Melanie Safka was born on February 3rd 1947 in New York. Her mother was an Italian-born jazz singer. She grew up a shy girl with a great interest for music, so she taught herself how to play the guitar and started to write songs and poetry. She says: "I had a hard time getting on with people at school. I was very much alone. I was writing, and playing, and singing and falling in love with everybody, but mostly not telling them."After studying acting at the American Academy of Arts, Melanie played major professional roles in productions of Alice In Wonderland and The Glass Menagerie. While hoping for an audition for a part in Dark Side Of The Moon, she stumbled into the wrong office. An executive lurking behind a large cigar noticed she was toting a guitar, asked if she could sing...and Melanie went home with a recording contract in her handbag.
The producer of the young Buddah-label Peter Schekeryk got interested in this somewhat dreamy girl when she sang her ideas to him. Together, they recorded her debut-album "Born To Be" in 1968. But only after her performance at Woodstock in the pouring rain, Melanie suddenly had a cachet. Her first LP was re-released and she was awarded with a number 6 hit in the USA in June of 1970 with "Lay Down (Candles In The Rain)", performed with the Edwin Hawkins Singers.
Just before her second Top 10 entry, Melanie scored as a songwriter when her composition "What Have They Done To My Song Ma" became a hit for the New Seekers. In October, her haunting version of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" hit number 9 in the British charts. Not everyone, though, approved of Melanie covering a Stones song. In 1974, at a gig in London, one disgrunted Stones fan threw a brick at her.
In 1971, Melanie scored her biggest hit yet: "Brand New Key" was a number one hit in the USA and it remained in the charts for three months. In the UK, the song peaked at number 4 and stayed in the charts for only seven weeks. In 1972, she formed a record label, Neighborhood Records, with her now husband Peter Scherkeryk, releasing LP's which mixed her own compositions with carefully selected compositions from other writers. The label also supported other folk artists, including Mike Heron, who - with Robin Williamson - guested on disc and on stage with Melanie.
Melanie's eldest child, Leilah was born October 3rd, 1973 at 12.55 am New York Time (EST) weighing 7lb 7oz. The story goes Melanie was listening to Tapes during childbirth and 'Layla' was playing when Leilah was born!
During the eighties, Melanie changed both musical direction and record labels several times. In 1993, she releases a double CD called Silver Anniversary Unplugged, to celebrate her 25 year recording carreer. Although not as successful as before, she still has a secure fan base and still manages to do sold out gigs all over the world.