''Yes I Am'' is the fourth studio album by the American singer-songwriter

Melissa Etheridge Melissa Lou Etheridge (born May 29, 1961) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and guitarist. Her eponymous debut album was released in 1988 and became an underground success. It peaked at No. 22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and its lead ...

, released by

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

on September 21, 1993. The title is generally thought to refer to Etheridge's recent

coming out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...

as a lesbian, confirming long-standing rumors about her personal life. However, in 2018, Etheridge clarified that in fact the title for the track and album were not statements regarding her sexual identity. ''Yes I Am'' is the pivotal album that gave Etheridge national and international recognition. The rock ballad "

Come to My Window "Come to My Window" is a song by American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released as the second single from her fourth studio album, '' Yes I Am'' (1993). This was the first song to become a hit after Etheridge publicly announced that she w ...

" was the first single released from the album, which peaked at No. 25 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and its video featured the actress

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress and alternative rock singer. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark themes. Lewis became an "it girl" of American cinema in the early 1990s, ...

having a nervous breakdown. This single was quickly followed by "

I'm the Only One "I'm the Only One" is a song by American singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge from her fourth studio album, '' Yes I Am'' (1993). It was released as the first single in September 1993, reaching number 12 in Canada and number 26 in the Netherlands. ...

", which became a major hit in the US and reached No. 8 on the Hot 100, and "

If I Wanted To "If I Wanted To" is a song by American singer, Melissa Etheridge. It was released in 1994 as the final single from Etheridge's 1993 studio album, '' Yes I Am'', and entered the top 50 in Australia, Canada, Iceland, and the United States. Criti ...

", which reached No. 16. By 2010, the album had sold over 4,348,000 copies in the United States alone, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. In 2018, Etheridge went on tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ''Yes I Ams release and also re-released the album with eight bonus tracks.

Recording and production

The songs on ''Yes I Am'' were recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles, California. The album was produced by Etheridge and

Hugh Padgham Hugh Charles Padgham (born 15 February 1955) is an English record producer and audio engineer. He has won four Grammy Awards, for Producer of the Year and Album of the Year for 1985, Record of the Year for 1990, and Engineer of the Year for 1 ...

, who also engineered the album. Padgham had previously worked mainly with British artists and bands including

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

. He also produced Etheridge's next album, ''

Your Little Secret ''Your Little Secret'' is the fifth album by singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge, released in 1995. It was her most successful album on the ''Billboard'' 200, where it peaked at number six. The album also contained three singles, " Your Little ...

''. The main musicians backing Etheridge were Kevin McCormick (who had co-produced her previous albums), Mauricio Fritz Lewak,

Waddy Wachtel Robert "Waddy" Wachtel (born May 24, 1947) is an American musician, composer and record producer, most notable for his guitar work. Wachtel has worked as session musician for other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Kim Carnes, Randy N ...

and

Scott Thurston Scott Troy Thurston (born January 10, 1952) is an American guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, and session musician. He was a member of the Stooges, and of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, in which he sang harmony vocals and played guitar, bass, k ...

Pino Palladino Giuseppe Henry "Pino" Palladino (born 17 October 1957) is a Welsh musician, songwriter, and record producer. A prolific session bassist, he has played bass for acts such as The Who, the John Mayer Trio, Nine Inch Nails, Gary Numan, Jeff Beck ...

replaced McCormick on several tracks and David Sutton replaced him on one song. Ian McLagen and

James Fearnley James Fearnley (born 9 October 1954, Worsley) is an English musician. He played accordion in the Celtic punk band The Pogues. Life and career As a child he was a choir treble before his voice changed at the age of sixteen. He took piano less ...

also made appearances.

Track listing

All songs written by

. #"

" – 4:54 #"

" – 3:55 #"

" – 3:55 #"Silent Legacy" – 5:22 #"I Will Never Be the Same" – 4:41 #"All American Girl" – 4:05 #"Yes I Am" – 4:24 #"Resist" – 2:57 #"Ruins" – 4:53 #"Talking to My Angel" – 4:48

Personnel

The following people contributed to ''Yes I Am'': *Melissa Etheridge – vocals, electric guitar,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

, producer *

– electric guitar *

– keyboards *Kevin McCormick – bass guitar *Mauricio Fritz Lewak – drums, percussion *

– bass guitar *David Sutton – bass guitar on "All American Girl" *

–

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

on "Talking to My Angel" *

Ian McLagan Ian Patrick McLagan (; 12 May 1945 – 3 December 2014) was an English keyboardist, best known as a member of the rock bands Small Faces and Faces. He also collaborated with the Rolling Stones and led his own band from the late 1970s. He was in ...

–

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

on "I Will Never Be the Same" ;Technical *Hugh Padgham – producer, mixing engineer *Greg Goldman – assistant engineer *John Aguto – assistant engineer *Mike Baumgartner – assistant engineer *Bob Ludwig – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

Awards

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

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Best Female Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to female recording artists for works (songs or albums) conta ...

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Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

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Certifications

References

{{Authority control Melissa Etheridge albums 1993 albums Albums produced by Hugh Padgham Island Records albums