Michelle Branch

Michelle Jacquet DeSevren? Branch (born July 2 1983) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. She made her debut in 2000, and released the platinum-selling albums The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper in subsequent years. In 2004, she formed the band The Wreckers with fellow musician Jessica Harp.

= Branch was born seven weeks premature in Phoenix, Arizona, and was named after The Beatles' song "Michelle". Her father is of Irish ancestry while her mother was born in Holland; her maternal grandmother was from East Java and was held in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II, while her maternal grandfather was Dutch. She has an older half-brother, David, and a younger sister, Nicole.

Branch started taking voice lessons at a local university when she was 8 years old. She received a guitar for her fourteenth birthday from her uncle. She locked herself in her room and taught herself chords; within a few days she had composed her first song. She focused on the arts during high school, and was writing songs extensively. She attended Red Rock High School in Sedona ...