Meredith Brooks

Rocker Meredith Brooks soared to the upper rungs of the Billboard Hot 100 with her 1997 feminist anthem "Bitch."

Oregon-born Brooks first surfaced as a member of Sapphire, an all-female rock quintet that toured throughout the Pacific Northwest. Brooks wrote and sang Sapphire's lone single, 1978's "Fell in Love Too Soon," and when the group splintered in 1982, she relocated to Los Angeles to launch a solo career, four years later cutting a self-titled LP issued in Mexico via RCA's Ariola imprint. Brooks then joined with ex-Go-Go's guitarist Charlotte Caffey and singer Gia Ciambotti to form the Graces, signing to A&M to release their sole full-length Perfect View, best remembered for the 1989 single "Lay Down Your Arms," which reached number 56 in Billboard. Brooks left the Graces in 1991, months before A&M terminated the band's contract.

Brooks and co-writer Shelly Peiken authored "Bitch" within a day, and Brooks immediately demoed the track with legendary L.A. punk producer Geza X; Capitol Records signed her on the spot, and "Bitch" was the first single released from the singer/guitarist's 1997 album Blurring the Edges. While "Bitch" climbed to number two on the pop chart, many listeners mistook the song for Alanis Morissette, confusion that continues decades later; Brooks never again cracked the Top 40, and Capitol dropped her after 1999's Deconstruction flopped.