"Michelle Jaquet DeSevren Branch was born in Phoenix Arizona on July 2, 1983. With a name that was taken from the Beatles song ""Michelle"" and strong encouragement from her parents, who gave her a guitar at the age of 14, it is little wonder that Michelle was destined to become a pop-rock star. By the time she was 17 she was already signing her first contract with Maverick Records. Her debut album The Spirit Room was released in August of 2001 and it hit the ground running, peaking at number 28 in the Billboard 200. The album was hailed as one of the most charming and innocent musical releases of the year, with the single ""Everywhere"" hitting number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and racing through the airwaves on radio stations around the country. Also on the charts was the song ""All You Wanted"" which hit number six in 2002 and ""Good-bye to You"" which peaked at number 21.Branch's second album was Hotel Paper, which was released on June 24, 2003 and revealed a much more mature artist than the idealistic and yearning teenager that appeared in Spirit Room. While the album was much more polished than the first, some critics felt that Branch had lost much of what had made her so appealing in the first album. However, despite what critics say, the album did much better in the charts than the first one. Peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 200 in 2004, the album also carried with it a number of hit singles. ""Are You Happy Now"" and ""Breath"" both did very well in charts, proving that the young artist had not lost her appeal yet. Currently Michelle Branch is teaming up with Nashville artist Jessica Harp to form The Wreckers, turning to country music for her next endeavor."