Joan Osborne

Joan Osborne is best known for a certain big hit yet has amassed an impressive career since then. Her latest album, Nobody Owns You, may be her most personal yet, with songs about her mother’s Alzheimer’s, the impact of time spent in “Too Many Airports” and the title track addressed to her daughter. Yet she remains as enthusiastic interpreting others’ songs as her own. One early such song, Eric Bazilian’s “One of Us,” initially was intended for another singer (Osborne does an excellent impression here), but she made it her own on her 1995 debut album, Relish. “One of Us,” in turn, made Osborne a star but perhaps gave listeners a misleading first impression of a powerful blues/soul singer who belts “Right Hand Man,” “Ladder” and others. Osborne reflects on it all, including the strangeness of being a shy person whose job it is to sing in front of other people. (Photo by Laura Crosta.)