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People  •  Music  •  Professor of the Practice

Melissa Ferrick

Melissa Ferrick is an artist, agent, and educator. As a booking agent at Paladin Artists in NYC she currently represents: Trixie Whitley, Gail Ann Dorsey, Elizabeth and the Catapult, Pete Droge, Sweet Petunia, Janis Ian, and Mt. Juliet. As a professor at Northeastern, Melissa teaches courses in music business, songwriting, and entrepreneurship. Prior to Northeastern, Melissa was an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music for seven years. She holds an Ed.M. from Harvard University.

Ferrick signed with Atlantic Records in 1992 at the age of 21 after touring with British rocker Morrissey in the US and the UK. As one of the few openly queer artists in the 1990s, she navigated and challenged the sexism, homophobia, and rigid gender expectations of the music industry. She released her debut and sophomore albums on Atlantic Records before moving on to the independent label W.A.R. Records in 1996. In 2000 Ferrick founded the independent record label Right On Records. In 2014, Melissa released the album, The Truth Is, which won her the Independent Music Award for Album of the Year. Ferrick currently records her material for the venerable Kill Rock Stars Records and continues to co-write in the country(ish), folk/rock, and Americana genres.

Over the last thirty years she has released eighteen albums, one documentary, one covers album, and performed more than six thousand shows. Her songs have been placed in major and independent films and on TV networks including HBO, Sears, ABC, and TBS. She is regarded in the industry and by her peers as one of the most prolific, hardworking, honest writers and performers active in the independent music industry today.

Some of the artists Melissa has toured with include: Morrissey, Joan Armatrading, Weezer, Tegan and Sara, Mark Cohen, Paul Westerberg, Ani DiFranco, John Hiatt, Bob Dylan, k.d.Lang, G-Love & Special Sauce, Suzanne Vega, Shawn Colvin an Anais Mitchell.

Recordings

  • Everything I Need – the Q Sessions
  • Where Does the Good Go
  • Black Dress
  • You’re No Rock and Roll Fun: Sleater Kinney 30th Anniversary
  • Skinnier, Faster Live at the B.P.C.
  • Valentine Heartache
  • Listen Hard
  • 70 People at 7000 feet
  • The Other Side
  • Live at Union Hall
  • Goodbye Youth
  • In the Eyes of Strangers
  • Enough About Me
  • Melissa Ferrick
  • Decade (documentary)
  • Still Right Here
  • The Truth Is
  • +1
  • Everything I Need
  • Freedom
  • Massive Blur
  • Willing to Wait

Departments

Music

Education

  • M.Ed, Arts in Education, Leadership, Psychology of Creativity, Harvard University
  • Certificate, Social Media Marketing, Northwestern University
  • Songwriting, Berklee College of Music

Awards

  • Honoree New England Folk Alliance
  • Independent Music Award (I.M.A.): Song of the Year nominee “Scenic View”
  • I.M.A. Alternative Country Album of the Year; Winner “The Truth Is”
  • International Independent Acoustic Music Award (I.I.A.M.A.): Song of the year; “You Let Me Be”
  • I.I.A.M.A: Song of the Year; “Singing with the Wind”
  • Right Out TV Music Video Award: Best Pop/Rock Song, “Still Right Here”
  • Out Magazine Album of the Year, Everything I Need
  • Boston Herald: #3 Song of the Year; “Stars Outnumber our Hearts,”
  • Nonhollywood.com: Top 50 Indie Women in Music
  • OUT Magazine Top 100: Most Influential Queer Artists and Activists
  • Billboard Heat-Seekers Album: #23, “Still Right Here”
  • Gay & Lesbian American Music Awards (GLAMA); Album of the Year, Everything I Need
  • Time Out NY; a top-ten album of the year, Willing to Wait
  • Billboard; top ten AAA radio album, “Willing to Wait”
  • Top Ten MTV Europe Single “Happy Song”
  • Billboard; Top Ten Critique Pick, Massive Blur
  • Boston Music Awards: Eight-Time Winner, Singer-Songwriter of the Year
  • The Village Voice; a top-ten album of the year, Massive Blur
  • Billboard; Top Twenty AAA Radio, “Love Song”

Research Focus

  • Psychology
  • Creativity
  • Stamina

Courses Taught

  • Music Industry
  • Advanced Songwriting
  • The Performing Songwriter
  • Booking Agent
  • Record Industry

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