Joan Osborne

Singer-songwriter Joan Osborne scored a substantial hit in 1995 with the melancholy pop song "One of Us," but found more lasting fame as a gifted collaborator with rootsy rock, soul and country acts ranging from Mavis Staples to the Dead. Born July 8, 1962 in Anchorage, Kentucky, Osborne relocated to New York in the late 1980s to study at New York University; while there, she also began singing in local clubs, and decided to make music her focus. However, she also wanted to retain control over her art and her career, and to that end, launched her own record label, Womanly Hips, to issue her first album, Soul Show: Live at Delta 88 (1991). The album's mix, and her confident delivery of original material and classic rock, soul and blues tracks by the Beatles and Sonny Boy Williamson drew major label attention, and led to Mercury Records releasing her sophomore LP, Relish, in 1995. Its lead single, the contemplative "One of Us," broke into the Top 40 within a year's time, and reaped three Grammy nominations; though three more singles from the album did not earn the same level of chart play as "One of Us," the song helped to forge significant relationships with an array musical genres and performers, from the alternative women songwriters on the Lilith Fair circuit to The Dead and in particular, bassist Phil Lesh. These connections helped to keep Osborne in the public eye when her subsequent solo efforts failed to surpass the lower end of the Billboard 200 and she would reap critical praise for collaborations with Lesh, Spearhead, the Dixie Chicks and Motown's ace sidemen the Funk Brothers, whose documentary, "Standing in the Shadows of Motown," featured Osborne's soul-deep takes on "Heatwave" and "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted." She continued to issue her own material, most notably the country-tinged Pretty Little Stranger, which earned respectable placement on the Country and Independent albums charts, and 2013's Bring It On Home, which earned a Grammy nod for Best Blues Album. But Osborne found greater response to joint efforts with the Waybacks, Mavis Staples, and the band Trigger Hippy, which featured members of the Black Crowes and Widespread Panic.