Melanie
Melanie Safka was born on 3 February 1947 in Astoria, Long Island, New
York, of Ukrainian/Italian parentage. Her rise to stardom reads like a
modern-day fairy tale.
In 1966 while auditioning for a bit part in a play, she accidentally
walked into a music publisher's office where she was asked to sing and
play her guitar. Fortunately they liked her and invited her back.
The
company in question was none other than Columbia Records. The budding
songwriter/singer was then assigned to producer Peter Schekeryk who was
to become her husband and father of their three children.
After two flop singles, Melanie signed to a label called Buddha late
in 1968, and her first album, Born To Be, revealed her to be a
childlike and coy vocalist. When the LP hit the shops in May 1969 she
was invited to play at the Woodstock festival later that year.
Then in
1970, The Seekers had a US hit with one of Melanie's better known
songs, What Have They Done To My Song, Ma?, while she herself
made the UK Top 10 with a melancholy version of Ruby Tuesday
(from the pen of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards). Both songs were from
her accompanying Top 5 album, Candles In The Rain.
This golden period saw her release three more successful albums, the
last of which (Gather Me) featured an American Number One - Brand
New Key.
Melanie's commercial clout dwindled as the 70s wore on, and as her
record sales fell away, the record label she had started with her
husband went belly up. Atlantic picked her up for the 1979 album Photograph.
While Melanie could never recover her former star status, her cult
following allowed her to keep on releasing albums throughout the 80s and
90s, mainly on independent labels.
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