Melanie Anne Safka-Schekeryk (February 3, 1947 – January 23, 2024), professionally known as
Melanie or Melanie Safka, was an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for the 1971–72 global hit "Brand New Key", plus her 1970 version of "Ruby Tuesday", which was originally written and recorded by the Rolling Stones, her composition "Look What They've 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).
No talent who came out of Woodstock and who continued actively performing more than a
quarter century later remained as closely associated with the 1960s and "flower power" than Melanie. Born Melanie Safka in Astoria, Queens, in 1947, she made her first public appearance at age four on a radio show, later studying at the New York Academy of Fine Arts.
After mounting a singing career while in college, she later sang in clubs in Greenwich Village, and was
signed to a publishing contract in 1967. She recorded her first single, "Beautiful People," for Columbia Records that same year. Her relationship with the record company was short-lived, however, and after one more single she left the label.
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.[13] 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".
Her song "Birthday of the Sun" was later released on the Woodstock 2 album, and 20 years later it was released on video as part of Woodstock: The Lost Performances, alongside the work of Janis Joplin,
Crosby, Stills & Nash, and the Who. When first released, "Brand New Key" was banned by some radio stations because some heard sexual innuendo in the lyrics. Melanie acknowledged the possibility of reading an unintended sexual innuendo in the song, stating, "I wrote [Brand New Key] in about fifteen minutes one night. I thought it was cute; a kind of old thirties tune. I guess a key and a lock have always been Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that.
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. 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.
Melanie resided in the Nashville, Tennessee area. She died on January 23, 2024, at the age of 76.
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE - THE GREATEST HITS 1999
Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits of Melanie gets the nod over the 1990 Rhino compilation The Best of Melanie as the best compilation of the singer's work. Containing 19 tracks where the
earlier album contained 18, it could hardly be longer and fit on one CD. The songs have been mastered from their original master tapes for the first time by Robert Fripp (!) and David Singleton, so the sound quality is the best yet. The set contains the original LP version of Melanie's Top Ten hit "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)," running just over seven minutes, as opposed to the nearly four-minute single edit.
Also featured are two recent songs, "Summer of Love II" and "I Will Get Over." That's all on the credit
side. On the debit side, it is not in chronological order and the selection leaves off several of Melanie's singles chart entries, notably "Bitter Bad," which made the Top 40 (and is included in the Rhino compilation). Nevertheless, this must be counted as the best Melanie compilation yet, featuring her number-one hit "Brand New Key," as well as standards like "Beautiful People" and "What Have They Done to My Song, Ma?."
Melanie – Beautiful People: The Greatest Hits Of Melanie
Label: Buddha Records – 7446599630 2
Format: CD, Compilation
Country: US
Released: 1999
Genre: Rock
Style: Folk Rock, Pop Rock
TRACKS
01. Summer Of Love II 4:35
02. Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) 7:39
03. Ring The Living Bell 5:02
04. What Have They Done To My Song, Ma? 4:03
05. Brand New Key 2:24
06. Love To Lose Again 4:34
07. Lover's Cross 4:24
08. Ruby Tuesday 4:34
09. The Nickel Song 3:44
10. Bobo's Party 3:51
11. The Good Book 2:30
12. Christopher Robin 2:36
13. Animal Crackers 2:14
14. Psychotherapy (Live) 5:12
15. Beautiful People 3:35
16. Together Alone 4:45
17. Leftover Wine 6:14
18. Peace Will Come (According To Plan) 3:19
19. I Will Get Over 3:37