Editing Melissa Etheridge (section)

===1996–2003: After her breakthrough===
In 1996, Etheridge won an ASCAP Songwriter of the Year award. She also took a lengthy break from the music business to concentrate on her family when her first two children Bailey (1997) and Beckett (1998) were born.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parents.com/parenting/dynamics/gay-parents/melissa-etheridge-sperm-donation-lgbtq-parenting/|title=Melissa Etheridge Speaks Candidly About the Intricacies of LGBTQ Parenting|website=Parents.com|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Country Music Television" /> She also recorded "Sin Tener A Donde Ir (Nowhere to Go)" for the [[AIDS]] benefit album ''[[Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin]]'' produced by the [[Red Hot Organization]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Silencio=Muerte: Red Hot + Latin |url=https://redhot.org/project/red-hot-latin-silencio-muerte/ |website=redhot.org |access-date=January 12, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Etheridge returned to the music charts with the release of ''[[Breakdown (Melissa Etheridge album)|Breakdown]]''  in October 1999. ''Breakdown'' peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard charts and spent 18 weeks in the charts. Despite this, ''Breakdown''  was the only album of Etheridge's career to be nominated for a [[Grammy Award for Best Rock Album]] (losing to [[Santana (band)|Santana]]'s ''[[Supernatural (Santana album)|Supernatural]]''). In addition, her single "Angels Would Fall" was nominated in two categories: [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance|Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female]] (losing to [[Sheryl Crow]]) and [[Grammy Award for Best Rock Song|Best Rock Song]] (losing to the [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]]) in 2000. A year later, another single from the album--"Enough of Me"—was nominated for [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance|Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female]] (also losing to [[Sheryl Crow]]). The album was certified gold by the [[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]].<ref name="riaa"/>

The year 2001 saw the release of ''[[Skin (Melissa Etheridge album)|Skin]]'', an album she described as "the closest I've ever come to recording a concept album. It has a beginning, middle and end. It's a journey." ''Skin'' garnered generally positive reviews with Metacritic scoring the album 73/100 from 9 reviews.<ref name="Metacritic">{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/music/skin/melissa-etheridge|title=Metacritic review of ''Skin''|author=Metacritic.com|website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=September 7, 2017}}</ref> Recorded after her breakup with partner Julie Cypher, ''Skin'' was described as "[a] harrowing, clearly autobiographical dissection of a decaying relationship." Despite positive reviews, ''Skin'' sold less than 500,000 copies. On the Billboard charts, it peaked at No. 9 but dropped out of the Top 200 after just 12 weeks. The single "[[I Want to Be in Love]]" was nominated for the [[Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance|Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female]] (losing to [[Lucinda Williams]]). The music video for the song starred [[Jennifer Aniston]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHBN_4PRYBo| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211103/pHBN_4PRYBo| archive-date=November 3, 2021 | url-status=live|title=Melissa Etheridge – I Want To Be In Love|publisher=[[YouTube]]|date=October 8, 2009|access-date=July 27, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In 2002, Etheridge released an autobiography entitled ''The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Etheridge, Morton |title=The Truth Is... My Life in Love and Music |date=June 19, 2001 |publisher=Villard |location=New York |isbn=0375505997 |edition=1 |url=https://archive.org/details/truthismylifeinl00ethe |access-date=January 16, 2019 |url-access=registration }}</ref>