It's usual for a musician, who started out in a band, to want to venture into a solo career. But the opposite of this is not that much of a usual thing.

This is what happened with Michelle Branch, the singer/songwriter who has won a lot of Grammy Awards in the course of her solo career.

Michelle Branch, named after The Beatles' ever famous song, Michelle, started writing songs at a very early age. In fact, she opted to be home-schooled so that she would have enough time for writing songs. Her family was not too keen about this decision of hers, but they eventually gave in to her decision. And it's a good thing that they did because just look at how successful Michelle Branch has become!

Michelle Branch struck a deal with the record company, Maverick, in 2000. Interestingly, Maverick is also the record company of the Queen of Pop, Madonna.

Her first major album, The Spirit Room, was released in 2001. And, almost immediately, the album propelled Michelle Branch into stardom! And why wouldn't it, right? With tracks like Everywhere, All You Wanted, Goodbye to You, and You Get Me, success is definitely inevitable!

Fans worldwide picked up the habit of singing Michelle Branch's lyrics. And this is so easy to do because her songs are very catchy! Plus, fans can really relate to the lyrics as well!

Take Everywhere, for starters. There were speculations on who Michelle Branch was singing about, whether it be God or some person. Although these speculations created some sort of controversy for Michelle Branch, it did not stop Everywhere from hitting the high spots on Billboard charts. That's because the lyrics to Everywhere are very easy to relate.

And Goodbye to You is also very easy to relate to! In fact, Goodbye to You became one of the very popular breakup songs during its time! No, that's a mistake. Michelle Branch's Goodbye to You remains a strong contender on the breakup song list!

All You Wanted also built a name for Michelle Branch! The mp3 version of All You Wanted remains strong on the digital download charts to this date. And its peak position of #1 on the US Billboard Top 40 Adult Recurrents can attest to that!

And the release of her next album, Hotel Paper, forged Michelle Branch's career even more. This time around, Michelle Branch focused on independence on her tracks. And the album itself went on to gain a double Platinum status! This is even way better than Michelle Branch expected!

The singles Breathe and Are You Happy Now? did very well on the US charts! And Breathe and Are You Happy Now? even scaled the international music charts, such as that of Indonesia. The two tracks penetrated the Top 10 on the Indonesian charts!

Michelle Branch then took a short hiatus from music, to focus on marriage and motherhood. She married her bass player, Teddy Landau, in 2004, and gave birth to their first child the following year.

But motherhood is not the only thing Michelle Branch has been busy with. For this was just about the time when she decided to form the duo The Wreckers. The Wreckers is comprised of Michelle Branch and her longtime friend, Jessica Harp. What's interesting about this duo is the difference in musical style of both artists. Michelle Branch is more of a pop/rock musician. Jessica Harp is more classical rock. Yet, their tandem is just so right that you can't help but be intrigued by their music.

The Wreckers have already released their debut album Stand Still, Look Pretty. There's no definite word on a sophomore album yet. But if you're a fan of Michelle Branch, then you should get your own copy! You certainly won't be disappointed!