Macy Gray The Id and The Trouble with Being Myself (2001-2005) What major event happened in that time period? In 2003, Gray released her third studio album, How was the album taken by the public? the album was not as well received by fans. How did this affect Macy? Nevertheless, it became Gray's third top twenty album in the UK. A greatest hits collection and a live album were subsequently released:
How did the live album do?
How did Macy Gray's live album do?
Gray's The Id featured appearances by John Frusciante and Erykah Badu on the single "Sweet Baby" (which was co-written with longtime collaborator Joe Solo). The album peaked at number eleven on the Billboard 200. It fared even better in the UK, where it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the BPI. The underperformance in the United States, compared to her debut album, may have been due to The Id being released just a week after the September 11, 2001 attacks.  In 2002, she appeared in Spider-Man and contributed a remix of her song "My Nutmeg Phantasy" to its accompanying soundtrack. Gray also worked with Santana on the track "Amore (Sexo)", for his album Shaman.  Also in 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD in tribute to Nigerian Afropop pioneer Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. She appeared on a remake of Kuti's classic track "Water No Get Enemy" alongside prominent neo soul, hip hop and R&B artists, D'Angelo, the Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, and Kuti's son, Femi Kuti.  She recorded a duet with Zucchero called "Like the Sun (From Out of Nowhere)", which featured Jeff Beck on guitar released in 2004 on Zu & Co., a duets collection. Her song "Time of My Life" was included in the soundtrack to 8 Mile. A cartoon based on Gray's childhood was being developed, but it never came to fruition.  In 2003, Gray released her third studio album, The Trouble with Being Myself, to rave reviews. The lead single, "When I See You", became a radio hit in the US and a top forty hit in the UK, although the album was not as well received by fans. Nevertheless, it became Gray's third top twenty album in the UK. A greatest hits collection and a live album were subsequently released: The Very Best of Macy Gray (2004) and Live in Las Vegas (2005). Additionally, Gray was featured on Marcus Miller's 2005 album Silver Rain, on a cover of Prince's 1986 song "Girls & Boys". She also appeared on the soundtrack to the film Chicago with Queen Latifah and Lil' Kim on "Cell Block Tango/He Had it Comin'." CANNOTANSWER
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Natalie Renée McIntyre (born September 6, 1967), known by her stage name Macy Gray, is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, musician, record producer and actress. She is known for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday.

Gray has released ten studio albums, and received five Grammy Award nominations, winning one. She has appeared in a number of films, including Training Day, Spider-Man, Scary Movie 3, Lackawanna Blues, Idlewild, For Colored Girls, and The Paperboy. Gray is best known for her international hit single "I Try", taken from her multi-platinum debut album On How Life Is.

Early life

Natalie McIntyre was born in Canton, Ohio, the daughter of Laura McIntyre, a math schoolteacher, and Otis Jones  . Her stepfather was a steelworker, and her sister is a biology teacher. She has a younger brother, Nate, who owns a gym in West Philadelphia and was featured on the season five finale of Queer Eye. She began piano lessons at age seven. A childhood bicycle mishap resulted in her noticing a mailbox of a man named Macy Gray; she used the name in stories she wrote and later decided to use it as her stage name. She was late developing and did not learn to hold conversation until just before her tenth birthday.

Gray attended school with Brian Warner (later known as musician Marilyn Manson) although they did not know each other. She attended more than one high school, including a boarding school which asked her to leave due to her behavior.

She attended the University of Southern California and studied scriptwriting.

Musical career
While attending the University of Southern California, she agreed to write songs for a friend. A demo session was scheduled for the songs to be recorded by another singer, but the vocalist failed to appear, so Gray recorded them herself. 

She then met writer-producer Joe Solo while working as a cashier in Beverly Hills. Together, they wrote a collection of songs and recorded them in Solo's studio. The demo tape gave Gray the opportunity to sing at jazz cafés in Los Angeles. Although Gray did not consider her unusual voice desirable for singing, Atlantic Records signed her. She began recording her debut record but was dropped from the label upon the departure of A&R man Tom Carolan, who had signed her to the label. Macy returned to Ohio but in 1997 Los Angeles based Zomba Label Group Senior VP A&R man Jeff Blue, convinced her to return to music and signed her to a development deal, recording new songs based on her life experiences, with a new sound, and began shopping her to record labels. In 1998, she landed a record deal with Epic Records. She performed on "Love Won't Wait," a song on the Black Eyed Peas' debut album Behind the Front.

1999–2001: On How Life Is
Gray worked on her debut album in 1999 with producer Darryl Swann. Released in the summer of 1999, On How Life Is became a worldwide smash. The first single "Do Something" stalled on the charts, but the second single "I Try" made the album a success. "I Try" (which was originally featured in Love Jones and the Jennifer Aniston-starring romantic-comedy Picture Perfect in 1997) was one of the biggest singles of 1999, and subsequent singles "Still" and "Why Didn't You Call Me" ensured the album became triple platinum in the US and quadruple platinum in the UK.

In 2001, Gray won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "I Try", which was also nominated for "song of the year" and "record of the year". She then collaborated with Fatboy Slim, the Black Eyed Peas, and Slick Rick (on the song "The World Is Yours," from the Rush Hour 2 soundtrack), as well as acting for the first time, in the thriller Training Day. In August 2001, Gray was booed at the Pro Football Hall of Fame exhibition game after forgetting the lyrics to the American national anthem.

2001–2005: The Id and The Trouble with Being Myself

Gray's The Id featured appearances by John Frusciante and Erykah Badu on the single "Sweet Baby" (which was co-written with longtime collaborator Joe Solo). The album peaked at number eleven on the Billboard 200. It fared even better in the UK, where it reached number one on the UK Albums Chart and was certified gold by the BPI.

In 2002, she appeared in Spider-Man and contributed a remix of her song "My Nutmeg Phantasy" to its accompanying soundtrack. Gray also worked with Santana on the track "Amoré (Sexo)," for his album Shaman.

Also in 2002, she appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD in tribute to Nigerian Afropop pioneer Fela Kuti, Red Hot and Riot. She appeared on a remake of Kuti's classic track "Water No Get Enemy" alongside prominent neo soul, hip hop and R&B artists, D'Angelo, the Soultronics, Nile Rodgers, Roy Hargrove, and Kuti's son, Femi Kuti.

She recorded a duet with Zucchero called "Like the Sun (From Out of Nowhere)", which featured Jeff Beck on guitar released in 2004 on Zu & Co., a duets collection. Her song "Time of My Life" was included in the soundtrack to 8 Mile. A cartoon based on Gray's childhood was being developed, but it never came to fruition.

In 2003, Gray released her third studio album, The Trouble with Being Myself, to rave reviews. The lead single, "When I See You," became a radio hit in the US and a top-forty hit in the UK, although the album was not as well received by fans. Nevertheless, it became Gray's third top twenty album in the UK. A greatest hits collection and a live album were subsequently released: The Very Best of Macy Gray (2004) and Live in Las Vegas (2005). Additionally, Gray was featured on Marcus Miller's 2005 album Silver Rain, on a cover of Prince's 1986 song "Girls & Boys." She also appeared on the soundtrack to the film Chicago with Queen Latifah and Lil' Kim on "Cell Block Tango/He Had it Comin'."

2007–2010: Return to music and Big

Gray began 2007 by being kicked off-stage at a concert in Barbados for profanity (which was part of the show), but she was not aware that it was against the law in that country. She gave a public apology that night to avoid arrest.

In March, Gray released her fourth studio album (sixth overall), Big. Two singles, "Finally Made Me Happy" and "Shoo Be Doo," were released from the album. "What I Gotta Do," another track from the album, is featured on the Shrek the Third soundtrack. It has been considered Gray's comeback album, after a four-year hiatus since her last studio album. The album was critically acclaimed and seen by some as her best work to date. It features collaborations with Natalie Cole, Fergie, Justin Timberlake, and will.i.am, who co-executive produced the album with Gray. It was moderately successful in the US, where it debuted and peaked at number 39 on the Billboard 200, becoming Gray's highest-charting album since The Id. Big reached number 62 on the albums chart in the UK, her lowest-charting UK album, but it achieved some success in several other countries, including Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Finland, reaching the Top 40 on their album charts.

PBS's Soundstage live concert series premiered a Gray concert on July 5.

On July 7, 2007, Gray performed at the Brazilian leg of Live Earth at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gray and her band members wore clothes bearing political messages. Gray's dress carried the message "Darfur Red Alert."

In 2008, Gray launched a new campaign under the name "Nemesis Jaxson," with the single "Slap a Bitch."

Early in 2009, Gray recorded the song "Don't Forget Me" for the soundtrack of Confessions of a Shopaholic.

2010–2011: The Sellout
The first single from Gray's fifth studio album The Sellout, "Beauty in the World," is featured in the final sequence of the series finale, "Hello Goodbye," of the ABC television series, Ugly Betty. "Beauty in the World" was also used as the theme in multiple videos created by Microsoft to promote Internet Explorer 9. Both singles released from the album ("Beauty in the World" and "Lately") were top 10 hits on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs Chart.

Upon its release, The Sellout received generally mixed reviews from most music critics. Metacritic gave it an average score of 57, based on 15 reviews; Andy Gill of The Independent gave it three out of five stars; while AllMusic writer John Bush shared a similar sentiment and panned Gray's songwriting.

However, The Boston Globes James Reed commended its production, and Jeremy Allen of NME gave the album a 7/10 rating.

2011–2015: Covered, Talking Book, and The Way

In 2011, Gray signed a deal with 429 Records and started recording a series of covers for her next studio album Covered. The album was officially released on March 26, 2012. The album's first single was "Here Comes the Rain Again" (originally performed by Eurythmics). On February 16, 2012, Gray participated in the Sanremo Festival as a guest, performing alongside Gigi D'Alessio and Loredana Bertè.

For the 40th anniversary of the 1972 Stevie Wonder album Talking Book, Gray covered the entire record and released her Talking Book as a tribute.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey's Where Are They Now, Gray opened up about her problems with drug abuse, stating that she was ill-prepared for the level of fame she received. The interview coincided with the release of her album The Way, released in October 2014 on Kobalt Records. A world tour was announced shortly after its release.

2016–present: Stripped
In 2016, Gray's career continued with an album produced by Chesky Records, the record label founded by Grammy-nominated composer and musician David Chesky. Stripped was released September 9, 2016 and garnered unanimous praise from critics. The album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Jazz Chart. Earlier that year, she was featured on Ariana Grande's song "Leave Me Lonely" from her third studio album Dangerous Woman.

Other work
Gray appeared in the eighth season of Bravo's Celebrity Poker Showdown, playing for Habitat for Humanity. She finished in third place.

In 2001, she was the voice for Seeiah Owens in the video game SSX Tricky.

Gray sang the theme song for the Nickelodeon animated series As Told by Ginger, composed by Jared Faber and Emily Kapnek.

Gray also performed the song on the short-lived UPN romantic comedy Second Time Around starring Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari Parker in 2004.

In August 2008, Gray headlined at the 2008 Summer Sundae music festival in Leicester, England, performing cover versions of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?," Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart" and Radiohead's "Creep." For the gig, her band wore pink Andy Warhol wigs.

On September 28, 2008, Gray sang the American national anthem as part of the Israeli flag-raising ceremony at the Israeli consulate of Los Angeles.

In 2008, Gray collaborated with Australian DJ and singer Kaz James on the song "Can't Hold Back." The single was released in early 2009 in Australia and is credited to Kaz James featuring Macy Gray.

In 2009, Gray briefly competed in season 9 of Dancing with the Stars with professional partner Jonathan Roberts. They were eliminated in a double elimination in week one.

In 2012, she performed the Michael Jackson song "Rock with You" for a special performance of the West End musical Thriller – Live for BBC Children in Need Pop Goes the Musical.

In 2015, Gray was featured on the song "Into the Deep" by Galactic.

In 2016, Gray was featured on the song "Leave Me Lonely" by Ariana Grande.

In 2018, Gray was featured alongside Dolly Parton on a re-recording of "Two Doors Down" for the Dumplin' soundtrack.

In 2020, Gray was featured on the single "Out Of Love" by Canadian band Busty and the Bass. The band also released a notable cover of Gray's "I Try" in 2016.

In 2021, Gray competed in season three of the Australian version of The Masked Singer as "Atlantis".

On February 20, 2022, Gray performed The Star-Spangled Banner at the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.

Personal life
Gray was married to Tracy Hinds, a mortgage broker, for about two years, but they divorced prior to her rise to prominence. They have three children: Aanisah, Mel, and Happy.

She opened the Macy Gray Music Academy in 2005.

Discography

Studio albums
On How Life Is (1999)
The Id (2001)
The Trouble with Being Myself (2003)
Big (2007)
The Sellout (2010)
Covered (2012)
Talking Book (2012) 
The Way (2014)
Stripped (2016)
Ruby (2018)

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards and nominations
Gray won five of seventeen nominations, including Grammy Awards, MTV Video Music Awards and Brit Awards.

References

External links

 
 

1967 births
Living people
African-American record producers
Record producers from Ohio
African-American women singer-songwriters
American video game actresses
Ballad musicians
Brit Award winners
Geffen Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Actresses from Ohio
Singer-songwriters from Ohio
Participants in American reality television series
People with bipolar disorder
Musicians from Canton, Ohio
USC School of Cinematic Arts alumni
Atlantic Records artists
Epic Records artists
Concord Records artists
African-American actresses
American television actresses
American film actresses
American voice actresses
Actors from Canton, Ohio
American contemporary R&B singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American women singers
American women record producers
Western Reserve Academy alumni
Mack Avenue Records artists
American neo soul singers
20th-century American singers
21st-century American singers
20th-century African-American women
20th-century African-American women singers
21st-century African-American women singers
VH1: Storytellers is a live album by Meat Loaf.  Meat Loaf told humorous stories of his career as a singer and how he unfolded into rock stardom. The DVD version has two additional songs. Some songs on the CD are taken from Meat Loaf's Hard Rock Live performance (also for VH1). Others were taken from the pre-show soundcheck. The album peaked at No. 129 on the Billboard 200, making it his lowest charting album in the United States.

The show was to have been Meat and Jim Steinman together. However, due to Jim falling ill, Meat had to do the show alone. This worried the producers, as Storytellers is about the concept of each song that an artist wrote that they were about to perform, and Meat did not write his own songs. To counter this, according to the liner notes of the CD, Meat improvised several things, such as the actions on the Radio Broadcast portion of Paradise by the Dashboard Light. For the stories, he instead goes into detail about how the hit album Bat Out of Hell was conceived, with each song preceded by him discussing how the song fit into the making of the album and the difficulties that came into making, producing, and publishing the album. Meat also pitched a solution to how to get around the length of the songs: break up songs into two television segments, with stopping the song for a commercial, then finishing the song once they returned.

Track listing
"All Revved Up with No Place to Go"
"Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back" – Hard Rock Live version
"Story" (Audience Member talks to Meat)
"You Took the Words Right Out of My Mouth (Hot Summer Night)"
"Story" (Meat answers "What is 'That'?" when talking about I'd Do Anything for Love)
"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" – Hard Rock Live version
"Lawyers, Guns and Money" – Hard Rock Live version
"Story" (How Meat met Jim Steinman)
"More Than You Deserve"
"Story" (Meat discussing pitching an album, which would become Bat Out of Hell)
"Heaven Can Wait" – Soundcheck before the show
"Story" (Meat discusses the difficulties of demoing Bat, getting a record deal, and how long Steinman's songs were before being published)
"Paradise by the Dashboard Light"
"Story" (How Meat hates going on television, and what song "broke" Bat)
"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" – Hard Rock Live version
"Story" (What the title song of Bat was written for)
"Bat Out of Hell" – Soundcheck before the show
"Is Nothing Sacred" – Bonus Track feat. Patti Russo

DVD exclusive tracks
"Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" – Alternate version
"I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That)" – Alternate version
"Heaven Can Wait" – Alternate version
"Bat Out of Hell" – Alternate version
"A Kiss Is a Terrible Thing to Waste"
"Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through"

Personnel
 Meat Loaf – lead vocals, guitar
 Patti Russo – female lead vocals
 Damon La Scot – lead guitar
 Ray Anderson – rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals
 Kasim Sulton – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, musical director
 Tom Brislin – piano, vocals
 John Miceli – drums
 Pearl Aday – backing vocals

Charts

Certifications

References

Meat Loaf albums
1999 live albums
1999 video albums
Live video albums
VH1 Storytellers "How Do I Make You" is a song composed by Billy Steinberg and recorded by Linda Ronstadt in 1980, reaching the top 10 in the United States.

Writing and recording
Steinberg stated that he was "a little bit influenced" by the Knack hit "My Sharona" in writing "How Do I Make You". He originally recorded the song with his band Billy Thermal as one of several demos produced while the band was signed to Planet Records. The label ultimately did not release these songs. However, several Billy Thermal demos, including "How Do I Make You", were eventually included on a Billy Thermal EP released by Kinetic Records, a Los Angeles-based independent label.

According to Steinberg, the song's later rise to fame was born from a relationship between Billy Thermal's guitarist, Craig Hull, and Wendy Waldman, a backing vocalist for Linda Ronstadt's live shows: "without asking my permission or anything, Wendy and Craig played the Billy Thermal demos for Linda Ronstadt, and Linda liked the song 'How Do I Make You.'"

Release
"How Do I Make You", which featured Nicolette Larson on backing vocals, was released as an advance single from the album Mad Love. It exemplified Ronstadt's change to a harder-edged style, propelling her stardom briefly in the direction of new wave. Shipped on January 15, 1980, "How Do I Make You" hit number 6 on the Cash Box Top 100 chart. On the Billboard Hot 100, it reached a peak of number 10.

A non-album track, Ronstadt's version of the traditional "Rambler Gambler", was the B-side of "How Do I Make You" and was serviced to C&W radio, charting on the Billboard C&W chart at number 42.

"How Do I Make You" appeared in the U.S. Top 10 for several weeks during March and April 1980. The track hit number 1 on many AOR (Album Oriented Rock) stations' charts. The single was also successful in Australia (number 19) and New Zealand (number 3).

A live version, recorded for an HBO special in April 1980, is included in the 2019 release "Live In Hollywood".

Critical reception
AllMusic critic Mike DeGagne assessed "How Do I Make You" as "a far cry from the ballads, the love songs, and the ample amount of cover versions that [Ronstadt] had charted with in the past" saying "[the track's] quick tempo and pulsating pace had Ronstadt showing some new wave spunk mixed with a desire to rock out a little." However, Rolling Stone critic Stephen Holden, felt that on "How Do I Make You" Ronstadt "frankly imitates Deborah Harry," the lead vocalist of defining new wave act Blondie. He further described the song as "Buddy Holly-like" and that it roughly brackets "How Do I Make You" with earlier Ronstadt hits "That'll Be the Day" (1976) and "It's So Easy" (1977), both remakes of Buddy Holly records.

Cover version
The 1980 album Chipmunk Punk by Alvin and the Chipmunks featured a cover of How Do I Make You, with Simon Seville singing the lead.

In 2019, Australian hard rock band Baby Animals released a version as the lead single from their first greatest hits album.

Charts

References

Linda Ronstadt songs
Baby Animals songs
Songs written by Billy Steinberg
1980 singles
2019 singles
Song recordings produced by Peter Asher
1979 songs
Asylum Records singles
Alvin and the Chipmunks songs