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now join Kevin Hart as

1:01

he dives into the minds of

1:03

some of your favorite celebrities. This

1:05

is Gold Minds with Kevin

1:07

Hart. Oh my, I

1:10

want to start off by just saying

1:12

welcome world. Welcome. Why am I

1:14

welcoming you? I'm welcoming you because I'm excited.

1:17

I'm excited because it's an all-new episode of Gold

1:19

Minds and you know what we do here? We

1:21

get inside the minds of amazing people and

1:23

that makes me excited. It makes

1:26

me excited when I get to talk to people,

1:28

when I get to learn more about

1:30

people, people that simply just fascinate me,

1:32

have amazing stories that I think will

1:34

also fascinate you. That's what Gold Minds

1:36

is about. It's about getting

1:39

gold, getting gold from

1:41

the minds of people

1:43

that I feel have mined

1:45

at the highest level. See that? See what I did there? That

1:48

was a play on words right there. That's

1:50

what that was. Ladies and gentlemen,

1:52

I am very, very excited about today's

1:55

guests. I want to welcome Melissa

1:57

Etheridge to Gold Minds. Hello, Melissa.

2:00

Hello, Kevin. You know

2:02

what, Melissa, I can't just welcome you

2:04

and I can't do it without going

2:06

down your amazing accolades because there are

2:08

so many. So let's give you the

2:10

proper intro, please. First

2:13

and foremost, guys, legendary singer, songwriter, you

2:15

do not throw the word legendary out

2:17

there. You only give it to those

2:19

that deserve it. Melissa definitely does. And

2:21

you may say, Kevin, if you're not sure

2:23

why, well, I'm going to tell you why. She

2:25

is a two-time Grammy Award winner and an

2:27

Academy Award winner. And she's sold over.

2:29

If I had a drumroll, this is when

2:31

I would use it. Gotta get a

2:34

drumroll. Over 25

2:36

million records worldwide. That

2:40

is not a number to

2:42

be shy about. Melissa,

2:44

congrats on all of the amazing

2:47

success that you've had. I

2:49

mean, you know, I don't know where to

2:51

start, but here's what I do love, right?

2:53

I love that you don't know me and

2:55

I don't know you. And

2:58

in a conversation where there's no prep,

3:00

that means that we really get to

3:02

leave with a good understanding of one

3:04

another. And that's what excites me the

3:06

most about doing this podcast. In

3:09

this case, the little

3:11

that I do know, of course, is about your success.

3:14

I know you accolades. I'm

3:16

aware of your documentary, and we'll get into

3:19

that, that you have coming out

3:21

and the reason behind it. I'm aware of some

3:23

things in your story. But

3:26

I want to start off at the beginning, right? I want to

3:28

start off from you,

3:30

Kansas City. This is where you were

3:32

from. You were born and raised. I

3:35

want to know, like, why singing? Why

3:38

songwriting? Like, how

3:40

did you grow to

3:42

love the business of? And

3:45

you know, were you introduced? Was it a

3:47

discovery? Talk to me about the

3:49

beginning stages and you know, you making a decision

3:51

to devote your life and time to this. Yeah,

3:54

it's funny because my wife and I were

3:56

talking just before this. She's back home in

3:59

LA. And I told

4:02

her, I said, you know, it's

4:04

funny. I've met a lot of people in my life and

4:06

I've never met Kevin Hart. And

4:09

my family is a huge fan

4:11

of you. I've got teenage

4:13

kids and we're just, so it's

4:15

really a pleasure to get

4:17

to know you like this. I love that you said that, but I don't.

4:19

I don't know, I know you

4:21

and your career and what you've always known. So this

4:24

is great. So let me

4:26

introduce myself. I was born in

4:29

Leavenworth, Kansas in 1961. So

4:33

I was born in the middle of

4:35

that gorgeous musical soup

4:37

of the sixties and the

4:39

seventies. That was my childhood was this

4:42

incredible music that was coming

4:44

through on shows like the Ed Sullivan show

4:47

and the nighttime shows

4:49

and these things that would come. And

4:52

the thing that I loved in Kansas city, there

4:54

was one radio station, the WHB

4:57

on an AM radio station and

4:59

it played everything. It played

5:01

country music, it played pop music, it

5:03

played soul music and R&B and Motown.

5:05

I could hear a Tammy

5:07

Wynette song and I could hear a Marvin Gaye song and

5:10

I could hear a Led Zeppelin song, you know. And

5:12

to me, all of that music was one

5:14

type of music. I

5:16

never divided it up. And when

5:20

I was very young, I

5:23

remember wanting to play the guitar

5:25

because I saw it, you know, I saw

5:28

it and heard it and I just loved

5:30

it. And I played the badminton rackets until

5:32

my father brought home a guitar. And

5:34

I started taking lessons, I started writing

5:37

songs. I entered- What age?

5:40

Like when you, how young? Wow.

5:43

Yeah, it was eight when I started taking lessons and then

5:45

started writing songs and I was about 10. And

5:48

then when I was 11 and 12, I

5:50

was in this talent

5:52

show that became a variety show. It was a weird

5:54

thing they did in the early 70s and

5:57

it was like, you know, acrobats and dancers and

5:59

singers. things and we go around and we play

6:01

in the old folks homes and the prisons and

6:03

stuff. And from there, I found

6:06

a band that were older

6:08

than me. I was about 13, 14, and they were

6:10

playing in bars. And

6:12

for some reason, I got

6:14

to go with my father and play in these

6:16

bands at 13 and 14 when I

6:19

was very young. And I started playing

6:21

cover tunes, country, and the

6:24

70s music, you know, that was everything

6:26

from Bob Seger

6:28

to, you know, Aretha Franklin

6:31

to, you know,

6:33

Conway 20. We played all kinds of stuff.

6:37

And I grew up in that. And then I

6:40

got better and better. Went to Berkeley College

6:42

of Music for a minute for a couple weeks.

6:44

And then, but just started playing in bars. Moved

6:48

out to California in 1982 because I

6:50

felt like, because no one's going to

6:52

come find me in Kansas. So I

6:54

moved out there. 21

6:56

years old? Yes, when I was

6:58

21 years old. So

7:00

21, I moved out there. I

7:03

find out real quickly that you don't get work

7:05

in LA because there's another 3 million people

7:08

trying to become famous. You do the same

7:10

thing, so there's no money to be made.

7:13

So I also was

7:15

discovering that I was a lesbian. And

7:17

so I found myself in the

7:19

gay culture in the early 80s

7:21

and started playing in women's bars.

7:25

And eventually it took me 5 years

7:27

of playing in these bars that

7:29

I finally got a manager like in

7:31

the regular straight music

7:33

world. And he started

7:35

bringing record companies down. And finally Chris

7:37

Blackwell, when I was 25 years

7:40

old, 26 years

7:42

old, Chris Blackwell of Island Records, he

7:44

signed Bob Marley, dude, he's a huge

7:46

guy. He

7:49

sees me. And after all

7:51

these other record companies had seen me, and

7:55

they're seeing me in a women's bar,

7:57

so I'm imagining that's probably a

7:59

factor. of maybe why they decided not

8:01

to sign me. I don't know. But

8:04

he just walks in, hears four songs, and as

8:06

he would tell it, he goes, I don't know

8:08

why anybody else hadn't signed you, so I just,

8:10

I signed you. And my first record

8:12

came out in 1988. You

8:14

know, Melissa, what I love about

8:17

what you just said is, you

8:19

know, success is no accident, right?

8:22

I'm a firm believer that things

8:25

happen the way they're supposed to happen.

8:27

And what's most intriguing about what you

8:29

just broke down is the early introduction

8:31

in music, but the

8:33

follow through, right? You're talking about the age

8:35

eight and then 10, eight

8:38

being lessons, 10 you

8:40

productively pursuing this

8:43

thing with the passion and to the point where

8:45

you even took your pen and started to put

8:47

your pen to the page. As

8:49

you talk about the years of, you know, the

8:54

years that just continue to go by

8:57

and you fast forward to Los

8:59

Angeles, which the craziest thing

9:01

is like, it's all about the

9:04

journey for me. I

9:06

love hearing about the journey. I

9:08

love hearing about hardship struggles, the

9:10

things that you had to overcome

9:12

and ultimately that lands you in

9:14

a place of success.

9:16

For you, when you're

9:18

talking about coming to Los Angeles, I don't want

9:20

you to skip past what some of those hardship

9:22

moments were, right? Because it's like, you know, I

9:25

think that's very important for people that are Melissa

9:27

Etheridge fans that are listening, like, you know, that

9:30

jump there. And when you go and

9:32

say, well, look, I quickly

9:34

learned that everybody was trying to

9:36

become famous. Everybody wanted to sing.

9:38

And what did that mean? Like,

9:40

were there moments where you felt

9:42

like your passion for this thing

9:45

were halted or was the real

9:47

life and, you know, the obstacles

9:49

of getting a real job, paying

9:51

rent, like, talk to me a

9:53

little bit about that and that

9:55

realization. What did it do for

9:57

you? Wow. As

10:00

I look back, it

10:04

becomes very clear to me that it's

10:06

always been about the journey. Of

10:09

all the things that you listed, the Grammys and

10:11

the Con, there's

10:13

not an end to any of this.

10:16

It's always been about the journey. And that's what

10:18

the dream was when I was very

10:20

young. That was the dream. Oh, I

10:22

want to have that journey. I

10:25

want to be a rock

10:27

star, this thing, this pop star,

10:29

this thing that I spend so

10:31

much time admiring. I

10:33

want to be that. And

10:36

as I went along, sure, there

10:38

were obstacles. My

10:40

mother didn't want me to play in those bars at 12 and 13.

10:44

My mother was very intelligent

10:47

lady. She was the hidden figures

10:49

type woman that was super

10:51

smart and doing all

10:54

the computers and programming them. And

10:56

then the men were taking all the

10:59

credit and the money. She

11:01

was very bitter. Such a great example,

11:03

by the way, the hidden metaphor. Very

11:09

much that. And

11:13

she worried about me and we were

11:15

very distant. She was just

11:17

that sort of thing. So growing

11:19

up with this want, any

11:22

of us who have desired

11:25

to be on

11:27

a stage and make people laugh

11:29

and sing and bring them that,

11:31

it comes from a need

11:34

for something to be filled here. And

11:37

now that I'm in my 60s, I realize that

11:39

it's up to me to fill that there, that

11:42

a billion other people can't do it. That

11:46

drive of wanting to create

11:48

music. I used to, when I was 12 and

11:51

13, I'd sing songs for

11:53

my friends and they'd all

11:55

cry. And I'd love it. I'd love

11:57

it. I was like, oh, it's feeling.

12:00

And so that was driving me along with this

12:02

dream of, oh, I'll be, I'll become rich

12:04

and famous and I won't have any problems at

12:06

all. You know, which is not true. But

12:09

and so as I went,

12:13

I wouldn't

12:16

ever, I didn't

12:18

ever feel like they were failures. I

12:21

felt like they were just choices

12:26

that I made. I love this. Thank

12:31

you for listening to this episode of Gold Mines

12:33

with Kevin Hart. You can catch the rest

12:35

of this episode exclusively on the Sirius XM

12:38

app. We'll see you next week

12:40

for a full episode of Gold Mines with Kevin

12:42

Hart. YL

13:00

produced by Danny Sellers and Leslie

13:02

Guam and engineered by Danny Sellers.

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