Crow was born in Kennett, Missouri. Her parents were members of a local big band in which her father, an attorney, played trumpet. The family was very musical and owned three pianos.
In school, she was active in choir, athletics, and school plays. Even at a young age she was a perfectionist who strived to please her parents. In high school she was a drum majorette, member of the Pep Club, the National Honor Society, Future Farmers of America, Freshman Maid, Senior Maid and Paperdoll Queen. When her prom date was later questioned about her fame he said that at the time he thought she "would be a doctor's wife someday". She graduated in 1984 from the University of Missouri where she majored in music education with a concentration in piano. Coincidentally, actor Brad Pitt and ABC-TV news anchor Elizabeth Vargas were also students at the University of Missouri at the same time Crow was studying there; however, it is unknown whether or not any of these three future celebrities actually knew each other while they were students.
Following college she became an elementary school music teacher in a suburb of St. Louis where she could be located closer to her fiance. Teaching during the day allowed her the opportunity to sing in bands on the weekends. Many people who knew her socially then, describe her as a nice, kind, elementary school teacher whose goal was settling down to raise children. At times, they acknowledge, she also struggled to get by on a teacher's salary. Other than comments about wanting to go to California someday and "make it", and her weekend band gigs, few during this period of her life saw the relentless determination that would someday carry her to multi-millionaire rock stardom. Or if they saw it, they didn't realize they were witnessing a future rock star in training. This time in her life, in retrospect, might accurately be considered by those who knew her then as her "wilderness years."
After a couple years of teaching and healing from a broken engagement, she was introduced to a local musician/producer. He had a thriving studio in the basement of his parent's home and helped her by using her in advertising jingles. Her first jingle was a back-to-school spot for the St. Louis department store Famous-Barr. McDonald's and Toyota commercial jingles soon followed. She was recently quoted in her 60 Minutes segment as saying she made $50,000 on her McDonald's commercial alone. This success spurred her into thinking what she could possibly do if she went into music full time.
Motivated by her new-found success, Crow decided to move to Los Angeles in 1986. Using her demo jingle tapes from St. Louis and perservering through constant rejections, she eventually found work as a backup vocalist for many major label acts. She was recruited to perform as a backup singer for Michael Jackson on his Bad tour. Whether she actually crashed the audition, as widely reported at the time, is uncertain. She spent the next 17 months touring the world singing back up and a duet, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" on stage with Jackson. After the tour ended in 1989, she sang back up for Don Henley and in the following year made her first appearance on Saturday Night Live singing back up ("time, time, take it, take it away") for Henley. Later she credited Henley for helping her write better songs.
In 1989, she played keyboards in the touring version of Toy Matinee, which was led by her boyfriend at the time, Kevin Gilbert.
By 1990, Crow had attracted the attention of A&M Records, eventually leading to her debut album which remains unreleased but widely bootlegged to this day. However, she did not like the slick and well-produced pop sound of the record and implored the label to allow her to start anew. What followed was months of depression that was mentioned years later in People magazine where she stated she felt her career was over. She eventually teamed up professionally with producer Bill Bottrell.
Crow became acquainted with a song writing collective known as "The Tuesday Night Music Club" through Bottrell, a member of the club; and dated another member, Kevin Gilbert. There has been much controversy surrounding the credit for Crow's album Tuesday Night Music Club. While Crow has publicly taken credit for much of the album, most notably on The Late Show with David Letterman, members of The Tuesday Night Music Club have disputed this. David Baerwald, a member of TNMC, stated that, ``Everybody was equal, except Sheryl. She wasn't one of us. We helped her make a record."[1] Crow later acrimoniously split with most of the musicians in the collective and only Bottrell was involved in her follow-up album. Gilbert wrote a number of memorably excoriating songs such as Leaving Miss Broadway with lines such as And I know that you believe each new invention of the truth and I saw you on my TV taking credit for my work / And I knew if I said anything that I would be the jerk / There's always some ex-boyfriend, some jealous has-been clown / Trying to muscle in the spotlight, trying to keep the lady down.
Gilbert also struck back at Crow by re-recording their song Strong Enough under the name Keta Men as a fey, Village People-like disco anthem that was featured on the Dance Across the Universe collection on Universal Records.
This creative period resulted in her debut album, called Tuesday Night Music Club. She appeared in the New Faces section of Rolling Stone the summer of 1993. The album featured many of the songs written by Crow and her friends, including the first single, Leaving Las Vegas. The album was slow to garner attention until All I Wanna Do became an unexpected smash radio hit in the spring of 1994. As she later stated in People Magazine, she found an old poetry book in a used book store in the L.A. area and used a poem as lyrics in the song. To her and Bottrell's credit, they tracked down the author (Wyn Cooper) and according to People magazine, he ended up being paid over $50,000 in royalties. The singles Run, Baby, Run and Strong Enough were also released. Crow received several Grammy awards in 1994: Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for All I Wanna Do; Record of the Year for All I Wanna Do; and Best New Artist. The album, which sold 7 million copies, was controversial in that there were disputes among the other Tuesday Night Music Club members about not being fairly credited for their contributions.
In 1996 Crow released her self-titled second album, which earned her the cover of Rolling Stone. The album was darker and grittier and far more political, with songs about abortion (Hard to Make A Stand), homelessness and nuclear war. The debut single If It Makes You Happy became a radio hit, and netted her two Grammy awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best Rock Album. Other singles included A Change Would Do You Good, Home and Everyday is a Winding Road. She produced the album herself to quiet critics that had accused her of being a no-talent self promoter on her first album. This album was banned at Wal-Mart because Crow was critical of their policy of selling guns to minors in the track Love Is A Good Thing.
In 1997 Crow contributed the theme song to the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. The song of the same title was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Song Written Specifically For a Motion Picture or Television.
In 1998 Crow released a third album, called The Globe Sessions. She discussed in press interviews having gone through a deep depression, and had a highly publicized relationship with music legend Eric Clapton. The debut single from this album, My Favorite Mistake, was rumored to be about him, though Crow claims otherwise. The album won Best Rock Album at the 1998 Grammy Awards; it was re-released in 1999, with a bonus track, Crow's cover of the Guns N' Roses song Sweet Child O' Mine, which was included on the soundtrack of the film Big Daddy. This song won the 1999 Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. Other singles included "There Goes the Neighborhood", "Anything But Down" and "The Difficult Kind". "There Goes the Neighborhood" won a Grammy for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 2000 when it was included in her album, "Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live from Central Park."
In 1999, Crow also made her acting debut as ill-fated drifter Laurie Bloom in the suspense/drama The Minus Man, which starred her then-boyfriend Owen Wilson as a serial killer.
She also released a live album called Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live From Central Park. The record found Crow singing many of her hit singles with new musical spins and guest appearances by many other musicians including Stevie Nicks, the Dixie Chicks, and Eric Clapton.
In 2002, after a break and some touring, Crow released C'mon, C'mon. Musically unlike any of her other records, the project had a more pop feel. Videos and promotional photos also found Crow more scantily clad than ever before, in bikinis and hot pants. Crow stated she was making a statement that women over 40 were still sexy. Whether a statement or a marketing tool, C'mon, C'mon spawned hits in "Soak Up the Sun" and 2002 Best Female Rock Performance Grammy winner "Steve McQueen". Crow also performed the song "Safe & Sound" from this album at a television benefit for the victims of September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and at the MTV Video Music Awards. 2002 also found Crow collaborating with Stevie Nicks, and releasing a successful single called "Picture" with rumored boyfriend Kid Rock that peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. Later Crow said they were good friends.
Crow opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, wearing a shirt that read "I don't believe in your war, Mr. Bush!" during a performance on Good Morning America and posting an open letter explaining her opposition on her website. Her public stance attracted so many supporters of the war to her website that the message board was closed for a number of days.
In 2003, Crow released a greatest hits compilation called The Very Best of Sheryl Crow. It featured many of her hit singles, as well as some new tracks. Among them was the ballad "The First Cut is the Deepest" (a song originally composed and performed by Cat Stevens), which became her biggest radio hit since her first, "All I Wanna Do," which hit #2 in 1994. The single "Light In Your Eyes" was also released, but received limited airplay.
2004 saw Crow appear as a musical theater performer in the Cole Porter biopic De-Lovely. Her performance within the film of the Porter classic "Begin the Beguine" was critically panned by film reviewers.
Crow met cycling great Lance Armstrong at a cycling event in October of 2003. They began dating shortly thereafter and announced their engagement in September of 2005. Nearly five months later, however, they announced their surprise break-up in a joint statement issued on February 3, 2006: "After much thought and consideration we have made a very tough decision to break up. We both have a deep love and respect for each other and we ask that everyone respect our privacy during this very difficult time." Previously, Crow denied a break-up, stating that "when we were rumored to have split, and when our publicists called these magazines to say we haven't split, the magazines were all so disappointed because that's really what's selling, rooting for a couple and then they split. That's what sells the magazines."
Her album Wildflower, which had a more slow paced feel than her previous albums, was released in September 2005. Although the album debuted at #2, it received mixed reviews and was not as commercially successful as hoped. In December 2005 the album was nominated for a Best Pop Vocal Album Grammy Award, while Sheryl Crow was nominated for a Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammy Award for the first single "Good Is Good." The album got a new boost of life in 2006 when the second single was announced as "Always on Your Side", re-recorded with British musician Sting and sent off to radio, where it was quickly embraced at Adult Top 40.
Crow was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer in late February 2006. Her doctors have stated that "prognosis for a full recovery is excellent." [2]
Crow's first concert since her cancer diagnosis was on May 18 in Orlando, Florida where she played to over 10,000 Information Technology professionals at the SAP Sapphire Convention. Her first public appearance was on June 12, when she performed at the Murat Theater in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Crow was a main stage act at Lilith Fair and has contributed many songs to movie soundtracks and special projects that were never made available elsewhere, among them: "D'yer Maker" (Encomium: Led Zeppelin Tribute), "La Ci Darem la Mano" from Don Giovanni (Pavarotti & Friends For War Child), and "Resuscitation" (The Faculty). In 2006, Crow contributed the opening track to the soundtrack for Disney/Pixar's animated film Cars, "Real Gone".
Official site:
www.sherylcrow.com
Always On Your Side
Sheryl Crow Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But every now and then you come to mind
'Cause you were always waiting to be picked to play the game
But when your name was called, you found a place to hide
When you knew that I was always on your side
Well everything was easy then, so sweet and innocent
But your demons and your angels reappeared
Leavin' me with no place left to go from here
Leavin' me so many questions all these years
But is there someplace far away, someplace where all is clear
Easy to start over with the ones you hold so dear
Or are you left to wonder, all alone, eternally
This isn't how it's really meant to be
No it isn't how it's really meant to be
Well they say that love is in the air, but never is it clear
How to pull it close and make it stay
Butterflies are free to fly, and so they fly away
And I'm left to carry on and wonder why
Even through it all, I'm always on your side
But is there someplace far away, someplace where all is clear
Easy to start over with the ones you hold so dear
Or are we left to wonder, all alone, eternally
But is this how it's really meant to be
No is it how it's really meant to be
Well if they say that love is in the air, never is it clear
How to pull it close and make it stay
If butterflies are free to fly, why do they fly away
Leavin' me to carry on and wonder why
Was it you that kept me wondering through this life
When you know that I was always on your side
Sheryl Crow's Always On Your Side is a power ballad that speaks of love, loyalty, abandonment, and the pain that comes from unanswered questions. The song tells the story of a person who had a close relationship with someone, who was always there for them, but in the end, that person left without explanation or resolution. The first verse speaks of a time when things were easy and sweet, but then the demons and angels of the other person reappeared and left the singer with so many questions.
The chorus provides some hope that things might not be as final as they seem, wondering if perhaps there is a place where all is clear, where it's easy to start over with loved ones. But ultimately, the singer is left alone, wondering why they were left behind. The second verse speaks of the frustration of trying to make love work, feeling like it's always just out of reach.
Overall, Always On Your Side is a bittersweet song about love and loss. The theme of loyalty and being "always on your side" is poignant, underscoring the sense of betrayal when that support is not returned. Despite the pain of abandonment, the singer still holds on to hope that things might work out in the end.
Line by Line Meaning
My yesterdays are all boxed up and neatly put away
I have moved on from the past
But every now and then you come to mind
But you still cross my mind sometimes
'Cause you were always waiting to be picked to play the game
You always wanted to be chosen to participate
But when your name was called, you found a place to hide
But when you were called upon, you backed away
When you knew that I was always on your side
Even though you knew I supported you
Well everything was easy then, so sweet and innocent
Things used to be simple and pure
But your demons and your angels reappeared
But now your inner conflicts have returned
Leavin' all the traces of the man you thought you'd be
Leaving behind signs of the person you once imagined you would become
Leavin' me with no place left to go from here
Leaving me with nowhere else to go
Leavin' me so many questions all these years
Leaving me with many unanswered questions throughout the years
But is there someplace far away, someplace where all is clear
Is there a distant place where everything is obvious and transparent
Easy to start over with the ones you hold so dear
Where you can easily begin anew with those you cherish
Or are you left to wonder, all alone, eternally
Or are you just left to ponder, forever by yourself
This isn't how it's really meant to be
This isn't how life was supposed to be
No it isn't how it's really meant to be
No, this isn't how it was meant to be
Well they say that love is in the air, but never is it clear
People claim love is all around, but it's rarely clear how to keep it alive
How to pull it close and make it stay
How to keep it close and make it last
Butterflies are free to fly, and so they fly away
Butterflies are free to go wherever they please, so they may fly off forever
And I'm left to carry on and wonder why
And I'm left to keep going and question why
Even through it all, I'm always on your side
Even throughout everything, I still support you
But is there someplace far away, someplace where all is clear
Is there a distant place where everything is obvious and transparent
Easy to start over with the ones you hold so dear
Where you can easily begin anew with those you cherish
Or are we left to wonder, all alone, eternally
Are we just left to question everything on our own, forever
But is this how it's really meant to be
But is this really how life was meant to be
No is it how it's really meant to be
No, it's not how it should be
Well if they say that love is in the air, never is it clear
If people claim love exists all around us, it's still unclear how to make it work
How to pull it close and make it stay
How to keep it nearby and make it last
If butterflies are free to fly, why do they fly away
If butterflies can go anywhere, why do they choose to leave
Leavin' me to carry on and wonder why
Leaving me to continue and question why
Was it you that kept me wondering through this life
Were you the one who left me pondering throughout my life
When you know that I was always on your side
Even though you knew I supported you
Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Sheryl Crow
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@liapermadi2577
Listening in 2024,still awesome
@stevencurran2869
Still great-2024.
@psychology-interest
😍😍😍
@martyboy4386
If I ever met an Angel, they would look and sound like Sheryl Crow.
@albertmacleod8969
This is such a powerful duet. I love Sting and The Police, and Cheryl Crow. I always get chills when I listen and watch the video. As a grown man, it always makes me cry in a happy way…but that’s a good thing!
@itsgonnabeanaurfromme
Ah yes Cheryl Crow
@goldenviolet
Sheryl Crow deserves more attention and hits. Sting is so sweet as their voices blend so well. Haven't heard this song before, but it is strong like the performers.
@charlottethomas4124
❤
@itsgonnabeanaurfromme
She is literally one of the most well known singers worldwide during her time. You just don't know her. It doesn't mean she deserves more attention. You just need to pay attention.
@joshualawson1579
@@itsgonnabeanaurfrommeI agree with your comment totally and was just thinking something like this. She has sold over 50 million albums and been nominated for over 30 Grammys with 9 wins. She has had an enduring career going back nearly 30 years in the spotlight. She has hits in multiple genres/categories and has written songs for other superstars including Celine Dion and Stevie Nicks. She was also inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year. I’d say she has been noticed and is doing just fine!