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Melanie
(76), singer-songwriter.
Melanie was born Melanie Safka, on February 3, 1947, in Astoria, Queens, New York. Raised in the Bronx, she came from a musically inclined household. Her father Fred, was a jazz musician, and her mother, Pauline, sang jazz professionally under the name Polly Altomare. Together, they nurtured Melanie's early interest in the arts and played a pivotal role in shaping her passion for music from an early age.
Melanie's education primarily took place in New Jersey to where her family had moved, first at Long Branch High School where she was bullied by some students on account of her radical or “hippie” views, and later at Red Bank Regional High School in Red Bank from which she graduated in 1964.
She intended to embark immediately on a folk music career but parental pressure obliged her to first obtain an academic qualification, so she enrolled at the New York Academy of Fine Arts to study acting, while performing in the evening at the various folk clubs and coffee houses in Greenwich Village, captivating audiences with her distinctive voice and poignant lyrics.
During the burgeoning folk scene, Melanie collaborated with artists such as Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie, which contributed to her growing prominence within the folk community. These collaborations not only expanded her musical horizons but led to a recording contract with Columbia, although her first two singles for the label, failed to chart and she would soon sign with Buddah Records. In 1968, she married record producer Peter Schekeryk, with whom she had three children, all of whom subsequently pursued careers in music. The couple's collaborative efforts extended beyond their personal life, as Schekeryk, who died in 2010, played a crucial role in Melanie's career, producing all bar one of her albums.
Her breakthrough came with her performance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, where she delivered an unforgettable set. The audience, lighting candles during her performance, inspired her to pen her first hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)", which reached #6 in the USA, and her follow-ups, such as "Peace Will Come (According to Plan)", "Ruby Tuesday", "What Have They Done to My Song Ma" (later covered by The New Seekers), and "The Nickel Song" all charted, while albums such as "Affectionately Melanie" (1969) and "Candles in the Rain" (1970), which showcased an evolving style, blending folk, pop, and rock elements, brought her to national attention, earning her a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist in 1970. While she did not secure a win, the nomination underscored her impact on the music scene.
She also embarked on a series of appearances at such festivals as the Powder Ridge Rock Festival (where she was the only act to ignore a court injunction against the holding of the event), the Strawberry Fields Festival held at Mosport Park, Ontario, Canada, the Isle of Wight Festival at Afton Down in the UK and the 1971 Glastonbury Festival, held in Glastonbury, England.
In 1971, she left Buddah and set up her own label Neighborhood Records, and soon after scored her biggest "Brand New Key" (sometimes called "The Roller Skate Song"), which sold over four million copies worldwide despite being banned by a number of radio stations, topping the charts in the USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. A few years later, a parody of that song titled "I've Got A Brand New Combine Harvester" by the Wurzels, also topped the UK charts.
Subsequent hits included "Ring the Living Bell", "Someday I'll Be a Farmer", "Together Alone", "Do You Believe", "Bitter Bad" and a cover of the Shirelles "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", and although the singles hits dried up in the mid-80s, her albums continued to sell, while she remained in hreat demand for festivals worldwide, appearing alongside such icons as Arlo Guthrie and Judy Collins.
In a career spanning 50 years, she released a total of 41 albums (13 of which were live), along with 14 compilation albums and 59 singles. Her final studio album "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" came out in 2019, while two live albums "Live at Woodstock" and "Melanie Live at Drury Lane" were issued the following year. At the time of her death, she was completing an album of covers to be titled "Second Hand Smoke", which would include Radiohead’s “Creep,” the Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin,” Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy the Silence” and David Bowie’s “Everyone Says Hi.”
In Nashville, Tennessee, USA, on January 23, 2024, of undisclosed causes.
© Jim Liddane
2023 Songwriter Obituaries
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