Melody Gardot

(US)
jazz with blues, pop & Brazilian influence

This young singer/songwriter from Philadelphia has become some kind of a sensation lately. The feel in Melody Gardot’s songs is such that it’s hard to believe she’s only 25. The soulful voice and the slow meditative phrasing are clearly her own, but you sense a kinship to Billie Holiday and Judy Garland.

Melody played piano professionally in Philly bars, everything from Ellington to Mamas & The Papas and Radiohead, on weekends already at the age of 16, but didn’t think of music as a career. Then in 2003 she was biking home, when a car driving against red light hit her. She suffered serious injuries in head, spine and pelvis. She had to lie on her back in hospital for a year and learn many things like talking and walking anew. Her doctor recommended music therapy, and soon she was making songs on guitar. She also became a Buddhist. Even if she still suffers from memory problems and over-sensitivity to light, she has largely healed herself with her music that has a kind of a blues feel, though it doesn’t follow the blues structure.

Melody Gardot has made two EP’s and two albums with growing success. Her latest, My One & Only Thrill, went to top 30 in many countries, and to number 1 in Sweden, Norway and Japan.