The Beauty of Song, Part Seven: Joan Osborne

In an ideal world - say, Denmark - a female singer who doesn't use fireworks and choreographed dance ensembles to back her up wouldn't be considered a novelty act while one who does would be written off as one, rather than the other way around.  And sure enough, the novelty label is what country-rock singer Joan Osborne faced when she debuted in the mid-nineties.

Ms. Osborne took America by storm with her 1995 single "One of Us," a song imagining how God would think an act if He were a human being.  The song was controversial, of course, but it was a hit and it got her some well-deserved attention.  "One of Us," from her debut LP Relish, wasn't written by Joan Osborne, but she made the song her own.  An even better song on Relish, "Right Hand Man," became a public-radio turntable hit. "One of Us" was nominated for the Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance Grammys, but she didn't win any of them.

Her follow-up album, Righteous Love, was released in 2000, and it featured songs such as the title track, "Safety in Numbers" "Grand Illusion" and covers of Gary Wright's "Love Is Alive"and Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love."  Though it got good reviews, it only reach number ninety on the Billboard  Top Two Hundred - 81 chart positions lower than her debut.  The truth is that cynical music producers were putting out more teen-pop singers, who were crowding out more mature singers like Ms. Osborne.

Joan Osborne would continued to make records in the new century, such as 2002's How Sweet It Is, 2006's Pretty Little Stranger (which featured a cover of the Grateful Dead's Brokedown Palace" and 2007's soul-influenced Breakfast In Bed (which featured covers of Gladys Knight and the Pips' "I've Got to Use My Imagination" "Midnight Train to Georgia" and Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine").   However, they would not be commercially successful, and it is telling that Ms. Osborne has mostly recorded on a new label with each album.  She remains active as a singer, though, and she continues to tour. 

Without dancers.