Melissa Etheridge | Playing Bars at Thirteen
John Etheridge was a coach and a teacher in Leavenworth, Kansas, and when his daughter was 13 and playing in bands with grown men in bars, he drove her — an hour there, an hour back, every rehearsal and every weekend gig. He wasn't effusive about it. He never told her she could do it. He just liked her music, asked her to play "Me and Bobby McGee" whenever family came over, and showed up. He also taught her metaphor without knowing the word for it, playing her a Randy Newman song and explaining that what the man is saying isn't what he means.
When Melissa Etheridge told him in 1980 that she was gay, he said: is that it. Then he said he didn't understand it, but she should be happy, and be self-sufficient. She came out publicly thirteen years later, at the first gay inaugural ball, after a magazine changed every pronoun in her interview to "he." By then her father had been dead for three years.
In this conversation with David Begnaud, recorded two days after her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination — the first thing she wanted to do was call him — she talks about singing "Piece of My Heart" bald at the 2005 Grammys, mid-radiation, afraid people would laugh. About being in the room when her father's spirit left his body, and what that did to her fear of dying. And about her son Beckett, who broke his ankle snowboarding, was handed a prescription, and was gone by 21. She now raises money for psychedelic research into opioid addiction, trying to make his death mean something.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com
Thank you to Canva for believing in the power of storytelling and helping us bring this podcast to life: https://canva.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Melissa Etheridge
Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
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John Etheridge was a coach and a teacher in Leavenworth, Kansas, and when his daughter was 13 and playing in bands with grown men in bars, he drove her — an hour there, an hour back, every rehearsal and every weekend gig. He wasn't effusive about it. He never told her she could do it. He just liked her music, asked her to play "Me and Bobby McGee" whenever family came over, and showed up. He also taught her metaphor without knowing the word for it, playing her a Randy Newman song and explaining that what the man is saying isn't what he means.
When Melissa Etheridge told him in 1980 that she was gay, he said: is that it. Then he said he didn't understand it, but she should be happy, and be self-sufficient. She came out publicly thirteen years later, at the first gay inaugural ball, after a magazine changed every pronoun in her interview to "he." By then her father had been dead for three years.
In this conversation with David Begnaud, recorded two days after her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination — the first thing she wanted to do was call him — she talks about singing "Piece of My Heart" bald at the 2005 Grammys, mid-radiation, afraid people would laugh. About being in the room when her father's spirit left his body, and what that did to her fear of dying. And about her son Beckett, who broke his ankle snowboarding, was handed a prescription, and was gone by 21. She now raises money for psychedelic research into opioid addiction, trying to make his death mean something.
Get more stories that remind you the world is still good. Sign up for our free newsletter: www.thedogoodcrew.com
Thank you to Canva for believing in the power of storytelling and helping us bring this podcast to life: https://canva.com
Chapters ☀️
ABOUT THIS PODCAST:
The Person Who Believed In Me is hosted by David Begnaud, founder and CEO of Do Good Crew and often called "America's storyteller." In each episode, David sits down with world-class guests to ask one simple question: Who believed in you before the world did? Big names. Honest stories. Relatable takeaways. Different paths — same question.
David is also a CBS News contributor and host of the weekly segment Beg Knows America, which airs every Monday morning.
Host: David Begnaud
Guest: Melissa Etheridge
Executive Producer: Olivier Delfosse
Associate Producer: Jonah Johnson
Booker: Sully Bloch
Director of Photography: Foster Parks
Live Production Technician: Joseph Gabay & Will Whitley (Statik Creative)
Director of Social: Mariah Maull
Theme Music: Slipstream
Post-Production: Longwave Digital
CONNECT WITH US:
The Person Who Believed In Me:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/believedpodcast
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