John Shanks

John Matthew Shanks (born December 18, 1964) is an American writer of modern rock music and a Grammy Award–winning producer.

Early life and education

Born in New York City on December 18, 1964, Shanks moved to Los Angeles when he was 17 years old.

Career

Shanks began playing in Melissa Etheridge's band in 1988 and toured with her for several years. Shanks enjoyed his first writing success in the early 1990s by getting cuts with Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker and Tuck & Patti. He also landed his first publishing deal.

Shanks reunited with Etheridge in 1995 when he collaborated with her on songs for Your Little Secret. He worked with her for several years and co-produced her subsequent album, Breakdown, in 1999. Breakdown received four Grammy nominations, including Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album.

In 2001, Shanks produced several tracks for the Stevie Nicks album, Trouble in Shangri-La and co-wrote the first single, "Every Day", with Damon Johnson.

In January 2001, Shanks began working with Michelle Branch. Together, they wrote four songs for the hit album The Spirit Room, including the first single, "Everywhere". He also produced the album. In the fall of the same year, Shanks co-wrote Sheryl Crow’s single, "Steve McQueen".

Melissa Etheridge

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Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, and activist. Her self-titled debut album Melissa Etheridge was released in 1988 and became an underground hit. The album peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200, and its lead single, "Bring Me Some Water", garnered Etheridge her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female. In 1993, Etheridge won her first Grammy award for her single "Ain't It Heavy" from her third album, Never Enough. Later that year, she released what would become her mainstream breakthrough album, Yes I Am. The album featured three Top 40 hits, including "I'm the Only One" (No. 8) and "Come to My Window" (No. 25), the latter which scored Etheridge her second Grammy award. Yes I Am peaked at No. 15 on the Billboard 200, and spent 138 weeks on the chart, earning a RIAA certification of 6x Platinum, her largest to date.

Alanis Morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian-Americanalternative rock singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Morissette began her career in Canada when she signed a two-album recording contract with MCA Records Canada where she released two commercially successful dance-pop albums, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). Following the release of the albums Morissette left MCA Records Canada and was introduced to manager Scott Welch. Morissette began working on new music, after moving from her hometown of Ottawa to Toronto, but did not make much progress until travelling to Los Angeles, where she met Glen Ballard.

Together the pair began creating what would become Jagged Little Pill, and by the spring of 1995, she had signed a deal with Maverick Records. Jagged Little Pill was a departure from Morissette's previous work and featured rock genres. Released in 1995 Jagged Little Pill was a huge success and sold more than 33 million units globally. Her following album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in 1998.

Les Paul

Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid-body electric guitar, which made the sound of rock and roll possible. Paul taught himself how to play guitar and while he is mainly known for rock music, he had an early career in country music. He is credited with many recording innovations. Although he was not the first to use the technique, his early experiments with overdubbing (also known as sound on sound),delay effects such as tape delay, phasing effects and multitrack recording were among the first to attract widespread attention.

His innovative talents extended into his playing style, including licks, trills, chording sequences, fretting techniques and timing, which set him apart from his contemporaries and inspired many guitarists of the present day. He recorded with his wife Mary Ford in the 1950s, and they sold millions of records.