Morissette Alanis life and biography

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a seven time Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter of alternative rock/pop music and occasional actress. She is one of the best-selling female rock artists of all time.

Her international debut album Jagged Little Pill (1995) became one of the most successful albums of all time with total worldwide sales estimated at thirty million copies. Five more studio albums followed – Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), Under Rug Swept (2002), Feast on Scraps (2002), So-Called Chaos (2004), and Flavors of Entanglement (2008).

Alanis Morissette was one of the most unlikely stars of the mid-'90s. A former child actress turned dance-pop diva, Morissette later transformed herself into a confessional alternative singer/songwriter in the vein of Liz Phair and Tori Amos. However, she bolstered that formula with enough pop sensibility, slight hip-hop flourishes, and marketing savvy to become a superstar with her third album, Jagged Little Pill.

Morissette was born in Ottawa, Canada, and began playing piano and writing songs during her childhood years. She also joined the cast of You Can't Do That on Television, a children's television program. Using money that she earned on the show, Morissette recorded an independent single, "Fate Stay with Me," which was released when she was only ten years old. Morissette then concentrated on a musical career after leaving the show's cast, signing a music publishing contract when she was 14. The publishing contract led to a record deal with MCA Canada, and Morissette moved to Toronto before releasing her debut album, Alanis, in 1991.

Alanis was a collection of pop-oriented dance numbers and ballads that found success in Canada, selling over 100,000 copies and earning the singer a Juno Award for Most Promising Female Artist. However, no other country paid much attention to the record. In 1992, Morissette released Now Is the Time, an album that closely resembled her debut. Like its predecessor, it was a success in Canada, even if its sales did not match those of Alanis. Following the release of Now Is the Time, Morissette relocated to Los Angeles, where she met veteran producer Glen Ballard in early 1994. Ballard had previously written Michael Jackson's hit single "Man in the Mirror," produced Wilson Phillips' hit debut album, and worked with actor/musician David Hasselhoff. The two decided to work together, and despite their shared experience with mainstream pop, they opted instead to pursue an edgier, alternative rock-oriented direction. The result was Jagged Little Pill, which was released in 1995 on Madonna's label, Maverick Records.

On the strength of the angst-ridden single "You Oughta Know," Jagged Little Pill gained attention upon its release in the summer of 1995. The song soon received heavy airplay from alternative radio outlets and MTV, sending the album into the Top Ten and helping it achieve multi-platinum status. Jagged Little Pill's subsequent singles -- "Hand in My Pocket," "All I Really Want," "You Learn," "Ironic," and "All I Really Want" -- kept the album in the Top Ten for an astounding 69 weeks, and Alanis Morissette was nominated for six Grammys in early 1996. She won several of those awards, including Album of the Year and Song of the Year.

While she never managed to replicate the success of Jagged Little Pill, Morissette continued to release well-received albums into the 21st century. Her much-anticipated follow-up, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in the autumn of 1998, setting a record for the highest first-week sales by a female artist. An Unplugged set appeared a year later and featured a cover of the Police's "King of Pain," while 2002's Under Rug Swept saw Morissette writing and producing without the help of collaborators. So-Called Chaos followed in 2004. A year later, she took Jagged Little Pill on the road as an acoustic tour. Those tour dates led to the release of Jagged Little Pill Acoustic, an album originally (and tellingly) sold exclusively through Starbucks outlets. Morissette and her fans had grown up, and Collection -- an 18-track retrospective of her work -- followed in November 2005. But Morissette wasn't done, returning in 2008 with her seventh studio effort (and fifth international release), Flavors of Entanglement.

Recently, Morissette has contributed to 1 Giant Leap, performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis. Morissette has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording.

In April, 2010, Morissette released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (film)" soundtrack.

Acting career

In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actress: eighteen episodes of the children's television show You Can't Do That on Television. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988.

In 1993, she appeared in the film Just One of the Girls starring Corey Haim, which she described as "horrible".

In 1999, Morissette delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She would later reprise the role of God at the end of Smith's Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. She also appeared in the hit HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, and appeared in the play The Vagina Monologues.

In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Sunny Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that Morissette would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from 23 May until 28 May.

She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith.

In 2006, she guest starred in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary/documentary Pittsburgh as herself.

It was announced on Morissette's website that she will be starring in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. Morissette will play Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. She said she was a "big fan" of Dick's books, which she called "poetic and expansively imaginative", and said she "feels blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film"

It was announced in May 2009 that Morissette had been cast in at least seven episodes of Weeds, playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. These episodes aired from June to August 2009.

In early 2010 Morissette returned to the stage, performing a one night engagement in An Oak Tree, an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell out. In april 2010 Morissette was confirmed in the cast of Weeds season six, performing again her role as Dr. Audra Kitson.

Discography

* Alanis (1991)
* Now Is the Time (1992)
* Jagged Little Pill (1995)
* Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)
* Under Rug Swept (2002)
* So-Called Chaos (2004)
* Flavors of Entanglement (2008)

Stage, film and television

* You Can't Do That on Television, herself (1986)
* Just One of the Girls, herself (1993)
* Music Works, herself (1994)
* Malhação, herself (1996)
* Dogma, God (1999)
* The Vagina Monologues (1999)
* Sex and the City, Dawn (episode "Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl", 1999)
* Class Dismissed, herself (2001)
* We're with the Band, herself (2002) ("Hands Clean", "Baba", "You Oughta Know", "Thank U")
* Curb Your Enthusiasm, herself (episode "The Terrorist Attack", 2002)
* Celebridade, herself (2003)
* The Exonerated, Sunny Jacobs (2003)
* De-Lovely, unnamed singer (2004) ("Let's Do It, Let's Fall in Love")
* American Dreams, Singer in the Lair (episode "What Dreams May Come", 2004)
* Degrassi: The Next Generation, principal (episode "Goin' down the Road: Part 1", 2005)
* Fuck, herself (2005)
* Just Friends, herself (deleted scene), (2005)
* Lovespring International, Lucinda (2006)
* Nip/Tuck, Poppy (2006)
* The Break Up"
* Head-case, herself (2007)
* 14 Women, herself (2007)
* Radio Free Albemuth, Sylvia (TBA)
* Rosie Live (2008) – sang "Not as We"
* Weeds (TV Series), Dr. Audra Kitson (2009)
* My Mother's Red Hat (Internet Indie-Film Spoof), herself (2009)
* Sit Down, Shut Up, herself (2009)
* An Oak Tree, herself (2010)

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