 Joan Osborne was born on July 8, 1963, in Kentucky. Originally, Joan attended NYU's film school, but began singing at clubs around New York City after singing Billie Holiday's "God Bless The Child" at a bar's open-mic night at the urging of friends. In 1992, Joan formed her own label Womanly Hips and released a live LP, Soul Show. Joan then released the EP, Blue Million Miles and signed with Mercury Records not long after. Joan displayed that she is gifted not only with her voice, but with her complex lyrics that invoke both the imagination and the mind. She put rock and soul qualities in all her songs, creating infectious and personable music. Joan's first major label breakthrough LP Relish was released in March 1995. The LP found critical success, but didn't find commercial success until "One Of Us" hit the radio airwaves and video channels in 1996. The track hit #1 for 2 weeks and allowed other tracks on the LP to get more exposure (notably, "Right Hand Man" and "St. Teresa"). Relish went on to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S. and was named Album of the Year by Entertainment Weekly. Joan went on to receive 7 Grammy Award nominations: Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "One Of Us," Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "St. Teresa," and Best New Artist. Although she went home empty handed, Joan had established herself as a major female recording artist. Joan was the catalyst for some Grammy controversy in 1996. Religious groups were complaining that Joan's songs "One Of Us" and "St. Teresa" were anti-religious. Grammy officials did not give in to the controversy. Ironically, Joan's ability to express potent imagery with her lyrics had teenagers singing "What if God was one of us" while religious zealots cried blasphemy. In November '96, Joan released Early Recordings which contain selections from Soul Show: Live At Delta (from '91) and Blue Million Miles (from '93). Joan was nominated again in 1997 for a Grammy Award: Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for "Spider Web." Also in 1997, Joan participated in the highly successful Lilith Fair tour.
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