Melody Gardot
{{Short description|American jazz singer (born 1985)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Melody Gardot
| image = Melody Gardot Berlin 2010.jpg
| caption = Gardot in Berlin, Germany, 2010
| background = solo_singer
| birth_name = Melody Gardot
| birth_date ={{birth date and age|mf=yes|1985|2|2}}
| birth_place = New Jersey
| origin =Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
| genre = Jazz
| occupation = Musician, songwriter
| instrument = Vocals, guitar, piano
| years_active = 2004–present
| label ={{flatlist|
| associated_acts =
| website = {{URL|www.melodygardot.co.uk}}
}}
Melody Gardot ({{IPAc-en|ɡ|ɑr|ˈ|d|oʊ}}; born February 2, 1985) is an American jazz singer.
At the age of 19, Gardot was hit by an SUV and sustained a head injury. Music played a critical role in her recovery. She became an advocate of music therapy, visiting hospitals and universities to discuss its benefits. In 2012, she gave her name to a music therapy program in New Jersey.{{cite magazine |title=Unchained Melody|magazine=Telegraph Magazine |location=London|date=May 5, 2012|quote=When she was 19 a road accident nearly ended Melody Gardot's life – and started her acclaimed singing career. Eight years on, she still can't escape the pain but it hasn't stopped her traveling the world to record her third album}}
Early life and education
Gardot was born in New Jersey and was brought up by her grandparents. Her grandmother was a Polish immigrant. Her mother, a photographer, traveled often, so they had few possessions and lived out of suitcases.{{cite book|last=Iley|first=Chrissie|title=The Sunday Times Magazine|date=March 29, 2009|pages=12–17}}{{cite news|title=The Making of Melody|work=European Intelligence Wire|date=September 20, 2009}} Gardot studied fashion at the Community College of Philadelphia.{{cite web|url=http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-05-12/music3.shtml|title=Unchained Melody|work=Philadelphia City Paper|access-date=August 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090817105646/http://www.citypaper.net/articles/2005-05-12/music3.shtml|archive-date=August 17, 2009}}
Accident and therapy
While riding her bicycle in Philadelphia in November 2003,{{cite web|url=http://www.jazzreview.com/article/review-4262.html|title=Melody Gardot hits New York|date=July 2005|access-date=August 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506031452/http://www.jazzreview.com/article/review-4262.html|archive-date=May 6, 2009}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87997628|title=Melody Gardot's Road to Recovery |website=NPR.org |date=March 2008}} Gardot was struck by an SUV and sustained head, spinal, and pelvic injuries.{{cite web|last1=Zuel|first1=Bernard|title=Melody Gardot should not be playing music|url=http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/articles/2009/05/01/1240982395719.html?page=2|website=Brisbane Times|access-date=August 9, 2009|language=en|date=May 2, 2009}} Confined to a hospital bed for a year, she needed to relearn simple tasks and was left oversensitive to light and sound. Suffering from short- and long-term memory loss, she struggled with her sense of time.{{cite news|title=How Melody Gardot Found Her Voice|newspaper=CBS News|date=June 14, 2010}}
Encouraged by a physician who believed music would help heal her brain, Gardot learned to hum, then to sing into a tape recorder, and eventually to write songs.{{cite web|url=http://www.bluesandsoul.com/feature/359/melody_gardot_meldoy_cool/|title=melody gardot: melody cool|author=Stephen Clark – Design}}
For several years, she traveled with a physiotherapist and carried a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator to reduce pain.
Given her oversensitivity to sound, she chose quieter music. On the treadmill, she listened to bossa nova by Stan Getz, specifically "The Girl from Ipanema". Unable to sit comfortably at the piano, she learned to play guitar on her back. During her recovery, she wrote songs that became part of the self-produced EP Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions.{{cite web|last1=Holden|first1=Stephen|title=From Death's Door to Earning the Keys to the World|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/15/arts/music/15gardot.html|website=The New York Times|access-date=July 28, 2017|date=October 15, 2009}} Gardot was reluctant to record her songs at first, stating that they were too private for the public to hear, but relented and allowed her songs to be played on a Philadelphia radio station.
Personal life
Gardot is a Buddhist,{{cite magazine |last= Kerr|first=Alison |date=June 13, 2009 |title=Interview|magazine=The Herald Magazine|pages=14–17}}{{cite web|url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article5980706.ece|title=Melody Gardot: Music is my love – men are just my lovers|last=Iley |first=Chrissy|work=Times online|access-date=November 21, 2009|location=iley | date=March 29, 2009}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} macrobiotic cook,{{cite web|last1=Gardot|first1=Melody|title=10 Useful Steps for Getting Started with Macrobiotics – Melody Gardot|url=http://www.macrobiotics.co.uk/gettingstarted.htm|website=www.macrobiotics.co.uk|access-date=March 16, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090314033331/http://macrobiotics.co.uk/gettingstarted.htm|archive-date=March 14, 2009|url-status=dead}} and humanitarian.{{cite magazine |last=Bonetti |first=Deborah |date=May 12, 2015 |title=Melody Gardot – La politica del jazz|magazine=Style (Il Giornale) |location=Italy}} She speaks fluent French in addition to her native English and considers herself a "citizen of the world".{{cite web|last1=Henn|first1=Jennifer L.|title=Globetrotting Melody Gardot makes Westhampton Beach a stop for a performance on June 6|url=http://www.27east.com/news/article.cfm/news/280994/Globetrotting-Melody-Gardot-makes-Westhampton-Beach-a-stop-for-a-performance-on-June-6|website=27east|access-date=June 10, 2010|date=June 1, 2010}}
Music career
Image:Melody Gardot em Portugal.JPG
Gardot started music lessons at the age of nine and began playing piano in Philadelphia bars at the age of 16 on Fridays and Saturdays for four hours a night. She insisted on playing only music she liked, such as The Mamas & the Papas, Duke Ellington, and Radiohead.{{cite web|url=http://www.classicsandjazz.co.uk/plink/Melody+Gardot|title=Melody Gardot|access-date=August 9, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090722163619/http://www.classicsandjazz.co.uk/plink/Melody+Gardot|archive-date=July 22, 2009}}
During her time in the hospital she learned how to play the guitar and began writing songs, which were made available as downloads on iTunes and released on Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions in 2005. She began to play these songs at venues in Philadelphia and was noticed by employees of the radio station WXPN, operated by the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She was encouraged to send a demo tape to the radio station, and the tape found its way to the Universal Music Group. She released her first album, Worrisome Heart (Verve, 2006), then My One and Only Thrill (Verve 2009), produced by Larry Klein.
Discography
=Studio albums=
=Extended plays=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ List of extended plays, with selected chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Details ! scope="col" colspan="1"| Peak chart positions |
| scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| US Jazz {{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/melody-gardot/chart-history/jls/ |title=Melody Gardot Chart History (Jazz Albums) |magazine=Billboard |access-date=December 7, 2020}} |
|---|
| scope="row"| Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions
|
| — |
| scope="row"| Live from SoHo
|
| 2 |
| scope="row"| Bye Bye Blackbird
|
| — |
| scope="row"| A Night with Melody EP
|
| — |
| colspan="3" style="font-size:90%"| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. |
=Live albums=
| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ List of live albums, with selected chart positions ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:12em;"| Title ! scope="col" rowspan="2" style="width:16em;"| Details ! scope="col" colspan="7"| Peak chart positions |
| scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| US Current ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| US ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| AUT ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| FRA ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| GER ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| JPN ! scope="col" style="width:2.5em;font-size:90%;"| NLD |
|---|
| scope="row"| Live in Europe
|
| 97 || 2 || 14 || 16 || 14 || 162 || 152 |
=Singles=
- "Worrisome Heart" (2008)
- "Goodnite" (2008)
- "Quiet Fire" (2008)
- "Who Will Comfort Me" (2009)
- "Baby I'm a Fool" (2009)
- "If the Stars Were Mine" (2009)
- "Your Heart Is as Black as Night" (2011)
- "Mira" (2012)
- "Amalia" (2012)
- "La vie en rose" (2012){{cite web|url=http://melodygardot.co.uk/2012/05/01/melody-gardot-teams-up-with-piaget/|title=Melody Gardot Teams Up with Piaget|access-date=May 1, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203020749/http://melodygardot.co.uk/2012/05/01/melody-gardot-teams-up-with-piaget/|archive-date=February 3, 2013}}
- "Same to You" (2015)
- "Preacherman" (2015)Bonetti, Deborah (May 12, 2015) "Melody Gardot – La politica del jazz". Style Magazine, Italy.
- "It Gonna Come" (2016)
- "From Paris with Love" (2020)
- "Little Something" (featuring Sting) (2020)
- "Sunset in the Blue" (2020)
- "C'est Magnifique" (featuring Antonio Zambujo) (2020)
Collaborations
Gardot appears on the following songs, on vocals and occasionally piano or guitar, by other artists:
- Beaucoup Blue – "Bluer Than a Midnight Sky" on Free to Fall
- Till Brönner – "High Night (Alta Noite)" on RIO (2008)
- Charlie Haden Quartet West – "If I'm Lucky" on Sophisticated Ladies (EmArcy, 2010)
- Seth Kallen & The Reaction – "My Sweet Darling" on Exhibit A
- Phil Roy – "A Meditation on War and the Fight for Love" on The Great Longing
- Eddy Mitchell – "Derrière l'arc-en-ciel / Over the Rainbow" on Grand ecran
- Juliette Gréco – "Sous les ponts de Paris (Under the Bridges of Paris)" on Ça se traverse et c'est beau (Feb. 2012)
- Jesse Harris – "Tant pis" on Sub Rosa (July 2012)
- Baptiste Trotignon – "Mon fantôme" on Song Song Song (Sept. 2012)
- Lizanne Knott – "There Are Angels" on Marionette (Sept. 2012, UK release)
- Federico Aubele – "Somewhere Else" on 5 (Fall 2013)
- Pierre Aderne – "Limoeiro" and "Melodia e Letra" on Caboclo (2014/2015)
- Vinicius Cantuária – "Insensatez" on Vinicius canta Antonio Carlos Jobim (2015)
- "He's a tramp" and "The Bare Necessities" on Jazz loves Disney (2016)
- "C'est trop tard" on Elles & Barbara (2017)
- "The King of 52nd Street" on The Passion Of Charlie Parker (2017)
- "La Chanson Des Vieux Amants" on "Brel - Ces gens-lá" (2019)
- "La javanaise" on "Les pianos de Gainsbourg" by André Manoukian (2021)
- "Waiting", "Rio Negro", "How Long", and "Surpresa" on Surpresa by Jesse Harris & Vincicius Cantuaria (2021){{cite web |url=https://sunnysiderecords.bandcamp.com/album/surpresa |title = Surpresa {{!}} Jesse Harris & Vinicius Cantuaria {{!}} Sunnyside Records}}
Notes
{{notelist-ua}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- [http://melodygardot.co.uk/ Melody Gardot official website]
{{Melody Gardot}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardot, Melody}}
Category:Jazz musicians from Philadelphia
Category:Singers from Pennsylvania
Category:Community College of Philadelphia alumni
Category:American women jazz singers
Category:American jazz singers
Category:American people of Polish descent
Category:21st-century American women singers
Category:American ballad musicians
Category:21st-century American singers
Category:American activists with disabilities