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50 things you had no idea about singer Sheryl Crow.
1. Her full name is Sheryl Suzanne Crow.
2. She was born in Kennett, Missouri.
3. Her mother is Bernice, a piano teacher.
4. Her father is Wendell Wyatt Crow, a lawyer and trumpet player.
5. Her great-grandfather was congressman Charles A. Crow.
6. She has two older sisters named Kathy and Karen and a younger brother named Steven.
7. While studying at Kennett High School, Crow was a majorette and an all-state track athlete, medaling in the 75-meter low hurdles.
8. Enrolled at the University of Missouri in Columbia and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music composition, performance, and education.
9. While at the university, she sang in the local band Cashmere. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority, Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women, and the Omicron Delta Kappa Society as well as working as a 'Summer Welcome' orientation leader.
10. Crow was later awarded honorary doctorates from the University of Missouri and Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
11. Crow has stated that her musical inspirations are not restricted to one genre-she likes anything with a drum beat. In 2008, she told Ellen DeGeneres that 'If it didn't have a drum beat, you can just forget about it!'
12. Sheryl Crow is also an actress.
13. Her music incorporates elements of pop, rock, folk, country and blues.
14. She has sold more than 17 million albums in the U.S. and over 50 million albums worldwide.
15. Crow has garnered nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
16. In addition to her own work, Crow has performed with the Rolling Stones, Stevie Nicks, Michael Jackson, Steve Earle, Prince, Eric Clapton, Luciano Pavarotti, Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, .B. King, George Strait, Tony Bennett, Kid Rock and Sting, among others.
17. She has also performed backing vocals for Tina Turner, Don Henley, Stevie Nicks, Belinda Carlisle and Bob Dylan.
18. As an actress, Crow has appeared on various television shows including 30 Rock, GCB, Cougar Town, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, as well as One Tree Hill.
19. After graduating from the University of Missouri, Crow worked as a music teacher at the Kellison elementary school in Fenton, Missouri. Teaching during the day gave her the opportunity to sing in bands on the weekends.
20. She was later introduced to local musician and record producer Jay Oliver. He had a thriving studio in the basement of his parents' home in St. Louis and helped her by using her in advertising jingles.
21. Her first jingle was a 'back to school' spot for the St Louis department store Famous-Barr. Soon after she created commercial jingles for McDonald's and Toyota.
22. She was quoted in a 60 Minutes segment as saying she made $40,000 on her McDonald's ad alone.
23. Crow toured with Michael Jackson as a backing vocalist during his Bad World Tour 1987-89 and often performed with Jackson on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".
24. She also recorded background vocals for performances for a number of established artists such as Stevie Wonder, Belinda Carlisle and Don Henley.
25. Crow also sang in the short-lived Steven Bochco drama Cop Rock in 1990.
26. Her song "Heal Somebody" appeared in the film Bright Angel.
27. She began dating Kevin Gilbert and joined him in an ad hoc group of musicians known to themselves as the "Tuesday Music Club." Group members Gilbert, David Baerwald, and David Ricketts, Bill Bottrell, Brian MacLeod, and Dan Schwartz share songwriting credits with Crow on her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club.
28. Crow appeared in the "New Faces" section of Rolling Stone in 1993.
29. Tuesday Night Music Club featured many of the songs written by Crow's friends, including the second single, "Leaving Las Vegas". The album was slow to garner attention, until "All I Wanna Do" became an unexpected smash hit in the fall of 1994.
30. As she later stated in People, she found an old poetry book in a used book store in the L.A. area and used a poem as lyrics in the song "All I Wanna Do".
31. The singles "Strong Enough" and "Can't Cry Anymore" were also released, with the first song ("Strong Enough") charting at No. 5 on Billboard and "Can't Cry Anymore" hitting the Top 40.
32. Tuesday Night Music Club went on to sell more than 7 million copies in the U.S. and U.K. during the 1990s.
33. The album also won Crow three Grammy Awards, in 1995: Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Performance.
34. She performed at the 1994 and 1999 Woodstock Festivals, as well as the Another Roadside Attraction in 1997.
35. Crow supplied background vocals to the song "The Garden of Allah" from Don Henley's 1995 album Actual Miles: Henley's Greatest Hits.
36. In 1996, Crow released her self titled second album. The album had songs about abortion, homelessness and nuclear war. She produced the album herself and also played a variety of instruments, from various guitars, bass or pedal steel to various organs and piano.
37. The debut single from her second album, "If It Makes You Happy", became a radio success and netted her two Grammy awards for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Album.
38. In 1997, Crow contributed the theme song to the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.
39. Her song "Tomorrow Never Dies" was nominated for a Grammy Award and Best Original Song Golden Globe.
40. Crow collaborated on Scott Weiland's 1998 album, 12 Bar Blues.
41. She dated actor Owen Wilson; the song "Safe and Sound" on the album C'mon C'mon was dedicated to him.
42. Crow began dating cyclist Lance Armstrong in 2003.
43. Crow and Armstrong announced their engagement in September 2005 but jointly announced they had split on February 3, 2006.
44. After being diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a non-invasive form of breast cancer, Crow underwent a lumpectomy at a Los Angeles facility on February 22, 2006 followed by seven weeks of radiation therapy.
45. In August 2010, Crow partnered with her surgeon, Dr. Kristi Funk, to open the Sheryl Crow Imaging Center at Funk's Pink Lotus Breast Center.
46. In May 2007 Crow announced on her website that she had adopted a two-week-old boy named Wyatt Steven Crow, who was born on April 29, 2007.
47. In June 2010 Crow announced that she had adopted a boy named Levi James Crow, born on April 30, 2010.
48. She and her sons live on a 154-acre (62-hectare) farm outside Nashville, Tennessee.
49. In November 2011 Crow discovered that she has a meningioma, the most common kind of brain tumor and is usually benign. Because it was causing no problems she did not require treatment but got regular follow-up exams.
50. Crow had been involved with the Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) since the late 1990s, performing at fund-raisers and befriending Sharon Monsky. In 2002, as a result of her friend Kent Sexton dying from scleroderma, she interrupted work on her new album C'mon C'mon to record the traditional hymn Be Still, My Soul, to be played at his funeral.
