Meredith Brooks

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American musician (born 1958)

title: "Meredith Brooks" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1958-births", "living-people", "american-women-singer-songwriters", "apra-award-winners", "singer-songwriters-from-oregon", "musicians-from-corvallis,-oregon", "people-from-oregon-city,-oregon", "corvallis-high-school-(oregon)-alumni", "guitarists-from-oregon", "20th-century-american-women-guitarists", "20th-century-american-guitarists", "20th-century-american-women-singers", "20th-century-american-singers", "the-graces-(band)-members", "21st-century-american-women-guitarists", "21st-century-american-guitarists", "21st-century-american-women-singers", "21st-century-american-singer-songwriters", "20th-century-american-singer-songwriters"] description: "American musician (born 1958)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meredith_Brooks" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American musician (born 1958) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]

FieldValue
nameMeredith Brooks
backgroundsolo_singer
birth_nameMeredith Ann Brooks
birth_date
birth_placeCorvallis, Oregon, U.S.
originOregon City, Oregon, U.S.
instrumentVocals, guitar
occupation{{flatlist
years_active1976–2007 (as artist)
labelCapitol
Gold Circle
Kissing Booth
associated_actsThe Graces
websitehttps://meredithbrooks.com/
::

| name = Meredith Brooks | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = Meredith Ann Brooks | birth_date = | birth_place = Corvallis, Oregon, U.S. | origin = Oregon City, Oregon, U.S. | instrument = Vocals, guitar | genre = | occupation = {{flatlist|

  • Singer-songwriter
  • musician
  • producer | years_active = 1976–2007 (as artist) | label = Capitol Gold Circle Kissing Booth Ariola | associated_acts = The Graces | website = https://meredithbrooks.com/

Meredith Ann Brooks (born June 12, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A member of the Oregon music scene, she received international acclaim with her solo album Blurring the Edges (1997) and its single, "Bitch", which reached the top 10 in many countries and earned her 3 Grammy Award nominations.

Career

Brooks started her music career in 1976 as a member of an all-female band called Sapphire, based in Eugene, Oregon, touring and recording with CMS Records in the Pacific Northwest. Her bandmates were Janis Gaines, Cynthia Larsen, Patricia French and Pam Johnson. Seeking greater success, Brooks pushed the band to move to Seattle without Gaines on keyboards, reducing Sapphire to a foursome. In Seattle, Sapphire recorded at Kaye-Smith Studios at the same time as Heart. When this version of the band split in 1982, Brooks moved to Los Angeles to develop a solo career, releasing an album titled Meredith Brooks in 1986, which saw limited success in Mexico. In 1987, she joined Charlotte Caffey and Gia Ciambotti to form the trio the Graces, releasing the single "Lay Down Your Arms" which rose to number 56 on Billboards charts. The Graces subsequently released an album, Perfect View, and three more singles, but these did not chart, and the Graces were dropped from the A&M label in 1991.

In 1995, Brooks landed a solo contract with Capitol Records. After two years, her first single, "Bitch", was released, and she was nominated twice for the 1998 Grammy Awards, for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Song. The single went Platinum in Australia.

Her album Blurring the Edges achieved Platinum sales, peaking at 22 on the Billboard 200 and 5 on the UK Albums Chart. The album was produced by David Ricketts, formerly of David and David, and he also played keyboards (among other instruments) on the album. Brooks toured in the US and Europe in 1997 and 1998 to support the album, and also participated in the Lilith Fair music festival tour in both of those years.

On March 29, 1998, in Argentina, she opened for the Rolling Stones. During her set the crowd demanded the Stones and became violent, throwing objects including rocks and tampons at the stage and bruising her eye. She appeared again the next day wearing an Argentine football shirt, but the crowd again threw things at her, so after singing "Bitch" she yelled to the crowd, threw the shirt on the ground and walked off.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Elisabeth_Carlisle_on_stage_with_Meredith_Brooks_Lilith_Faire.jpg" caption="Brooks (center) performing at Lilith Fair in 1999" alt="Meredith Brooks performing on stage at the 1999 Lilith Faire"] ::

In 1999, Brooks recorded her third album, Deconstruction. The track "Sin City" was recorded for the movie Snake Eyes.

In 2002, Brooks signed with independent label Gold Circle Records. She worked on her fourth album, Bad Bad One. The label folded immediately after releasing the album.

In 2002, she produced Jennifer Love Hewitt's album BareNaked and appeared on VH1 Divas Las Vegas as a guest guitar soloist with Celine Dion and Anastacia.

Brooks signed a record deal with SLG Records and re-issued Bad Bad One as Shine in 2004. The track "Shine" was used as the theme music for Dr. Phil from 2004 to 2008. The instrumental remix appears as the last track on the album.

In 2007, Brooks completed a children's album titled If I Could Be... She also began developing Portland-area Sony Music Entertainment artist Becca.

Brooks is a member of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism.

In 2018, the song "I'm a Mess" was a worldwide chart hit for Bebe Rexha. While an original song, it does borrow some of its melody from Brooks' earlier hit "Bitch". As a result, Meredith Brooks is listed as a co-writer of the song.

Awards and nominations

::data[format=table] | Title | Year | Chart positions | US | AUS Peaks in Australia: | AUT | GER | NLD | NZ | SWI | UK | Meredith Brooks | Blurring the Edges | See It Through My Eyes (re-issue of her 1986 debut) | Deconstruction | Bad Bad One | Shine (reissue of Bad Bad One) | If I Could Be... | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1986 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | | | | | | | | | | 1997 | 22 | 30 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | | | | | | | | | | | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | | | | | | | | | | | 1999 | — | — | 42 | 95 | — | — | 30 | — | | | | | | | | | | | 2002 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | | | | | | | | | | 2004 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | | | | | | | | | | 2007 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | | | | | | | | | | ::

Extended plays

  • Celebrating Pride (Greatest Hits EP) (2022)

Singles

::data[format=table] | Title | Year | Chart positions | Album | US | AUS | GER | IRE | NLD | NZ | UK | "Bitch" | "I Need" | "What Would Happen" | "Stop" | "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" | "Shout" | "Shine" | "You Don't Know Me" | "Where Lovers Meet" | |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| | 1997 | | | | | | | | Blurring the Edges | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1998 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1999 | | | | | | | | Deconstruction | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 2004 | | | | | | | | Bad Bad One | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ::

References

References

  1. (2007). "Joel Whitburn Presents Billboard Top Adult Songs, 1961-2006". Record Research Incorporated.
  2. Patricia Claggett French. (2011). "You Can Go Home Again: An Autobiography". Xlibris.
  3. "Meredith Brooks reviews, music, news".
  4. "View archived webpage".
  5. (April 7, 1998). "Argentina—not Brooks' crowd". Sun Journal.
  6. (April 10, 1998). "Meredith Brooks Talks About Stones Incident".
  7. (April 6, 2002). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc..
  8. "Shine - Meredith Brooks | Songs, Reviews, Credits".
  9. "Artists - Artists Against Racism".
  10. "2003-1997 – Anketa Žebřík".
  11. "1998 Winners - APRA Music Awards". [[Australasian Performing Right Association]] (APRA) | [[Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society]] (AMCOS).
  12. "Meredith Brooks Billboard Albums". [[AllMusic]].
  13. "Discographie Meredith Brooks".
  14. "Discographie Meredith Brooks".
  15. "Discografie Meredith Brooks".
  16. "Discography Meredith Brooks".
  17. "Discographie Meredith Brooks".
  18. "Meredith Brooks {{!}} full Official Chart History". [[Official Charts Company]].
  19. "Meredith Brooks Billboard Singles". [[AllMusic]].
  20. "Irish Singles Chart". [[Irish Recorded Music Association]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

1958-birthsliving-peopleamerican-women-singer-songwritersapra-award-winnerssinger-songwriters-from-oregonmusicians-from-corvallis,-oregonpeople-from-oregon-city,-oregoncorvallis-high-school-(oregon)-alumniguitarists-from-oregon20th-century-american-women-guitarists20th-century-american-guitarists20th-century-american-women-singers20th-century-american-singersthe-graces-(band)-members21st-century-american-women-guitarists21st-century-american-guitarists21st-century-american-women-singers21st-century-american-singer-songwriters20th-century-american-singer-songwriters