THE BIG INTERVIEW: MELISSA ETHERIDGE Episode Number: 05 Episode Title: Melissa Etheridge Description: We sit down with legendary singer Melissa Etheridge whose intimate lyrics and signature voice have made her a rock and roll icon. In a candid conversation Etheridge discusses her music, gay rights, cancer and even the little bit of hot water she got into recently over comments about Angelina Jolie. ACT 1 DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER) TONIGHT ON THE BIG INTERVIEW… LEGENDARY SINGER/SONGWRITER AND ROCK STAR, MELISSA ETHERIDGE RATHER If we could only talk about one thing today, what would that be? MELISSA ETHERIDGE I mean I could say music, I could say where gay rights has - has come, we could talk about cancer, believe me, I’ll talk about anything with you. ETHERIDGE (singing) Come to my window RATHER (VOICE OVER) HER INTIMATE LYRICS AND SIGNATURE VOICE HAVE MADE HER AN ICON IN ROCK AND ROLL HISTORY ETHERIDGE (singing) Come to my window and I’ll be home soon. Yeah, I’m comin’ home. RATHER (VOICE OVER) TONIGHT -- ON THE BIG INTERVIEW ACT 2 MELISSA ETHERIDGE (singing) Oh is it other arms you want to hold you, the stranger... DAN RATHER (VOICE OVER) FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS, MELISSA ETHERIDGE'S SOULFUL PERFORMANCES HAVE BEEN CELEBRATED BY CRITICS AND FANS ALIKE… ETHERIDGE (singing) Come to my window... RATHER (VOICE OVER) HER SONG “COME TO MY WINDOW” WON HER A GRAMMY AWARD IN 1995 - IT WAS HER SECOND… AND SHE’S BEEN NOMINATED 15 TIMES. ANNOUNCER AT 2007 OSCARS Please welcome Melissa Etheridge singing her Academy Award nominated song, “I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth ETHERIDGE (singing) I’ve been asleep, and I need to wake up now… JOHN TRAVOLTA And the Oscar goes to Melissa Etheridge for “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth” RATHER (VOICE OVER) THE SONG, WRITTEN FOR THE POPULAR FILM ABOUT AL GORE’S CRUSADE AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING, MARKED THE FIRST TIME A DOCUMENTARY HAD WON IN THIS CATEGORY. ETHERIDGE Let my life have been an inspiration to anyone - gay, straight, breast cancer, woman, mother... RATHER (VOICE OVER) FOR DECADES, MELISSA ETHERIDGE HAS USED HER HIGH PROFILE TO RAISE AWARENESS FOR ISSUES SHE CARES ABOUT. SHE IS A PASSIONATE GAY RIGHTS ADVOCATE AND WAS ONE OF THE FIRST CELEBRITIES TO OFFER THE PUBLIC A GLIMPSE OF WHAT A COMMITTED GAY RELATIONSHIP MIGHT LOOK LIKE… ETHERIDGE (singing) Thinly veiled intolerance Bigotry and hate But they tortured you and burned you They beat you and they tied you... RATHER (VOICE OVER) IN 1999, SHE RELEASED A SONG CALLED “SCARECROW” TO PAY TRIBUTE TO MATTHEW SHEPARD, THE GAY TEENAGER FROM WYOMING WHO WAS BRUTALLY MURDERED IN WHAT MANY SAID WAS A HATE CRIME… AND SHE TACKLED THE SUBJECT OF GAY MOTHERHOOD ON THE COVER OF ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE BACK IN 2000...FAMOUSLY ANNOUNCING THAT HER FIRST TWO CHILDREN’S BIOLOGICAL FATHER WAS NONE OTHER THAN ROCK STAR DAVID CROSBY. SHE IS ALSO A BREAST CANCER SURVIVOR... SHE WROTE THE SONG “I RUN FOR LIFE” FROM HER OWN PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WITH THE DISEASE IN AN EFFORT TO RAISE FUNDS AND AWARENESS. ETHERIDGE Wanna go in my back yard? RATHER Sure. ETHERIDGE Come on. There’s lemon and lime over there and oranges… RATHER Well, it’s a lovely place. ETHERIDGE ...tangerines... RATHER (VOICE OVER) I RECENTLY VISITED MELISSA ETHERIDGE AT HER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA HOME WHERE WE SAT DOWN TO TALK ABOUT HER LIFE AND HER MUSIC. RATHER Well, Melissa Etheridge, thank you very much for doing this-- ETHERIDGE My plea-- RATHER --and thank you for welcoming us into your home. ETHERIDGE My pleasure. RATHER I have a lot of questions I wanna ask you. But if we could only talk about one thing today, what would that be? ETHERIDGE If we could only talk about one thing. There are so many facets of this journey that I've been on in my life that-- I mean, I could say music, I could say-- where gays rights has-- has come, we could talk about cancer, we could-- I-- believe me I'll talk about anything with you. (LAUGHTER) RATHER Well, journalism is all about storytelling. You're a great storyteller in your music. ETHERIDGE Thank you. RATHER So tell me the Melissa Etheridge story. ETHERIDGE Lord. Born in the Midwest. I think that's-- it's a big part of who I am 'cause I was born in Kansas, Leavenworth, Kansas. My father was a high school teacher and basketball coach. My mother worked for the Army actually. She was a civil servant. She started out kind of a secretary then they found out that she was really good with these new things called computers, so she became a computer programmer. (LAUGH) So she's very intelligent and I got a-- kind of had a sporty dad and a really smart mom. And I grew up in the '60s and '70s in the Midwest with all the things that happened. I grew up with music, I loved it. RATHER Well, I want to go back to the time when you first got enthralled by music. You were what, seven, eight? Or was it even earlier? ETHERIDGE I tell people the first really clear memory I have-- of my childhood even is I'm about-- between two or three years old and I'm-- probably in a diaper or just a pair of pants, I don't know. But I'm standing in the driveway and I have a transistor radio. And this sound is comin’ out of it and it sounds like angels. And they're singing, "I want to hold your hand," right? And it's like nothing I'd ever experienced in my whole two or three years of life. And it was from there that-- that I was just fascinated with music. My parents were music listeners. They-- they weren't really-- musical, but they had a great record collection, my older sister did. So I got a lot of that and then went out there on my own. RATHER And your first instrument was? ETHERIDGE Well, my first instrument was a guitar. Yeah, my father had brought it home for my sister, who was four years older than me, and-- I said, "I want to play it. I want to--" 'cause I'd been wearing out the badminton racquets, you know, jumping' around pretending and-- he went and he asked the guitar teacher, "No, it'll-- her fingers will bleed and it-- she can't--" and I said-- I bugged them until they let me. And indeed my fingers bled but I was bound and determined and I just-- so I started playing when I was eight years old, guitar. RATHER And then what happened? ETHERIDGE I taught myself how to play the piano, I picked up drums, I started-- writing songs, -- and- - I started writing in a very simple, like, folk-- this is early '70s, you know, folk songs. So there was a talent contest and myself and my friends entered it and they sang-- it was like three of us. We sang one of my original songs. And we-- we didn't win, but we got a little trophy that I still have. It's next to my Oscar in there, so (LAUGH) And-- We used to play at the prisons, you know, Leavenworth. We'd play at prisons and the old folks homes. Found-- a musician in that show that had a band called the -- Chuck Hammersmith and the Wranglers, and I started singing' country music in bars, you know, -- I loved it. It was a life that I loved. And I've done everything you can do. RATHER So you finish high school and you went off to college. ETHERIDGE My parents were very much about college. They really wanted me to go to college. I said, "Well, it's gotta be a music college." So we went around and we ended up -- at Berklee College of Music in Boston. It didn't last long. RATHER And why didn't it last long? ETHERIDGE Because I was ready to take on the world. I was-- I was sitting in the classrooms and I was learning about music and-- I wanted to do it, I wanted to play it. And so I went down the street, down Boylston, and-- went into a restaurant that-- that had, like, a piano in the corner. And I said, "Can I-- you know, can I play here?" And they said, "Well, we got a guy playing' from 9:00 to 1:00 but you want to--" I auditioned. And I had the -- I got the cocktail hour from-- from 5:00 to 9:00 I got to play. And eventually I got the 9:00 to 1:00 slot. And I just started-- I was working, I was making money, and -- I wasn't interested in studying, so I dropped out. RATHER But then you got -- the urge to move West. ETHERIDGE Yeah. this is-- this is late-'70s. This is '79, '80. The East Coast was filled with a sort of rageful, dirty punk rock n' roll that I didn't relate to. I was an acoustic guitar player who listened to Bruce Springsteen, The Eagles, Jackson Brown, Fleetwood Mac and I said, "They're all in California. I need to go to California. I need to go to Los Angeles." RATHER You were at what age now? ETHERIDGE I'm 21 in 1982. And I-- set out in my car, I drive across America, which is-- everyone should drive across America someday, it's a beautiful country.