Alanis Morissette

Alanis Nadine Morissette (/əˈlænɪs ˌmɒrɪˈsɛt/ ə-LAN-iss MORR-iss-ET; born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian and American singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, and actress. Regarded as the "queen of alt-rock angst", she became a cultural phenomenon for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She has sold more than 60 million records worldwide. Her accolades include a Brit Award, seven Grammy Awards, fourteen Juno Awards, and nominations for two Golden Globe Awards and a Tony Award.

Morissette began her music career in Canada in the early 1990s with two dance-pop albums, Alanis (1991) and Now Is the Time (1992). After relocating to Los Angeles, she released the alternative rock album Jagged Little Pill (1995), which became one of the best-selling albums of all time and has appeared on several all-time lists. She won five Grammy Awards for the record including Album of the Year, becoming the youngest winner of the category at the time. She continued this success with her next album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998), which saw her adapt an experimental sound and was highly anticipated. That same year, her single "Uninvited" for City of Angels won two Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Beginning in 2002, Morissette took on further creative control and production duties as the sole producer of her fifth album, Under Rug Swept, which won her the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award. Her 2005 song "Wunderkind" for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe netted her a second nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song. She has continued her career with the albums So-Called Chaos (2004), Flavors of Entanglement (2008), Havoc and Bright Lights (2012), Such Pretty Forks in the Road (2020), and The Storm Before the Calm (2022).

Morissette holds the record for the most number ones on the weekly Billboard Alternative Songs chart among female soloists, group leaders, or duo members. Her first three internationally released studio albums topped the Billboard 200 albums chart, and her next four albums peaked within the top 20. Her singles "You Oughta Know", "Hand in My Pocket", "Ironic", "You Learn", "Head Over Feet", "Uninvited", "Thank U", and "Hands Clean", reached top 40 in major charts around the world. VH1 ranked her the 53rd-greatest woman in rock and roll. In 2005, she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Morissette was born on June 1, 1974, at Riverside Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein) and Alan Richard Morissette. Her elder brother, Chad (born 1971), is an entrepreneur, and her twin brother, Wade (12 minutes elder), is a musician. Alan is of French and Irish descent, while Georgia, who fled Hungary during the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, has Jewish ancestry. Morissette has described her ethnicity as "a quarter Jewish". On a 2024 episode of Finding Your Roots, she stated that Alan and Georgia had never told their children about the family's Jewish ancestry, which she did not discover until her late 20s.

In 1977, the family moved to Lahr, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, and Alan and Georgia started working as teachers at the local base of Canadian Air Command. They returned to Ottawa in 1980, and Morissette started taking dance lessons the next year. She had a Catholic upbringing. Morissette attended Holy Family Catholic School for elementary school and Immaculata High School for seventh and eighth grades; she appeared on five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television (1986) while attending the former. She then attended and graduated from Glebe Collegiate Institute.

Morissette is known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She recorded her first demo called "Fate Stay with Me", produced by Lindsay Thomas Morgan at Marigold Studios in Toronto, and engineered by Rich Dodson of Canadian classic rock band The Stampeders. A second demo tape was recorded on cassette in August 1989 and sent to Geffen Records, but the tape has never been heard as it was stolen, among other records, in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989.

In 1991, MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, Alanis, in Canada only. She co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. The dance-pop album went platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top 20 on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top 40. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada; comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice. She was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").