Alanis Morissette

Early life and education

Morissette was born on June 1, 1974, at Riverside Hospital in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Georgia Mary Ann (née Feuerstein) and Alan Richard Morissette. Her elder brother, Chad (born 1971), is an entrepreneur, and her twin brother, Wade (12 minutes elder), is a musician. Alan is of French and Irish descent, while Georgia, who fled Hungary during the anti-Soviet uprising in 1956, has Jewish ancestry. Morissette ethnically identifies as "a quarter Jewish". On a 2024 episode of the American documentary television series Finding Your Roots, she stated that Alan and Georgia had never told their children about the family's Jewish ancestry; she did not discover it until her late 20s.

In 1977, the family moved to Lahr, a West German city, and Alan and Georgia started working as teachers at the local base of Canadian Air Command. They moved back to Ottawa in 1980, and Morissette started taking dance lessons the next year. She had a Catholic upbringing. Morissette attended Holy Family Catholic School for elementary school and Immaculata High School for grades seven and eight; she appeared on five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television (1986) while attending the former. She then attended and graduated from Glebe Collegiate Institute.

Career

1986–1993: Alanis and Now Is The Time

Morissette is known for her emotive mezzo-soprano voice and confessional songwriting. She recorded her first demo called "Fate Stay with Me", produced by Lindsay Thomas Morgan at Marigold Studios in Toronto, and engineered by Rich Dodson of Canadian classic rock band The Stampeders. A second demo tape was recorded on cassette in August 1989 and sent to Geffen Records, but the tape has never been heard as it was stolen, among other records, in a burglary of the label's headquarters in October 1989.

In 1991, MCA Records Canada released Morissette's debut album, Alanis, in Canada only. She co-wrote every track on the album with its producer, Leslie Howe. The dance-pop album went platinum, and its first single, "Too Hot", reached the top 20 on the RPM singles chart. Subsequent singles "Walk Away" and "Feel Your Love" reached the top 40. Morissette's popularity, style of music and appearance, particularly that of her hair, led her to become known as the Debbie Gibson of Canada; comparisons to Tiffany were also common. During the same period, she was a concert opening act for rapper Vanilla Ice. She was nominated for three 1992 Juno Awards: Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year (which she won), Single of the Year and Best Dance Recording (both for "Too Hot").

In 1992, Morisette released her second album, Now Is the Time, a ballad-driven record that featured less glitzy production than Alanis and contained more thoughtful lyrics. She wrote the songs with its producer, Leslie Howe, and Serge Côté. She said of the album, "People could go, 'Boo, hiss, hiss, this girl's like another Tiffany or whatever.' But the way I look at it... people will like your next album if it's a kick-ass one." As with Alanis, Now Is the Time was released only in Canada and produced three top 40 singles—"An Emotion Away", the minor adult contemporary hit "No Apologies" as well as "(Change Is) Never a Waste of Time". The industry considered it a commercial failure since it sold only a little more than half the copies of her first album. By Morissette's account, she was dropped by MCA Canada thereafter as her musical identity was shifting in a direction that they weren't interested in developing.

1994–1999: Jagged Little Pill and Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie

In 1993, Morissette's publisher Leeds Levy at MCA Music Publishing introduced her to the manager Scott Welch. Welch told HitQuarters he was impressed by her "spectacular" voice, her character and her lyrics. At the time she was still living with her parents. Together they decided it would be best for her career to move to Toronto and start writing with other people. After graduating from high school, Morissette moved from Ottawa to Toronto. Her publisher funded part of her development and she spent her time there composing and rehearsing with a number of other musicians, looking to find a songwriting partner for her next album. Although a number of songs came out of these sessions, none would make an album cut and no lasting partnerships were formed.

After Morissette moved to Los Angeles, she met the producer and songwriter Glen Ballard, who believed in her talent enough to let her use his studio. They wrote songs together, with him supporting her sound rather than trying to shape or mold it to his own tastes. In her newfound freeness of creative spirit, they wrote and recorded Morissette's first internationally released album, Jagged Little Pill, and in 1995 she signed a deal with Maverick Records. According to Welch, every other label they approached declined to sign her.

Maverick Records released Jagged Little Pill internationally in June 1995. It was expected only to sell enough for Morissette to make a follow-up, but the situation improved quickly when KROQ-FM, an influential Los Angeles modern rock radio station, began playing "You Oughta Know", the first single, featuring Flea and Dave Navarro from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. It also instantly garnered attention for its scathing, explicit lyrics, and a subsequent music video went into heavy rotation on MTV and MuchMusic. In a 2008 interview, Dave Coulier said he was the ex-boyfriend who inspired "You Oughta Know"; in the 2021 documentary Jagged, Morissette denied it is about him. In a 2019 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, Morissette mentioned that multiple people have taken credit for being the inspiration behind her song "You Oughta Know". She stated, "I just think: If you're going to take credit for a song where I'm singing about someone being a douche or an asshole, you might not want to say, 'Hey! That's me!'" She described the song as being written out of "devastation", reflecting a range of emotions that women often feel but are told to suppress, such as anger and sadness.

2000–2007: Under Rug Swept and So-Called Chaos

In 2001, Morissette was featured with Stephanie McKay on the Tricky song "Excess", which is on his album Blowback. She released her fifth studio album, Under Rug Swept, in February 2002. For the first time in her career, she took on the role of sole writer and producer of an album. Her band, comprising Joel Shearer, Nick Lashley, Chris Chaney, and Gary Novak, played the majority of the instruments; additional contributions came from Eric Avery, Dean DeLeo, Flea, and Meshell Ndegeocello.

Under Rug Swept debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, eventually going platinum in Canada and selling one million copies in the U.S. It produced the hit single "Hands Clean", which topped the Canadian Singles Chart and received substantial radio play; for her work on "Hands Clean" and "So Unsexy", Morissette won a Juno Award for Producer of the Year. A second single, "Precious Illusions", was released, but it did not garner significant success outside Canada or U.S. hot AC radio.

Later in 2002, Morissette released the combination package Feast on Scraps, which includes a DVD of live concert and backstage documentary footage directed by her and a CD containing eight previously unreleased songs from the Under Rug Swept recording sessions. Preceded by the single "Simple Together", it sold roughly 70,000 copies in the U.S. and was nominated for a Juno Award for Music DVD of the Year.

Morissette hosted the Juno Awards of 2004 dressed in a bathrobe, which she took off to reveal a flesh-colored bodysuit, a response to the era of censorship in the U.S. caused by Janet Jackson's breast-flash incident during the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show. She released her sixth studio album, So-Called Chaos, in May 2004. She wrote the songs on her own again, and co-produced the album with Tim Thorney and pop music producer John Shanks. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart to generally mixed critical reviews, and it became Morissette's lowest seller in the U.S. and was her first album not to top the chart. The lead single, "Everything", achieved major success on Adult Top 40 radio in America and was moderately popular elsewhere, particularly in Canada, although it failed to reach the top 40 on the U.S. Hot 100. Because the first line of the song includes the word "asshole", American radio stations refused to play it, and the single version was changed to include the word "nightmare" instead. Unhappy that U.S. radio networks had required her to change a word in the song, Canadian radio played the unaltered version, with her stating at the 2004 Juno Awards in Canada: "Well, I am overjoyed to be back in my homeland, the true North, strong and censor-free." Two other singles, "Out Is Through" and "Eight Easy Steps", fared considerably worse, although a dance mix of "Eight Easy Steps" was a U.S. club hit. Morissette embarked on a U.S. summer tour with long-time friends and fellow Canadians Barenaked Ladies, working with the non-profit environmental organization Reverb.

2008–2019: Flavors of Entanglement and Havoc and Bright Lights

In early 2008, Morissette participated in a tour with Matchbox Twenty and Mutemath as a special guest. Her seventh studio album, Flavors of Entanglement, which was produced by Guy Sigsworth, was released in mid-2008. She has said that the album was created out of her grief after her breakup with Ryan Reynolds, saying "it was cathartic." She stated that in late 2008, she would embark on a North American headlining tour, but in the meantime she would be promoting the album internationally by performing at shows and festivals and making television and radio appearances. The album's first single was "Underneath", a video for which was submitted to the 2007 Elevate Film Festival, the purpose of which festival was to create documentaries, music videos, narratives and shorts regarding subjects to raise the level of human consciousness on the earth. On October 3, 2008, she released the video for her latest single, "Not as We". She said the album was created out of her grief after splitting up with Reynolds, and the song "Torch" was written about him. She has also recorded a cover of the 1984 Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias hit, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", re-written as "To All the Boys I've Loved Before". Nelson played rhythm guitar on the recording. In April 2010, she released the song "I Remain", which she wrote for the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time soundtrack. On May 26, 2010, the season finale of American Idol, she performed a duet of "You Oughta Know" with Runner Up Crystal Bowersox. She left Maverick Records after all promotion for Flavors was completed.

On November 20, 2011, she appeared at the American Music Awards. When asked about the new album during a short interview, she said she had recorded 31 songs, and that the album would "likely be out next year, probably [in] summertime". On December 21, 2011, she performed a duet of "Uninvited" with finalist Josh Krajcik during the performance finale of the X-Factor.

Morissette embarked on a European tour for summer 2012, according to Alanis.com. In early May 2012, a new song called "Magical Child" appeared on a Starbucks compilation called Every Mother Counts.

On May 2, 2012, Morissette revealed through her Facebook account that her eighth studio album, entitled Havoc and Bright Lights, would be released in August 2012, on new label Collective Sounds, distributed by Sony's RED Distribution. On the same day, Billboard specified the date as August 28 and revealed the album would contain twelve tracks. Its lead single, "Guardian", was released on iTunes on May 15, 2012, and hit the radio airwaves four days prior to this. The single had minor success in North America, charting the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles in the US and almost reaching the top 40 in Canada. It was a hit in several European countries.

2020–present: Such Pretty Forks in the Road and The Storm Before the Calm

In June 2019, Morissette went into the studio in Los Angeles. According to an interview, she had written all the songs, and "Smiling" would be included on the new album, likely to be released early 2020. On August 8, 2019, she revealed that the new album was produced by Alex Hope and Catherine Marks. On December 1, 2019, she announced her first studio album in eight years, Such Pretty Forks in the Road, set for release on May 1, 2020. The first single off the record, "Reasons I Drink", was released on December 2, 2019. Morissette was featured on Halsey's song "Alanis' Interlude", released on January 17, 2020. On February 5, 2020, she revealed that her upcoming album was mixed by Chris Dugan. The second single from the album, "Smiling", was released on February 20, 2020. On April 15, 2020, Morissette announced that the album's release would be postponed due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released on July 31, 2020.

She was originally scheduled to embark on a world tour for the 25th anniversary of Jagged Little Pill in June 2020 with Garbage and Liz Phair, both of whom already opened for Morissette in 1999 during Junkie Tour. The latter cancelled her shows in North America and was replaced by Cat Power. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tour was postponed to summer 2021. It then sprawled for the next two years, including some dates in the Philippines for the first time after 27 years. Beth Orton joined the UK and Europe leg of the summer tour 2022. Aimee Mann and Feist were confirmed as special guests in summer 2023 in the North American dates. On May 18, 2022, Morissette premiered the new track "Safety—Empath in Paradise". The new album of meditation music titled The Storm Before the Calm was released on June 17, 2022. The record was co-written with and produced by Dave Harrington, known for his work in the electronic music duo Darkside. On April 14, 2023, Morissette released a new song "No Return", which is a cover version of the theme song for Yellowjackets TV series.

In an interview to Variety magazine, Morissette revealed that she would start working on recording a new album in 2024. In November 2023, she also announced The Triple Moon Tour with 33 live dates in the United States for the summer 2024 with the Joan Jett and the Blackhearts as support act, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie album. On January 30, 2024, she was awarded with the Luminary of the Year prize for the outstanding contribution to the music, at the 1st annual Resonator Awards, organized by We Are Moving the Needle, a non-profit organization that aims to empower women producers and engineers.

Legacy

Morissette and her music has inspired numerous artists including Brandi Carlile, Florence Welch, Adele, Melanie C, Natalie Imbruglia, Nelly Furtado, KT Tunstall, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Olivia Rodrigo, Raven-Symoné, Teddy Sinclair, Lea Michele, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne and Bebe Rexha.

Other ventures

Acting

In 1986, Morissette had her first stint as an actress in five episodes of the children's television sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television. She appeared on stage with the Orpheus Musical Theatre Society in 1985 and 1988. In 1999, she delved into acting again, for the first time since 1993, appearing as God in the Kevin Smith comedy Dogma and contributing the song "Still" to its soundtrack. She reprised her role as God for a post-credits scene in Smith's next film, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, to literally close the book on the View Askewniverse. She also appeared in the HBO comedies Sex and the City and Curb Your Enthusiasm, appeared in the play The Vagina Monologues, and had brief cameos playing herself in the Brazilian hit soap operas Celebridade and Malhação.

In late 2003, Morissette appeared in the Off-Broadway play The Exonerated as Sunny Jacobs, a death row inmate freed after proof surfaced that she was innocent. In April 2006, MTV News reported that she would reprise her role in The Exonerated in London from May 23 until May 28. She expanded her acting credentials with the July 2004 release of the Cole Porter biographical film De-Lovely, in which she performed the song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" and had a brief role as an anonymous stage performer. In February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation with Dogma co-star Jason Mewes and director Kevin Smith. Also in 2005, she, then engaged to Ryan Reynolds, made a cameo appearance as "herself" as a former client of Reynolds' character in the film Just Friends. This scene was deleted from the theatrical release, and is only available on the DVD.

In 2006, Morrissette guest-starred in an episode of Lifetime's Lovespring International as a homeless woman named Lucinda, three episodes of FX's Nip/Tuck, playing a lesbian named Poppy, and the mockumentary-documentary Pittsburgh as herself. Morissette appeared in eight episodes of Weeds, playing Dr. Audra Kitson, a "no-nonsense obstetrician" who treats pregnant main character Nancy Botwin. Her first episode aired in July 2009. In early 2010, she returned to the stage, performing a one-night engagement in An Oak Tree, an experimental play in Los Angeles. The performance was a sell-out. In April 2010, Morissette was confirmed to be in the cast of season six of Weeds again portraying Dr. Audra Kitson.

Morissette also starred in a film adaptation of Philip K. Dick's novel Radio Free Albemuth. She plays Sylvia, an ordinary woman in unexpected remission from lymphoma. She stated that she is "...a big fan of Philip K. Dick's poetic and expansively imaginative books" and that she "feel[s] blessed to portray Sylvia, and to be part of this story being told in film". She appeared as Amanda, a former bandmate of main character Ava Alexander (played by Maya Rudolph), in one episode of NBC's Up All Night on February 16, 2012. Rudolph officiated as minister for her wedding with both performing the explicit version of their hit hip hop song "Back It Up (Beep Beep)". In 2014, she played the role of Marisa Damia, the lover of architect and designer Eileen Gray, in the film The Price of Desire, directed by Mary McGuckian. In 2021, she was featured as a recurring character on adult-animation show The Great North.

Advocacy and philanthropy

Morissette is an advocate and educator in the areas of spiritual, psychological, and physical wholeness, with a focus on addiction recovery, trauma healing, women's empowerment, and holistic education for children. Her work spans a range of activities, including performances, written works, interviews, and public speaking engagements, as well as leading workshops and teachings. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with influential figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, Neale Donald Walsch, Richard Schwartz, Gabor Maté, Peter Levine, Dan Siegel, and Marianne Williamson. She has also facilitated workshops at notable institutions such as UCLA, the Omega Institute, Esalen, and 1440 Multiversity, both in-person and online.

In 2008 Morissette contributed a recording of "Versions of Violence" for the album Songs for Tibet: The Art of Peace to promote peace. She contributed to 1 Giant Leap, performing "Arrival" with Zap Mama and she has released an acoustic version of her song "Still" as part of a compilation from Music for Relief in support of the 2010 Haiti earthquake crisis.

Jagged Little Pill adaptations

In May 2018, the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) premiered Jagged Little Pill, a musical with music by Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, book by Diablo Cody, and directed by Diane Paulus. When it was staged on Broadway, it won two Tony awards. Jagged, a documentary film about Morissette and Jagged Little Pill by filmmaker Alison Klayman, premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival before airing on HBO as part of the Music Box series of documentary films about music history.

Journalism and podcasts

In October 2015, Conversation with Alanis Morissette features conversations with different individuals from different schools and walks of life discussing everything from psychology to art to spirituality to design to health and well-being, to relationships (whether they be romantic or colleagueship or parent with children relationships). The monthly podcast is currently available to download on iTunes and free to listen to on YouTube. In January 2016, she began a short-lived advice column in The Guardian newspaper.

Personal life

Morissette was raised in a devout Catholic family in Canada. She became a US citizen in 2005, while retaining her Canadian citizenship. She has been a practising Buddhist for many years.

Throughout her teen years and 20s, Morissette had depression and various eating disorders. She recovered from them and started to eat a healthier diet. In 2009, she ran a marathon promoting awareness for the National Eating Disorders Association. In a 2024 interview, she told the New York Times that she works out with 15-to-20 pound kettle weights while on tour.

In the 2021 documentary Jagged, Morissette said men committed statutory rape offences against her when she was 15 years old.

Over seven years, Morissette's business manager, Jonathan Schwartz, stole over $5 million from her. He confessed to doing so in April 2017 and was sentenced to six years in prison.

On October 22, 2019, Morissette shared her nearly decade-long experience with postpartum depression on CBS This Morning.

In 1996, Morissette bought a home in Brentwood, Los Angeles. She also had an apartment in Ottawa and a home in Malibu, the latter of which was partially destroyed in the Woolsey Fire. In 2019, she and her family moved to Olympic Valley, California; she said in an interview with The New York Times that she was "finally done with living in Los Angeles".

Relationships

Morissette dated actor and comedian Dave Coulier for a short time in the early 1990s.

Morissette met actor Ryan Reynolds at Drew Barrymore's birthday party in 2002, and they began dating soon afterwards. They announced their engagement in June 2004. In February 2007, representatives for them announced they had decided to end their engagement.

On May 22, 2010, Morissette married rapper Mario "Souleye" Treadway in a private ceremony at their Los Angeles home. They have three children.

Discography

Alanis (1991)

Now Is the Time (1992)

Jagged Little Pill (1995)

Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie (1998)

Under Rug Swept (2002)

So-Called Chaos (2004)

Flavors of Entanglement (2008)

Havoc and Bright Lights (2012)

Such Pretty Forks in the Road (2020)

The Storm Before the Calm (2022)

Filmography

Tours

Headlining

Jagged Little Tour (1995)

Intellectual Intercourse Tour (1995–96)

Can't Not Tour (1996) featuring Radiohead

Dhanyavad Tour (1998)

Junkie Tour (1999) featuring Garbage and Liz Phair

One Tour (2000)

Under Rug Swept Tour (2001)

Toward Our Union Mended Tour (2002)

All I Really Want Tour (2003)

So-Called Chaos Tour (2004)

The Diamond Wink Tour (2005) featuring Jason Mraz

Jagged Little Pill Acoustic Tour (2005)

Flavors of Entanglement Tour (2008–09)

Guardian Angel Tour (2012)

Intimate and Acoustic (2014)

World Tour (2018)

World Tour: Celebrating 25 Years of Jagged Little Pill (2021–23) featuring Garbage, Cat Power, Beth Orton, Aimee Mann and Feist

The Triple Moon Tour (2024–25) featuring Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Morgan Wade, P!nk, Liz Phair and Brandi Carlile

World Tour (2026) featuring Skunk Anansie, Wet Leg and St. Vincent

Awards and nominations

Morissette was nominated for Best New Artist at the 38th Grammy Awards, and won Best New Artist at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards for her song, "Ironic"; additionally she was nominated for a Tony Award for the stage adaptation of Jagged Little Pill. She has been nominated four times for Songwriter of the Year at the Juno Awards, winning two in 1996 and 1997. In October 2002, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jagged Little Pill number 31 on its Women in Rock – The 50 Essential Albums list, and in 2003, the album was ranked number 327 on the magazine's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Jagged Little Pill was also featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. She was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2005. She was honored with the 2023 Carnegie Corporation of New York "Great Immigrants" Awards along with Angélique Kidjo, Ke Huy Quan, and Pedro Pascal.