Alanis is from Ottawa, Canada and lived in Germany for 3 years. She was born on June 1, 1974. Her father, Alan, is a military instructor, and her mother , Georgia, is a teacher. She has a twin brother who currently resides in Vancouver named Wade. Her older brother is a successful businessman in Ottawa. She released 2 albums prior to Jagged Little Pill which has sold over 30 million copies world wide, called "Alanis" and "Now is the Time". She worked with Leslie Howe, who currently is part of the "Artificial Joy Club". She is under Madonna's label, Maverick. She enjoys working with Maverick because they give her a lot of freedom. Madonna and Alanis have been reported to have exchanged love tips. During Alanis' world tour her opening acts included Our Lady Peace, Frente, Radiohead, and K's Choice. She started her music career when she heard a friend playing at a club. She was too young to go inside, so she had to listen from outside the building. Her first gig was when a man named Stephan Klovan asked her and her brother to perform at an Ottawa festival. Since then she played at shopping malls and had other gigs which payed $25 Canadian. She later starred in a TV show called "You Can't Do That on Television" and saved up the money she earned to produce her first single on a 7" called "Fate Stay With Me", with a B-side of "Find the Right Man". Alanis plays a white Taylor guitar. Nick Lashley gave her free lessons. Alanis currently lives near the Ghetty Museum in California in a small wooden house. Her walls are painted by her friends when she had a painting party one night and let everyone paint her walls!

Alanis Morissette, after stunning us with one of the most refreshing albums produced "Jagged Little Pill", is about to unleash another album in November called "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" (SFIJ for short). The first single from her latest album, is the stunning "Thank U" and if you follow the lyrics link below (including others from the Album), you'll see that Alanis has lost none of her touch! To those who think the generation that came of age in the 1980s lacks focus, here's one bit of advice... take a pill - a Jagged Little Pill.

Although she only recently passed her 20th birthday, Alanis Morissette's Maverick debut proves she possesses a wealth of insight and an off-kilter sense of humor that's at once untainted and mature. "People have always said I was an old soul," says Alanis.

"They said I was always a little more intense and introspective than everyone was used to seeing girls be, so they didn't know where to catagorize me. It all boils down to the fact that I want to walk through life instead of being dragged through it."

That's a pretty accurate description of the jarringly honest, frequently provocative songs on Jagged Little Pill, Alanis' Maverick debut. The native of Ottawa, Canada uses her own experiences - from a Catholic school upbringing, to her many travels through Europe as a youth, to her years as a teenager living alone in Toronto - as a springboard for some striking, universal statements. In the incisive "All I Really Want" (on which her self-aware observations are set against a swirling psychedelic canvas), Alanis pleads for fulfillment of needs both physical and psychic, while the stirring "Not The Doctor" offers a steely-eyed declaration of emotional independence.

Alanis and why she wrote Jagged little pill the album

"Most of those songs are, in a roundabout way, actually addressed to myself; there's a certain aspect of the songs that's very confessional, very unadulterated," she allows.

"I wrote some of the songs and woke up the next day not even remembering I'd done them - almost like a stream-of-consciousness. It was a very unfettered, spiritual experience."

Jagged Little Pill articulates a multitude of emotions, thanks in a large part to Alanis' clear, expressive voice. Alternately vulnerable and forceful, she effortlessly handles the swoop from a fluttery falsetto into a soulful, scat-tinged lower register (showcased on the lusty "You Oughta Know"). She honed her singing in what she calls "typical three-set-a-night bar bands," all the while penning the increasingly personal songs she began writing at the age of nine.

How Alanis Statrted her career

"I started writing songs when I was really little because there were things I could say through songs that I couldn't verbalize any other way," she says.

"Writing was something I had to do, like I didn't have any other choice."

Alanis started in on that task several years ago. She made her recorded debut before the age of ten. By the end of her teens, she'd released a pair of albums in Canada before deciding to relocate to Los Angeles, a move she says had a profound impact.

"I think if you can be in this city and stay true to who you are, which I think I have, you become much stronger," she says.

"There's a cynical side to me that has emerged since I've seen so much that's unappealing to me."

There's a healthy dose of cynicism coursing through songs like the anti-slacker anthem "Wake Up" and "Hand In My Pocket" (a litany of life's dualities that features a first-take recording of Alanis' first attempt at playing harmonica).

But while she never approaches Pollyanna territory, Alanis likewise eschews accentuating the negative, as evidenced by "Perfect," which Alanis describes as "an open letter I'd like to send to everyone who's felt low self-esteem and everyone who's instilled that feeling."

"A long time ago, I decided to take the positive things that my experiences have had to offer and not bother with the rest," she says. "I've always believed you can make whatever you choose out of what life throws at you."

Jagged Little Pill offers a hefty payback of its own. As the title implies, it might not go down perfectly smooth, but once it's in your system, there's no mistaking its immediate, uplifting effect.

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