Alanis Morissette Biography

news-detailsIf there's one thing really standing out about Alanis Morissette, it would be her not being in the 'most' crowd. The singer who pursues success and commercialism without sacrificing her idealism has actually risen and fallen in the journey she built to her success now. Born as Alanis Nadine Morisette, on June 1, 1974, the Canadian is the daughter of a Hungarian-born teacher named Georgia Mary Ann Feuerstein and a French High School principal, Alan Richard Morisette. Alanis was born as a twin to her brother by minutes named Wade, but she also has an older brother named Chad. She has shown interest in music since the age of 6 when she started to learn the function of a piano. Falling in love with music instantly, Alanis wrote her first song at the age of mere 10. She penned a score titled "Fate Stay With Me" but received no luck for its release. Only after she made a cameo appearance in local TV show "You Can't Do That on TV" that she was able to fund her own release with the paycheck. The song remained a shelved piece but Alanis remained high-spirited. She participated in several talent searches including the pretty popular Star Search where she lost after only one round.

In 1988, an opportunity to spread her wings came when Canadian label, MCA Publishing decided to sign her in. Featuring a production by Leslie Howe, her debut album which is titled after her first name, "Alanis" was outed in Canada in 1991 although did not receive commercial success worldwide. In Canada, however, the LP reached platinum status and consequently she was tapped as the opening acts of '80s outfits such as Vanilla Ice. Juno Awards, an award event that honors many Canadian musicians, gave her a win in 1992 for the title Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year. A second album was prepared soon after that, under the name "Now is the Time" that was once again distributed in Canada only. The set spawned three moderately successful singles such as "An Emotion Away", "No Apologies" and "(Change is) Never a Waste of Time)". The combined sale of the sophomore effort did not even reach the debut album's and thus Alanis' contract with MCA was not extended when it ended. After done attending Immaculata High School in 1993, Alanis made a major move that somehow changed her fate for the better.

The young and full-of-hope singer met Glen Ballard whose vision of writing music met Alanis' line. The instant chemistry between the two led to a creative session just hours after their first meeting. By 1995 Alanis had scored a record deal with Maverick Record and released her album "Jagged Little Pill" through the label. It was intended for local success only but the bold lyrics used and the catchy melody propelled the album to a success Alanis never imagined for. Prompted by the angry song "You Oughta Know" that garnered heavy spins on the radio, other singles that followed also experienced attainments that were beyond comparisons to any other female singers at that time. One by one "All I Really Want", "Hand in My Pocket", "Head Over Feet", "You Learn" and "Ironic" placed the crooner on the more recognizable league. "Jagged" went sold over 30 million copies worldwide, a record which later put Alanis' name as the second best-selling female artist at that time.

Consequently, Alanis became a regular in Juno Awards with her biggest win marked in 1996 when she brought home as many as 5 out of 6 categories she was nominated in for the work in "Jagged". The international audience has also favored her music quality that she was picked as the winner of four Grammy awards in the same year, taking home Best Female Rock Vocal Performance, Song of the Year and Best Rock Song for "You Oughta Know"; and Best Rock Album plus Album of the Year for "Jagged". Still on the heels of her work in the album, "Ironic" became extremely popular in the late 1996 that the video was in heavy rotation on both MTV and MuchMusic. It also brought Alanis two more Grammy nominations in 1997 for Best Music Video, Short Form and Record of the Year. Alanis became a huge demand on tour following the achievements and the constant on road adventure wound her down that she sought an escape to India. Along with her mom and female relatives, they relocated to the Asian country where Alanis got an inspiration for her new album.

A couple of years after saw Alanis extracting from the public scene with her only release being "Uninvited" which was used as the soundtrack to Meg Ryan-starrer drama "City of Angels". The song, nevertheless, added her Grammy collection after winning the Best Rock Song and Best Rock Vocal Performance - Female at the event's 1999 cycle. It was during this time also that Alanis branched out to a more serious movie role. Filmmaker and director Kevin Smith had been longing to put Alanis in his movie and he finally got the chance to slip her in the cast of "Dogma" as God. Although her appearance in the Ben Affleck and Matt Damon-starring movie was only towards the end, it marked a starter for more big movie roles later on. In demand of a new album Alanis released in late 1998, "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" that was done in collaboration of Ballard once more. The album spawned "Thank You" which music video invited controversies for her nude appearance. The single went to #1 in Canada and peaked at the top 20 on Billboard Hot 100 chart. However, the album's sale couldn't match that of "Jagged" that people condemned the record as having sophomore symptoms. All in all "Thank U" received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, while other singles got a fair share of Juno Awards wins.

Meanwhile, her acting resume was getting fatter in the early 2000s with her being signed to several TV shows including "Sex and the City" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm". She was also keen on taking roles on stage by tackling Vagina Monologues and a couple other plays. In February 2002, she released "Under Rug Swept" which production and writing credit were all entitled solely to her. Fronted by "Hands Clean", the album went platinum and was sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S. It was then that Alanis started documenting her backstage experience and live concerts which later on made up a DVD titled "Feast on Scrap", released in 2002. The next year meanwhile, was filled with a commitment to a stage play "The Exonerated" that was played off-Broadway and a new album work. Her meeting to fellow Canadian and actor Ryan Reynolds in the late 2003 allegedly threw something fresher and lighter on the table for Alanis. Album "So-Called Chaos" was released in 2004, deemed the most mainstream and cheerful mood of her LPs since the darker and more complicated "Jagged". The album nevertheless, entered at #5, an opening position that was lowest for her at that time in U.S.. Her song "Everything" received a censorship too since it contains the word a**hole, resulting in no-play in U.S. radios.

Alanis did one more movie role in 2004, portraying a stage performer in "De-Lovely". In relatively the same period, her personal life started to attract media attention when her close relationship to Reynolds blossomed to an engagement. Meanwhile, to mark the tenth anniversary of "Jagged", an acoustic version of the album was released in 2005 via Hear Music for 3 weeks exclusive sale. This move created a dispute between Maverick Records and HMV Canada that retracted Alanis' other albums from the shelves during the special sale. The acoustic version however, went on to sell 300,000 copies. For her international achievement, Alanis was inducted to Canadian Walk of Fame in 2005. She also released a greatest hits compilation simply titled "The Collection" that year, attaching a cover of Seal's "Crazy". She was absent from the music scene for sometime after that, only releasing a single called "Wunderkind" for the soundtrack to "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". It was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2006 Golden Globes Awards. She also left her 2006 agenda with almost no tours, but did make some appearances on TV series "Nip/Tuck" playing a lesbian.

In June 2006, after almost two years of engagement, the reports on her broken engagement to Reynolds started to spread. It was not until February the next year, however, that their representatives officially announced that the couple have reached an amicable split. All the while, Alanis geared up the work of her seventh studio album, "Flavors of Entanglement" which was outed on June 10, 2008. The album saw her collaborating with Guy Sigsworth and a change of direction. "I often write in retrospect, but this time all was written in real time," she said of the record. "These songs served as an outlet and marking of this massively growthful time." Lead single "Underneath" was released in April that year, and managed to enter the top 20 positions in Canadian Singles chart. She also announced that year that she was working on a memoir, emphasizing on women's issues.