Sheryl Suzanne Crow was born in Kennett, Missouri on February 11, 1962, to parents Wendell, a trumpet player and lawyer, and Bernice Crow, a piano teacher. The third child of the family, she has three siblings: older sisters Kathy and Karen and younger brother Steven.

While studying at Kennett High School, Crow was a majorette and an All-State track athlete, medaling in the 75-meter low hurdles. She also joined the Pep Club, the National Honor Society, Future Farmers of America, Freshman Maid, Senior Maid and Paperdoll Queen. She then enrolled at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Composition, Performance and Education.

While in college, Crow sang in a local band, Cashmere. She was a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta social sorority, Sigma Alpha Iota women's music fraternity, and the Omicron Delta Kappa Society. Later, Crow was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Southeast Missouri State University, in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

After graduating college, Crow worked as a music teacher at the Kellison elementary school, in Fenton, Missouri. Teaching during the day allowed her the opportunity to sing in bands on weekends. Later, she was introduced to local musician and producer Jay Oliver. He had a thriving studio in the basement of his parents' home, in St. Louis, and helped her by using her in advertising jingles.

Her first jingle was a back-to-school spot for the St. Louis department store Famous-Barr. McDonald's and Toyota commercial jingles soon followed. She was quoted in a 60 Minutes segment as saying she made $40,000 on her McDonald's commercial alone.

She toured with Michael Jackson during the BAD world tour from 1987-1989 and sang with him during the performance of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." She also sang in the short-lived, infamous Steven Bochco drama, Cop Rock, in 1990.

In 1992, Crow recorded her first attempt at her debut album with Phil Collins' producer, Hugh Padgham. The self-titled debut album was slated to be released on September 22 1992, but was ultimately rejected by her label. However, a handful of cassette copies of the album were leaked along with press folders to be used for album publicity.

This album has been widely dispersed via file sharing networks and fan trading over the years. In the meantime, Crow's songs were recorded by major artists such as Celine Dion and Wynonna Judd.

She then began dating Kevin Gilbert and joined him in an ad hoc group of musicians known to everyone in the group as the "Tuesday Music Club". Group members, Gilbert, David Baerwald and David Ricketts (both formerly of David & David), Bill Bottrell, Brian MacLeod and Dan Schwartz share songwriting credits with Crow on her debut album, Tuesday Night Music Club.

The group existed as a casual songwriting collective prior to its association with Crow, but rapidly developed into a vehicle for her debut album after her arrival. Her relationship with Gilbert became acrimonious soon after the album was released, and disputes arose about songwriting credits.

In later interviews, Crow claimed to have written all of the songs, but both Gilbert and Baerwald castigated Crow publicly, although Baerwald would later soften his position. A similar tension would arise with Bill Bottrell after her second album, over which he collaborated, at least in the early stages.

Tuesday Night Music Club went on to sell more than 7 million copies in the US and UK during the 1990s. The album also won Crow three Grammy Awards, in 1995: Record of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Female Vocal Performance.