narrator
Melissa Ferrick was born on September 21, 1970 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. Ferrick grew up in West Newbury and Ipswich Massachusetts. She started playing the violin at five years old until around fourteen when she began playing trumpet in high school band. She fell in love with guitar as a young adult. She attended Berklee College of Music from 1988-1990 with a trumpet and songwriting scholarship before dropping out to pursue a career in music. She briefly moved to New York City in 1990, moving back to Boston the following year and subsequently getting invited on tour with Morrissey in 1991. In 1991 Ferrick was signed to Atlantic Records and released two records with the label Massive Blur in 1993 and Willing to Wait in 1996. Ferrick left Atlantic Records in 1996 and signed with the Colorado based indie label What Are Records?, where they released three records. She has released 18 records over the course of her 30 years in the music industry. She is currently signed to the label Kill Rock Stars.
Ferrick holds a Ed.M. from Harvard University and is a current professor at Northeastern University where she has taught since 2019. She taught at Berklee College of Music from 2011-2019. Ferrick is also an agent for Paladin Artists Agency, where she has worked since 2024.
abstract
In this interview Melissa Ferrick reflections on her childhood growing up in North Shore Massachusetts. She talks about different relationship dynamics, the changing of language around queerness, and the music industry in the 1990s and early 2000s. She talks performing at gay prides and taking other queer women artists on tour.