Artist description Michele Grainger is a solo act with a style that combines pop, rock, blues, and country music genres.

Music Style Pop/Rock

Musical Influences David Bowie, The Beatles, Sinead O'Connor

Similar Artists Melissa Etheridge, Grace Slick, Paula Cole, Annie Lennox and a combination of many others

Artist History The deep and passionate voice of Michele Grainger leaves no doubt about her love of music. Born in Missouri and raised in Dallas, Texas, Michele began to sing before she learned to talk. At the age of nine, Michele set her natural gift of song to a more structured path and joined the school choir. As she dedicated her mind to her education, she still earned many singing awards throughout her primary and secondary school years. Michele believed, as she completed her high-school years, that she would continue her education and begin her adult life as a biochemist. As much as she loved to sing, she began to look at it only as a vehicle to help her achieve her educational goals. The path for Michele took a twist of fate, however, and she failed to make the cut at her college choir auditions. The shy and sensitive young woman felt that it was time to give up the music she had always loved. Perhaps, she thought at the time, she just wasn't good enough.While a university student, Michele's path took yet another twist, this time in the form of Shane Jones. Shane was to become Michele's future song-writing partner and soul mate. Michele felt the emotion in Shane's music, and believed that this gifted young man had a chance to make it big in the music industry. She encouraged him to pursue a career in music, but Shane had other ideas about who was going to make it big. In his words, "When I heard her sing, I heard incredible talent. At first she was very resistant, very insecure about singing for me. It took all of her strength to overcome her fears. She was, and still is, such an inspiration for me." Their well-loved music added fuel to their relationship from the beginning, and from that fuel, there now burns a very bright flame. Michele and Shane, intent that their future included music, formed their first band, A Far Cry. They played music that quickly evolved from acoustic-folk to rock. With Shane writing the tunes and playing guitar, and Michele singing duet with another band member, they played around Denton and Dallas for about a year before recording their first self-titled CD. Due to personal and creative differences, two of the members left the band before completing the project. In 1995, the remaining members of the band completed the CD and decided to make a change. They sold everything they owned-except for one car and their musical equipment-and headed for Seattle. No money, no home and sleeping in the car, they looked for players to start up another band. Shortly after arriving in Seattle, they started up their second band, The Knaves. The band was very well accepted. They were immediately sponsored by a regional music store and promoted on local radio. Within nine months, The Knaves were playing regularly in and around Seattle, and were building a strong following. However, as before, the other band members lacked the same drive as Michele and Shane, and The Knaves fell apart. Over the next two years, Michele and Shane played acoustic shows around Seattle, spending a lot of time rehearsing new band members, and experimenting with their sound. During this time period, Michele began to write, and realized that she had a natural talent for writing lyrics and melodies. With all of the problems they had experienced with bands, they were becoming cynical, and felt they needed another change-a big one. At the end of 1999, Michele and Shane moved to Austin, Texas. At their first Austin performance, a local record producer heard something extraordinary in Michele's voice. In spite of problems with that show-a broken a string, and a terrible sound system-she just kept singing with a passion and determination that reflected years of devotion and perseverance. Michele's style expresses all of the creativity, intensity, and conviction of the two artists. Her sound is an eclectic blend of pop, rock, country and blues, and her voice is the vehicle that delivers the vision.

Group Members Michele Grainger, Shane Jones, Ken Kemp

Instruments vocals

Albums self-titled ep

Location Austin, TX - USA

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