Sheryl Crow was riding on top of the world in the ’90s with hits like “All I Wanna Do” and “Everyday Is A Winding Road,” but she started to feel the winds change at a very marked point in her career. It was a transition that she didn’t expect, but the benefits in the end made every moment worth it.
The now-62-year-old singer remembers 2002 as the year when everything changed for her. She told Entertainment Tonight that she had been used to her A-List life where she “had parties for the Rolling Stones at my house. John Travolta would be there, Gwyneth. That was my life, and my life revolved around being in that world, and I loved it.” Yet, the music industry started to shift, and she felt “a lot of pressure that went along with being an artist.” Crow shared that “entering my forties and everybody on the radio being in their teens, this was during the Britney, Christina Aguilera, and there I am turning 40.”
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BEVERLY HILLS, CA – OCTOBER 10: Actor John Travolta singing on stage with Sheryl Crow at the ‘One World One Child’ concert held at a private home in Beverly Hills to beneifit the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition on October 10, 2002 in Beverly Hills, California.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.
That was a shock to Crow’s system because she realized that she wasn’t “relevant anymore.” Instead of focusing on how tastes had changed on the music scene, she embraced her personal life and adopted two sons, Wyatt in 2007, and Levi in 2010. Her parenting role hasn’t stopped her from making music because she released seven studio albums, including her most recent, Evolution, while taking inspiration from a younger generation.
Crow recently praised Taylor Swift in an Esquire essay for taking charge of her career in an innovative way when the cards were stacked against her. “You and you alone are responsible for your art,” she wrote. “The fact that [Taylor] came up with solutions for how to not allow her music to be a moneymaker for other people when she should be owning it.” It’s led the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee to consider re-recording some of her tracks — instead of “Taylor’s Version,” it would be “Sheryl’s Version.”
“There’s not a handbook for how to navigate, as a woman, a business that is predominantly run by men. Or for when you have a strong woman, how that challenges men and their feelings of importance,” Crow wrote while explaining how hard it is for women to rise in the music industry. Yet Crow succeeded in navigating the sexism and ageism she encountered along the way — and has utilized the wisdom of a younger generation to propel her career even further.
Before you go, click here for more documentaries about strong women in music.
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