Melanie (singer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Melanie
Melanie in 1975
Background information
Birth name	Melanie Anne Safka
Born	(1947-02-03)February 3, 1947 New York City, U.S.
Died	January 23, 2024(2024-01-23) (aged 76)
Genres	Folk pop country
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter musician
Instruments	Vocals guitar
Years active	1967–2024
Labels	Buddah Records Neighborhood Records Atlantic

Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (February 3, 1947 – January 23, 2024), professionally known as Melanie or Melanie Safka, was an American singer-songwriter.

She is widely known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key"; her 1970 version of "Ruby Tuesday", which was originally written and recorded by the Rolling Stones, her composition "What Have They Done to My Song Ma"; and her 1970 international breakthrough hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" (inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock music festival).

Early life

Melanie was born and raised in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens, New York City. Her father, Frederick M. Safka (1924–2009), was of Ukrainian ancestry, and her mother, jazz singer Pauline "Polly" Altomare (1926–2003), was of Italian heritage. Melanie made her first public singing appearance at age four on the radio show Live Like A Millionaire, performing the song "Gimme a Little Kiss". She moved with her family to Long Branch, New Jersey, and attended Long Branch High School. Bothered by being pegged by her classmates as a "beatnik" in school, she ran away to California and, after her return to New Jersey, transferred to Red Bank High School in Red Bank, New Jersey; she graduated in 1964, though she was blocked from attending her commencement exercise due to an overdue library book.

Career

Melanie on the cover of Cash Box, July 11, 1970

In the 1960s, Melanie started performing at The Inkwell, a coffee house in the West End section of Long Branch. After high school, her parents insisted that she go to college, so she studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where she began singing in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village, such as The Bitter End, and signed her first recording contract.

Initially signed to Columbia Records in the United States, Melanie released two singles on the label. Subsequently, she signed with Buddah Records and first found chart success in Europe in 1969 with "Bobo's Party" which reached No. 1 in France. Melanie's popularity in Europe resulted in performances on European television programs, such as Beat-Club in West Germany. Her debut album received positive reviews from Billboard, which heralded her voice as "wise beyond her years. Her non-conformist approach to the selections on this LP make her a new talent to be reckoned with".

Later in 1969, Melanie had a hit in the Netherlands with "Beautiful People". She was one of only three solo women who performed at the Woodstock festival in 1969 and the inspiration for her first hit song, "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", apparently arose from the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her set. The recording became a hit in Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States in 1970. The B-side of the single featured Melanie's spoken-word track "Candles in the Rain". "Lay Down" became Melanie's first top ten hit in America, peaking at No. 6 on the Billboard singles chart and achieving worldwide success. Later hits included "Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday".

Melanie on the "Mr Softee" free stage, August 1, 1970

In 1970, Melanie was the only artist to ignore the court injunction banning the Powder Ridge Rock Festival scheduled to be held on July 31, August 1 and 2, 1970. She played for the crowd on a homemade stage powered by Mister Softee trucks. Shortly following this performance, she played at the Strawberry Fields Festival held from August 7 to 9, 1970, at Mosport Park, Ontario. She also performed at the Isle of Wight Festival held between August 26 and 30, 1970, at Afton Down, where she was introduced by Keith Moon and received four standing ovations (she also appeared at the 2010 Isle of Wight festival). She was also the artist who sang to herald in the summer solstice at Glastonbury Fayre (later the Glastonbury Festival) in England, in June 1971. She performed again at Glastonbury in 2011, the 40th anniversary of the original festival.

Billboard advertisement, October 23, 1971

Melanie left Buddah Records when they insisted that she produce albums on demand. In 1971, she formed her own label, Neighborhood Records, with Peter Schekeryk who was also her producer and husband. She had her biggest American hit on the Neighborhood label, the novelty-sounding 1972 number one "Brand New Key" (often referred to as "The Roller Skate Song"). "Brand New Key" sold over three million copies worldwide and was featured in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights.

The follow-up single to "Brand New Key" was "Ring the Living Bell". To compete with this release, Melanie's former record company released "The Nickel Song", which she had recorded while still signed to Buddah Records. Both songs were simultaneous top-40 hits while "Brand New Key" was still on the charts – setting a record for the first female performer to have three top-40 hits concurrently.

She was awarded Billboard's No. 1 Top Female Vocalist award for 1972. She was awarded two gold albums (and a gold single for "Brand New Key"), and three of her compositions were hits for The New Seekers. She is also well known for her musical adaptations of children's songs, including "Alexander Beetle" and "Christopher Robin". When she became an official UNICEF ambassador in 1972, she agreed to forego a world tour in favor of raising money for the organization.

Melanie had another top-40 hit single in 1973 with "Bitter Bad", a song that marked a slight departure from the hippie sentiments of earlier hits (with lyrics such as "If you do me wrong I'll put your first and last name in my rock n' roll song"). Other chart hits during this period were the self-penned "Together Alone" and a cover of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow". In 1973, Melanie started to retreat from the spotlight to begin a family.

Later career

In 1976 Melanie released one album on Atlantic Records, Photograph, which was overseen by Ahmet Ertegun. The album was praised by The New York Times as one of the year's best, although it was largely ignored by the public. It was re-issued on CD in 2005 with an additional disc of unreleased material.

Also in 1976 Melanie appeared at the tribute concert for Phil Ochs, who had died on April 9 that year. Held on May 28 at New York City's Felt Forum, Melanie performed an emotional version of Ochs' song "Chords of Fame" and his "Miranda". She had appeared with Ochs on stage in 1974 at his Evening with Salvador Allende concert (also held at the Felt Forum), along with Dave Van Ronk, Arlo Guthrie, Bob Dylan and others.

In 1983 Melanie wrote the music and lyrics for a theatrical musical, Ace of Diamonds, with a book by Ed Kelleher and Seymour Vall, based on a series of letters written by Annie Oakley. Though never fully produced, several staged readings were performed at the Lincoln Center starring Melanie as the narrator and pop singer and actress Annie Golden as Oakley.

In 1989 Melanie won an Emmy Award for writing the lyrics to "The First Time I Loved Forever", the theme song for the TV series Beauty and the Beast. With one exception, her albums were produced by her husband, Peter Schekeryk, who died suddenly in 2010. Her three children – Leilah, Jeordie and Beau-Jarred – are also musicians. Beau-Jarred is a guitarist and accompanied his mother on tour.

One of Melanie's later albums, Paled By Dimmer Light (2004), was co-produced by Peter and Beau-Jarred Schekeryk and includes the songs "To Be The One", "Extraordinary", "Make It Work" and "I Tried To Die Young". In early 2005 most of Melanie's back-catalog was re-released on the internet-only music label ItsAboutMusic.com. After a series of disagreements, the relationship between the artist and the label was severed.

Melanie performing in 2009

In 2007 Melanie was invited by Jarvis Cocker to perform at the Meltdown Festival at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Her sold-out performance received critical acclaim, with The Independent saying, "it was hard to disagree that Melanie has earned her place alongside Joan Baez, Judy Collins, Joni Mitchell and Marianne Faithfull in the pantheon of iconic female singers. Meltdown was all the better for her presence." The concert was filmed for a DVD titled Melanie: For One Night Only, which was released in October 2007. She recorded "Psychotherapy", sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic", which parodies aspects of Freudian psychoanalysis. It has been played on The Dr. Demento Show. In 2012, Melanie headlined at the 15th annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival, along with Arlo Guthrie and Judy Collins. The festival is held annually in mid-July to celebrate the life and music of legendary singer-songwriter and folk musician Woody Guthrie.

In October 2012 Melanie collaborated with John Haldoupis, the artistic and managing director of Blackfriars Theatre in Rochester, New York, to create an original musical about her love story with her late husband, Peter. Melanie and the Record Man made its world premiere on October 19, with performances scheduled until October 28. The musical, conceived and designed by Haldoupis, features the music of Melanie and tells the story of her meeting Peter, falling in love, and working together to produce her music. Melanie performed during the musical and was also the narrator. In June 2014, she toured Australia for the first time since 1977.

In April 2015 Melanie was inducted into Red Bank Regional's "Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame". Melanie received the Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award at the Artists Music Guild's 2015 AMG Heritage Awards on November 14, 2015, in Monroe, North Carolina.

On New Year's Eve 2019, she performed on the BBC's Jools' Annual Hootenanny.

At the time of her death in 2024, Melanie had been working on a cover album entitled Second Hand Smoke.

Personal life

Melanie married record producer Peter Schekeryk in 1968. They had three children: daughter Leilah born on October 3, 1973; daughter Jeordie on March 27, 1975; and son Beau Jarred on September 11, 1980. Leilah and Jeordie, when aged 7 and 6, released a cover of "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" that charted in Canada, reaching No. 27. Peter died in 2010. Melanie was a vegetarian in the early 1970s; she also practiced fasting.

Melanie resided in the Nashville, Tennessee area. She died on January 23, 2024, at the age of 76.

Discography

Other credits

• Lyrics for the theme song of the Beauty and the Beast television series
• Recorded "I've Got New York" on The 6ths' Hyacinths and Thistles, 2000

See also

In Spanish: Melanie Safka para niños