Sheryl Crow: Universal Studios fire destroyed all my master tapes

  • Published
Media caption,

The star says both her master tapes and their back-ups were stored in the vault

Sheryl Crow says the original tapes of albums including Tuesday Night Music Club and The Globe Sessions went up in flames in a fire at Universal Studios.

The singer told the BBC "all her masters" were destroyed when an archive in Los Angeles burnt down in 2008.

She only discovered the loss this month, after her name was mentioned in a New York Times report, external that uncovered the extent of the damage.

"It absolutely grieves me," said Crow. "It feels a little apocalyptic.

"I can't understand, first and foremost, how you could store anything in a vault that didn't have sprinklers.

"And secondly, I can't understand how you could make safeties [back-up copies] and have them in the same vault. I mean, what's the point?

"And thirdly, I can't understand how it's been 11 years," she added. "I mean, I don't understand the cover-up."

Crow, who had seven US top 10 albums between 1995 and 2008, is the first artist to confirm the loss of their recordings since the New York Times' investigation was published two weeks ago.

It detailed how the fire, which was started by overnight maintenance work, had destroyed thousands of master tapes - the original recordings from which albums and singles are made - by some of the most famous names in music history, from Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Chuck Berry to Janet Jackson, Nirvana and Eminem.

Sheryl Crow in the recording studio
Getty
It feels a little apocalyptic. It feels like we're slowly erasing things that matter.
Sheryl Crow

Although the fire was widely reported at the time, Universal Music downplayed the damage to its archives, saying many of the affected tapes had duplicates in separate storage facilities.

The company also disputed the New York Times' investigation, citing unspecified "factual inaccuracies" in the reporting.

Their head archivist, Patrick Kraus, later said the extent of the losses had been "overstated".

"Many of the masters that were highlighted [in the report] as destroyed, we actually have in our archives," he told Billboard magazine, external.

But Crow, whose biggest hits include All I Wanna Do and If It Makes You Happy, confirmed her tapes had perished, taking with them dozens of alternate takes, demos and unreleased songs.

"There are many songs on my masters that haven't come out," she said. "My peace of mind in knowing I could come back someday and listen to them and mine those [sessions] for basement tapes and outtakes, are gone.

"But what grieves me more than any of that is the fact that Buddy Holly and Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington - all this important music has been erased.

"And it's not just the music, it's the dialogue between the music, it's the takes that didn't make it, it's the versions we'll never hear.

"It feels a little apocalyptic. Not to go down a weird path - but it feels like we're slowly erasing things that matter."

A group of high-profile pop musicians are currently suing Universal Music for $100m (£78m) over the loss of their master recordings.

The case was filed last week in Los Angeles by the rock bands Soundgarden and Hole, singer-songwriter Steve Earle, the estate of Tupac Shakur and a former wife of Tom Petty - who accuse Universal of breaching its contracts with artists by failing to properly protect their tapes.

They are seeking class action status, which means other affected artists will be able to join the case at a later date.

This YouTube post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on YouTube
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.
Skip youtube video by SherylCrowVEVO

Allow YouTube content?

This article contains content provided by Google YouTube. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Google’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. YouTube content may contain adverts.
End of youtube video by SherylCrowVEVO

Crow, who is not currently taking legal action, was speaking to BBC News ahead of her appearance at the Glastonbury Festival this weekend.

It's her first return to Worthy Farm since 1997 - the infamous "year of the mud", when torrential rain, its rumoured, caused the Other Stage to start to sink into the ground.

The star recalled arriving on site at 6:30 in the morning after driving through the night, "and just stepping into knee-deep mud".

She laughed: "It was like, 'Welcome to Glastonbury!'

"It was a great show, though. That's the thing I remember about it the most. People were covered in mud. Lots of rain slickers and just a great line-up. I remember waiting for Van Morrison to come out, and I remember seeing Beck. Just a great day."

This time around, the singer will arrive prepared.

"As soon as I'm done here, I'm getting ready to go and find some wellies," she said. "I'm really looking forward to it."

Follow us on Facebook, external, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, external, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents, external. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk, external.