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Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (born February 3, 1947 in Astoria, New York City) is an American singer-songwriter.
Usually known professionally simply as Melanie, she is best known for her hits, "Brand New Key", "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and "What Have They Done To My Song, Ma?". Melanie has sold over 25 million records over the course of her career.
Melanie made her first public appearance at the age of four on the radio show Live Like A Millionaire performing the song "Gimme a Little Kiss". She was a student at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts when she began singing in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village 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 when her 1969 song "Bobo's Party" reached Number 1 in France. Her debut album received rave reviews from Billboard Magazine who 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" before performing at the Woodstock Festival. The inspiration for her signature song "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" apparently arose from the Woodstock audience lighting candles during her set. A gospel-boosted genuine one-off, that combined high drama with Melanie's trademark hippie sincerity, the recording became a hit in Europe, Australia and the United States in the spring and summer of 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 and a worldwide success. Later hits included "Peace Will Come (According To Plan)" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday".
In 1970 Melanie was the only artist to brave the court injunction banning the Powder Ridge Rock Festival, playing for the crowd on a homemade stage powered by Mister Softee trucks. She also performed at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970 where she was introduced by Keith Moon and received four standing ovations.
Melanie was also the artist who sang to herald in the summer solstice at Glastonbury Fayre (later the Glastonbury Festival) in England in June 1971.
After leaving Buddah Records, because they insisted that she produce albums on demand, Melanie formed her own label, Neighborhood Records, in 1971 with her producer-husband Peter Schekeryk.
It was on the Neighborhood label that Melanie had her biggest American hit with the novelty-sounding 1972 number one, "Brand New Key" (also mistakenly known as "The Roller Skate Song"). "Brand New Key" sold over three million copies worldwide and was featured in the 1997 movie Boogie Nights.
When fist released, Brand New Key was banned by some radio stations due to the lyrics being interpreted as being sexual innuendo:
"I got a brand new pair of roller skates / You got a brand new key / I think that we should get together and try them out you see / I been looking around awhile / You got something for me / Oh! I got a brand new pair of roller skates / You got a brand new key / I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car / Don't go too fast, but I go pretty far / For somebody who don't drive / I been all around the world"
In 1976 Scrumpy and Western band The Wurzels covered "Brand New Key" with substantially rewritten lyrics as "The Combine Harvester". It reached number one on the UK singles charts and stayed there for two weeks.
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" (a song she had recorded whilst still signed to Buddah). Both songs were simultaneous Top 40 hits whilst "Brand New Key" was still on the charts — setting a record for the first female performer to have three Top 40 hits concurrently. Melanie was awarded Billboard's #1 Top Female Vocalist for 1972.
She 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 Still Love Me Tomorrow'.
Melanie has been 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".
In 1973 Melanie started to retreat from the spotlight to begin a family. Her daughter Leilah was born that same year. When she became an official UNICEF ambassador in 1972 she agreed to forgo a world tour in favour of raising money for the organisation.
In 1976 Melanie released one album on Atlantic Records, Photograph, which was overseen by Ahmet Ertegün. 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. In the 1980s the Quaker Oats Company used a version of "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma" in their commercials for Instant Oatmeal, with the revised lyrics "Look what they've done to my oatmeal". In 1989 she won an Emmy Award for writing the lyrics to "The First Time I Loved Forever", the theme song for the Beauty and the Beast.
Melanie has released almost one album a year since 1969. With one exception, her albums have been produced by her husband, Peter Schekeryk. Her three children — Leilah, Jeordie and Beau-Jarred — are also musicians. Beau-Jarred is a guitarist and accompanies his mother on tour.
Melanie's most recent album, Paled by Dimmer Light, was released in 2004. It 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-catalogue 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 was recently 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 claiming "it was hard to disagree that Melanie has earned her place alongside Joan Baez, Judy Collins 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 entitled Melanie: For One Night Only to be released in September 2007.
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