Broken Bracelet in 1998, she drew interest from major labels.

Branch signed with Maverick Records and started co-writing with John Shanks, the onetime Melissa Etheridge band member turned producer. Their sessions yielded "Everywhere," which became her debut hit single that same year. Her first full-length project, released that summer, quickly generated additional successes, among them the Top Ten track "All You Wanted." While preparing a follow-up record, she collaborated with Santana on "The Game of Love," the lead single from the 2002 album Shaman. The track reached number five, secured a Grammy, and kept Branch on the airwaves into early 2003 via "Are You Happy Now?," the opening single from her sophomore effort, Hotel Paper.

Both The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper achieved platinum status and produced two Top 40 singles apiece. During the tour supporting the latter, Branch became engaged to bassist Teddy Landau; the couple wed in May 2004. A year later she launched a country side project with backup singer Jessica Harp. Originally billed as the Cass County Homewreckers, the pair shortened the name to the Wreckers and issued Stand Still, Look Pretty in 2006. The gold-certified album owed much of its success to the chart-topping country single "Leave the Pieces."

After the Wreckers disbanded in 2007, Branch returned to solo work, contributing songs and guest spots—including an appearance on Chris Isaak’s Mr. Lucky—before releasing the EP Everything Comes and Goes in 2010. Over the following three years she developed an album titled West Coast Time that ultimately remained unreleased. She exited Maverick/Reprise in 2015 and signed with Verve, where she recorded Hopeless Romantic with producers Gus Seyffert and Patrick Carney, releasing it in March 2017.

Branch and Carney wed in 2019; they welcomed a son in 2018 and a daughter in 2022. Their partnership extended to The Trouble with Fever, issued on Nonesuch that same year.