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Ingrid Michaelson: from MySpace, to 'Grey's Anatomy', to the world

By Dalia Colon, Times Staff Writer
In print: Tuesday, June 10, 2008

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Who says MySpace is a waste of time?

For singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, the social networking site became a launching pad for a musical career that, until last spring, she'd supplemented by working as a children's theater director.

In 2006, Michaelson loaded a batch of songs onto MySpace, where Los Angeles music licenser Lynn Grossman heard them. Grossman pledged to get Breakable, a song about the fragility of the heart, onto Grey's Anatomy, the ABC medical drama known for showcasing eclectic music.

To date, the show has used five of Michaelson's songs, including a demo of Giving Up, which plays in the season 4 finale when Dr. McDreamy throws away a bottle of champagne after a patient dies.

Grey's viewers have been downloading Michaelson's songs like crazy, pushing her self-produced sophomore album, Girls and Boys, to No. 2 on iTunes' pop chart.

The 28-year-old has been too busy touring to move out of the childhood home she shares with her parents in Staten Island, N.Y. She spoke with the Times by phone from Philadelphia.

What makes your songs a good fit for Grey's Anatomy?

I think because they're really lyrically easy to hear and people can grab onto a lyric, understand it and fit it in with a scene.

Who or what inspired The Way I Am?

That song was pretty much the idea of "Will anybody love me, even if I'm very flawed?"

Is that similar to the idea behind Die Alone? It's heart-wrenching.

I have a fear of all that — of being alone forever. I guess it comes through in a bunch of my songs.

You started piano lessons at age 4. How many times did you quit between then and now?

I wasn't allowed to stop taking piano lessons until I was 15. My parents said that. So as I soon as I was 15, I stopped taking lessons and never went back.

What advice do you offer piano students?

You can't tell people that are young, "Stay with it. (If you don't), You're going to regret it later," 'cause they don't care. They want what they want then. My advice is to the parents: Make them stay in it, like my parents did. (laughs) Also, quitting is not a good example of life. If you start to do something, you shouldn't just let it go just because it's hard.

Dalia Colon can be reached at (727) 893-8717 or dcolon@tampabay.com.