Melody Gardot

American jazz-singer and musician Melody Gardot is not simply a brilliant performer, but a perfect example of a strong-willed, ambitious and brave person who managed to overcome the difficult circumstances in her life and become what she is today. Melody was born in 1985 in New Jersey. Despite her fondness of music and regular piano trainings, Melody did not intend to become a professional musician. Aged sixteen, she started performing at local clubs with her repertoire including both compositions of classic jazz artists and songs of contemporary acts playing a completely different type of music. Melody neglected any stylistic limitations doing anything she was interested in. This activity was much closer to a certain sort of hobby rather than to professional occupation, which was just to Gardot’s satisfaction as she was not going to make her living with the help of a piano.

However, at the age of nineteen, Melody Gardot happened to suffer an incident that had a drastic impact on her future life. During her bike ride, the girl was hit by a car, which enchained her to a hospital bed for a very long time. The accident’s traces are still influencing the artist’s appearance making her wear dark glasses and stick to a cane. Melody got disabled with a severer head injury, numerous fractions and countless bruises. For several days after the tragedy, Melody’s short-term memory did not work at all. That was the long period of recovery when Gardot took a new look at music. Following the recommendations of her doctors, she resorted to music therapy that appeared not only the key to her restoration, but also the first step to the outstanding music career. Before getting able to walk again, Melody had already started to master guitar and record her first melodies to the tape recorder. The result was the EP under the title Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions, featuring six compositions penned by Gardot. The record failed to reach the wide audience due to bad promotion. Yet, these songs consolidated Melody’s confidence in her skills. Back to normal life, the singer made up her mind to release a full-length album. Apart from the great majority of her contemporaries who preferred to play highly demanded genres like hip-hop or indie-rock, Gardot chose classic jazz.

Melody called her debut album Worrisome Heart. First, she released it independently and, two years later, when she signed a contract with Verve Records, this studio work was issued one more time, officially. The effort left both listeners and critics glad. It emanated the atmosphere of the long-forgotten times and, at the same moment, sounded fresh and modernly. It was then obvious that Melody Gardot knew how to write and play music equally well. As soon as in a year, the young singer got ready with her sophomore effort, My One And Only Thrill. She remained loyal to her favorite genre, but managed to move her performing skills and arranging to an even higher standard. It took Melody only two years to conquer the hearts of those who like and understand jazz convincing them that she is talented and ambitious enough to light another star in the jazz music world.