Sharon Katharine Van Etten is an American singer, songwriter, and actress best known for her indie rock songs 'Like Our Love,' 'Seventeen,' and many more. She has five studio albums to her credit, the most recent of which is 'Remind Me Tomorrow (2019).' 

Early Life

Van Etten was born on February 26, 1989 (age 40), in Belleville, New Jersey. The singer is the middle child of five siblings, including her. She grew up in Nutley, New Jersey, before moving to Clinton in the sixth grade. 

The performer then went to North Hunterdon High School, where she was a member of the chorus and appeared in numerous musical productions. Van Etten learned the clarinet, violin, and piano as a child before switching to guitar.

She started writing songs in high school and sang in the Madrigals, a choir group. Her choral encounters, she says, were crucial in teaching her how to note music and sing harmonies.

In a 2019 interview with Vera On Track, the musician revealed she got into music because of her mom. Even though the mother-daughter duo had a different taste in music, she was always encouraged to pursue music. 

I don't like everything my mom likes, but she got me into musicals, and she took me to see Bruce Springsteen for the first time.

Van Etten moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, after graduation to attend Middle Tennessee State University in 1999, where she studied recording for a year before dropping out in 2000.

During that period, the artist worked at Red Rose, a coffee shop, record store, and music venue in the city for over four years. Although she had written many songs throughout her time there, she never performed them. 

She was a victim of an abusive relationship with a rock singer-musician whose jealousy distracted her from writing songs. One fine night, Van Etten left in the middle of the night with everything she could carry after five years.

On Thanksgiving Day, she arrived at her parents, who hadn't spoken to her in a long time. Her mom answered the door as she carried the dishes she was about to place on the table, to find her "black-sheep middle child."

In another 2019 interview with Financial Times, the indie rock performer admitted that experiencing heartbreak added depth to get writing.

"But when you're happy and in love, there is still anxiety and fear about wanting to be with someone for the rest of your life and bringing life into this world. In that way, I still find the darkness in the light.", Van Etten added.

Later, she returned to New Jersey in 2004 and joined Raritan Valley Community College for a year. There, she worked at Perryville Wine and Spirits, before relocating to New York City in 2005. 

She also lived in Ditmas Park, a suburban neighborhood of Brooklyn, for several years where she played in small public events and recorded her songs on individual hand-painted CDs.

Van Etten lived in three boroughs and nine apartments for fifteen years before moving to Los Angeles in September 2019.

Career

Van Etten kept performing, but she was still determined to learn more about the music industry. Fortunately, she secured an internship with Ba Da Bing Records, where she worked as a full-time publicist later.

The 'Seventeen' singer continued to release the handmade CDs until her first debut album titled 'Because I was in Love,' on Language of Stone released in 2009. The album was manufactured and distributed by Chicago-based, Drag City. It received positive reviews.

In 2010, she released her second album, 'Epic,' which was more band-oriented and received even more acclaim.

Jagjaguwar then signed the 40-year-old singer in late 2010. She then started her first National tour.

Van Etten's third studio album, 'Tramp,' was released on Jagjaguwar in February 2012. Aaron Dessner of The National recorded and produced the album in his Brooklyn home studio.

The first single of the indie rock album to be released was 'Serpents.'

Doug Keith, Thomas Bartlett, Bryan Devendorf, Bryce Dessner, Matt Barrick, Rob Moose, Julianna Barwick, Peter Silberman, Logan Coale, Clarice Jensen, Ben Lanz, Zach Condon, and Jenn Wasner were among the musicians featured on the 2012 record.

Van Etten went back into the studio for her fourth album, co-produced with Stewart Lerman, 'Are We There,' with the help of her partner and manager, Zeke Hutchins.

The album received some of the highest critical acclaims of any album to be released that year when it came out in May 2014.

In 2015, she released the five-track EP, 'I Don't Want to Let You Down.' 

Van Etten felt disconnected from her music and overwhelmed by the daily grind of professionally performing heartbreak. She took a break from music to finish her bachelor's degree in psychology at Brooklyn College.

She had the hopes of becoming a licensed mental health professional. 

During that time, she was noticed by a casting director and was called in for an audition for The OA. She was finalized for the role of Rachel, a fellow abductee along with Prairie in Dr. Percy's basement lab in the Netflix fantasy drama.

Van Etten appeared in ten episodes of the television series from 2016 to 2019. The actress also appeared on-screen as herself in the sixth episode of the 2017 series Twin Peaks.

After a break from her musical career, Van Etten released 'Remind Me Tomorrow' in January 2019, her fifth and the most recent album that found her venturing into new sonic territories.

However, her first track entitled 'Comeback Kid' from the album was launched in October 2018.

 The performer took to her Twitter handle to make the announcement of her new single, on October 2, 2018. She thanked her fans for the love and support for the past four years.

The album also included the tracks like 'Seventeen,' 'Memorial Day,' 'Jupiter 4,' 'Malibu,' 'You Shadow,' 'I Told You Everything,' 'No One's Easy to Love,' 'Hands,' and 'Stay.'

The 2019 reports of theguardian.com reported the album confused some listeners because the songs followed brighter and more hopeful lines, which differed from her previous heartbreak albums.  

The artist also won All Music Best of 2019 and Favourite Indie Pop and Indie Rock Albums award for 'Remind Me Tomorrow.'

Van Etten also appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show to perform her single 'Seventeen' in February 2018. 

Apart from this, she also made her feature film debut in Eliza Hittman's movie Never Rarely Sometimes Always in 2020. She also composed and performed the original track 'Staring at a Mountain.' 

Her latest movie How It Ends was released in February 2021, which is directed and written by Zoe Lister-Jones, Daryl Erin.

Recent Works

'epic Ten,' a double album celebrating Van Etten's 2010 album 'Epic,' was announced on March 4, 2021. The double album contained the original album as well as an LP of covers by Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Big Red Machine, Courtney Barnett with Vagabon, among others.

Ba Da Bing's epic Ten was released digitally on April 16 and will be released physically on June 11th. The singer announced the album's next cover song every Thursday, leading up to the release of epic Ten.

She also confirmed epic Ten, a documentary and concert benefiting the Zebulon venue in Los Angeles. It has been available since April 16.

Personal Life

The 'Memorial Day' singer is in a relationship with a musician Zeke Hutchins since 2013. Previously, the two were involved professionally as Hutchins was her drummer. The couple was blessed with a son, Denver in 2017. Hutchins is Van Etten's manager as well.

In a 2019 interview with New York Times, the singer talked about how they fell in love during a tour and became more than collaborators. The family of three live on the East side of Los Angeles, near the Highland part, which has a little backyard and quiet neighborhood. Their studio is also attached to the home.

When we realized we fell in love, we were like, O.K., we have to go home and figure out our lives and then make this record and we’ll come back to this and see how we feel.

The pair had decided to get married in May 2020 but because of unavoidable circumstances due to the COVID-19 Pandemic; they had to postpone the wedding.

Van Etten took to her Instagram account on May 3, 2020, to share the news with her family and friends, sharing a series of beautiful pictures of themselves. She described her boyfriend as the best partner she could have never dreamed of. 

Following his father's footsteps, Denver has also started playing the drums at a very young age and takes drum lessons. 

In an interview with Timeout, the New Jersey native opened up about ending a decade-long relationship because of her professional commitments. However, the identity of this ex-partner remained unanswered.

 I just had to end a ten-year relationship because my career was f**king with him too much. 

In May 2020, Van Etten also shared a black-and-white picture with her mom and herself when she was a child. In the caption, she apologized to her mother for all the years she fought with her and pretended she was nothing like her. She described her mom as a strong and patient woman. 

Net Worth

While some sites have reported the accumulated net worth of the singer at $85 million, the exact details are unknown. However, most of her net worth is contributed by her professional career as a singer and an actor. 

Considering the fact that her album 'Remind Me Tomorrow' is listed as some of the best music of 2019 and is still sold at Amazon for $13.79, it contributed pretty well to her self-made fortune.

Her concert tickets range from as low as $300 for a 3-Day General Admissions to $4000 for the 3-day Golden Gate Club, excluding the service charges. 

Apart from that, Van Etten also has a merch line that includes exclusive CDs, cassettes, t-shirts, hoodies, caps, and many more items that are available on the Grapefruit website. The income from the merch sales also adds to her total net worth.