Melissa Manchester

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Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and actress.

Since the 1970s, her songs have been carried by adult contemporary radio stations.

She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage.

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Early Life and Career

Manchester was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, to a musical family. For three decades, her father performed as a bassoonist at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Ruth Manchester Ltd, her mother was one of the first women to design and establish her own clothing company. The Manchesters are of Jewish origins. Manchester started singing at an early age. While attending the Manhattan School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, she learned the piano and harpsichord.

She studied songwriting at New York University with Paul Simon when she was 19 years old. Barry Manilow, a close friend and fellow jingles singer, introduced her to Bette Midler while Manchester was playing in Manhattan. She co-created with Manilow in 1971 and became a member of the Harlettes, the back-up singers for Midler.

On the track titled "Magical Misery Tour" and "Deteriorata," Manchester performed as "Yoko Ono" on the 1972 album National Lampoon Radio Dinner and as the singer in "Deteriorata."

Solo Career

Home to Myself, Manchester's debut album, was released in 1973; Manchester co-wrote several of its songs with Carole Bayer Sager. Melissa's album, "Midnight Blue," has been her first top-ten hit, and has sold 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. For the week of August 9, 1975, the song hit the top of the charts.

On the pilot episode of Ms. magazine's feminist program, she performed the songs "O Heaven" and "Home to Myself" on the Australian version of Woman Alive!, a feminist program. In 1974, she appeared on Burt Sugarman's television show Midnight Special.

On her 1976 Better Days & Happy Endings album, Manchester performed 'Come in From the Rain.' Since being covered by many other artists, including The Captain & Tennille, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Eydie Gorme, Shirley Horn, Cleo Laine, Carmen McRae, Deborah Cook, Mel Torme, and Diana Ross, it has since been covered by Teresa Ross, The Captain & Tennille, Barbara Cook, Mel Torme, and Diana Ross.

In the 1977 NBC special documentary How the Beatles Changed the World, Manchester appeared with Richie Havens, Melanie, and Frankie Valli as a producer and performer. "Whenever I Call You 'Friend'" co-written Loggins' 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks. Melissa Manchester's 1979 Melissa Manchester album will appear on her new album. She appeared on the CBS-TV daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow to show a main character (played by Michael Nouri), a singer-songwriter, the basic elements of the art. Manchester debuted at #10 on Peter Allen's "Don't Cry Out Loud" in 1979, for which she was nominated for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.

"I'll Never Say Goodbye" (from The Promise) and "Through the Eyes of Love), two nominated songs on the Academy Awards show in 1979; she performed two songs on the Academy Awards show: "I'll Never Say Goodbye" and "Through the Eyes of Love). Norma Rae's "It Goes Like It Goes" was the year's best song.

She appeared on The Muppet Show in 1980.

She launched "You Should Hear How She Talks About You," which received the 1983 Grammy Award for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance, defeating Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton-John, Juice Newton, and Laura Branigan. The song itself debuted at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as #10 Adult Contemporary.

She signed with MCA Records in 1985 and released the album Ma+hematics.

Throughout the 1980s, Manchester continued to place singles on the Adult Contemporary charts. Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By" was another top-ten entry on the AC chart, a 1989 revision of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By" for top ten. The single was taken from Mika/Polygram's Tribute Collection, which paid tribute to some of the singers that inspired her style. In 1992 she performed the title song for the animated musical Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, written by the Sherman Brothers and accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.

On Atlantic Records, she released the album If My Heart Had Wings in 1995.

During a two-day guest appearance on ABC's daytime drama GM's General Hospital, Robin Scorpio and her AIDS-afflicted boyfriend Stone Cates sang the song for her and her AIDS-afflicted boyfriend Stone Cates.

Manchester alternated recording with acting, starring Bette Midler in the film For the Boys, as well as co-writing (with bookwriter-lyricist Jeffrey Sweet) and starring in the musical I Sent a Letter to My Love, based on Bernice Rubens' book of the same name. Manchester could be seen as "I Wish I Knew" in 1990, over the CBS television drama "The Trials of Rosie O'Neill's opening credits. In addition, she opened Game 6 of the 1991 World Series, singing the National Anthem in the United States.

Later Career to Present

Manchester produced and recorded the soundtrack to Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001).

When I Look Down That Road, Manchester's first album in nine years. She was praised for her "powerful voice" and for "reinventing [herself] while remaining true to what made [her] popular" while on tour.

In April 2007, she returned to theater, starring in the Chicago production of HATS! The Musical, a performance to which she and Sharon Vaughn contributed two songs. On Manilow's "You've Got a Friend" a duet cover. Manchester's "The Power of Ribbons," a new single from 2008, was brought to digital shops by the artist. Proceeds from othe single-benefit breast cancer research will be used to fund research.

Dirty Girl, a 2011 independent film, was released with several of Manchester's songs included in the film, five of which made it to the soundtrack. Manchester made a non-speaking cameo appearance as the pianist who accompanies the lead character's rendition of "Don't Cry Out Loud."

Manchester revealed in 2013 that she was recording her 20th studio album, You Gotta Love the Life, her first since When I Look Down That Road. She then launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to release the album alone.

Manchester talks about the crowd-funding experience and relays the back-story behind the single's "Feelin' for You" in an interview with NPR. "Yes, very happily," a woman in a juke joint asked if she was married in Manchester. "Too bad, cause I got a feelin' for you," the alcoholic said. Manchester and Sara Niemietz's book "Feelin' for You" includes a solo by Keb' Mo'. The single debuted on January 9, 2015, and it debuted at number one on the Smooth jazz charts. You Gotta Love the Life was released on February 10, 2015, and it landed at #17 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart for the week of February 28, 2015.

On June 15, 2015, a second single, "Big Light," a duet with Al Jarreau, was released for radio.

Melissa released 'The Fellas' in 2017, more than 25 years after Melissa released 'Tribute', her 1989 album adoring female singers who inspired her, with male influences including Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Torme. This was Manchester's second independently produced studio album, with the Blue Note Orchestra from Citrus College in Glendora, CA, where she is artist-in-residence. There was only one duet on the album, 'For Me and My Gal', which was performed by Barry Manilow.

Melissa continued to be busy during the pandemic of 2020, releasing RE:VIEW, a re-envisioned and reworked collection of several of her previous hits. With its accompanying video, she launched just one song per month that addressed the time's political and social climates. The complete album was supposed for a Fall 2021 release via CD and streaming services.

She returned to playing club dates in 2021, but she was mostly telling stories and performing just a few songs from her catalog. Melissa was pleasantly surprised by Feinstein and Songbook Foundation Executive Director Christopher Lewis with the New Standard Award at one such appearance in which she shared the stage with Michael Feinstein. Feinstein said she was given the award while on vacation, and that the New Standard Award is given to a songwriter or performer whose writing and performing music that will withstand time and meet future pop expectations. Melissa Manchester is the only one in the description that fits more than Melissa Manchester. Over the years, her music has enriched the lives of so many people. Her songs, many of which we heard tonight, have become standard and are woven into our lives.

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Awards and recognitions

• In 1980, "Through The Eyes of Love" (from the Ice Castles original soundtrack) and "I'll Never Say Goodbye" (from The Promise) were nominated for Academy Awards (Manchester did not write the songs, and as such, was not an Academy Award nominee).
• Grammy Award: "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" (1982) (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance).
• Bronx Walk of Fame
• Manchester received the Governor's Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for her contributions to the music & recording arts.
• Her body of work to date as a singer/songwriter was a featured exhibit at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum.
• Manchester is an adjunct professor at the USC Thornton School of Music.
• Manchester presented "The Sonic Thermal" at TEDxRiverside explaining her lifelong focus on both random and composed melodies and the back-story behind her first crowd-funded album.
• Melissa was surprised by Feinstein and Songbook Foundation Executive Director Christopher Lewis with the Songbook Hall of Fame's New Standard Award for her contributions to The American Songbook and her timeless music on May 15, 2021.