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Born in Kentucky, Joan Osborne moved to New York City the late 1980's in order to start her music career. However, instead of going down the same path as many before her and performing as much as she could until someone discovered her, she decided to take matters into her own hands and formed the independent record label Womanly Hips. This strategy worked wonders and after a few releases on her label, she signed a proper record deal with Mercury Records, and released her first full-length record, a live album titled “Soul Show: Live At Delta 88”, in 1991.
Wisely enough, after her initial releases she decided to take her time with her follow up records, not releasing anything else until 1995. This proved to be a great move, as her first single “One Of Us”, was a huge surprise hit, hurtling into the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 and propelling her debut studio album “Relish” into the top ten of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. It was especially popular in her home country, where it was certified triple Platinum just over a year after its release. Osborne became something of a celebrity for the summer of 1995, something that she was never comfortable with despite her success.
With that in mind, it's almost fortunate that the kind of all-consuming commercial success that she had enjoyed wouldn't strike again for the rest of her career. However, the record was also a critical hit, and one that made Osborne a hero among her peers, so well into the 21st century she found herself performing and collaborating with everyone from The Funk Brothers to members of The Grateful Dead, along with support slots for the Dixie Chicks and a slot on Nashville's legendary Grand Ole Opry in February 2007. Osborne is famous for having one of the best voices in modern country music, there are few that can touch her for her sheer interpretative mastery, and for that, she comes highly recommended.
If you’re in need of some seriously feisty female soul singing, then an evening with country blues rocker Joan Osborne will be right up your alley. The Kentucky darling, who skyrocketed to fame in the 1990s with her number 1 hit, ‘One Of Us’, from her 1995 major label release, ‘Relish’, has lost none of her pizzazz or impressive vocal range since then. Osborne is far from a one-hit wonder however, and shared a successful stint with as vocalist for veteran California jam rockers The Grateful Dead in the early 2000s, as well as taking her band on tour with fellow country lasses, the Dixie Chicks, in 2003. Her incredibly powerful voice has a remarkable growling, purring quality that complements the accompanying bluesy guitar and hammering piano perfectly. When I saw Joan Osborne at the San Francisco jazz club Yoshi’s in April of last year, she performed an unexpectedly stripped-down set, accompanied not by her usual full live band but just by her collaborator, pianist Keith Cotton. This pared-down approach was a great choice, as Osborne’s beautifully soulful voice on songs like ‘St. Teresa’ and her Grateful Dead cover, ‘Brokedown Palace’, was crystal clear and, I’m sure, sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the venue. Osborne has clearly still got it, and the finale of her mega-hit ‘One Of Us’ really brought the house down.
louise_h
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