Singer Melanie (Safka) 1947 - 2024

[Zoneboy]

https://variety.com/2024/music/obitu...ck-1235886892/

Melanie, the singer who performed at Woodstock in 1969 and had major pop hits with “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)” in the early ’70s, died Tuesday at age 76. News of the death came from her publicity firm, Glass Onyon PR.

No information on the cause of death was immediately given. But Melanie — full name Melanie Safka — had been in the studio earlier this month working on a new record of cover songs, “Second Hand Smoke,” for the Cleopatra label; it would have been her 32nd album, the label said.

Melanie’s first pop hit was “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),” a gospel-flavored collaboration with the Edwin Hawkins Singers that reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 in 1970. It was followed in 1971 by “Brand New Key,” an inescapable hit that was taken as a sort of children’s tune by some and full of sexual innuendo by others. It reached No. 1, and was her only other top 10 hit in the U.S. In the UK, she also reached the top 10 with a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday.”

“It was the bane of my existence for a few years,” Melanie told the Guardian in 2021 about “Brand New Key,” which was perceived by many as a novelty song, due to its childlike tone. The singer said it was composed as a blues tune, but she sped it up in search of greater commercial appeal.

Melanie did not always get her due in the male-dominated folk-rock scene of the time, and was too rarely mentioned even in the company of female artists like Joni Mitchell. She speculated with the Guardian about why that might have been: “It wasn’t the age of smiling women,” she said. “It had to be much more broody and I was way too cherubic. Men can be cute. Randy Newman can sing ‘Short People’ and that’s OK because he’s a guy, he’s got something to say. But a girl? How could she possibly have any social significance?”

Safka was born in Astoria, New York on Feb. 3, 1947 and raised in Queens. She studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, but it was her interest in performing at the folk clubs of Greenwich Village that would lead to her ultimate career path.

She was a virtual unknown when she was helicoptered into the Woodstock Festival in 1969, before she had any hits on the radio. In 1989, and again in 2019, as the festival reached landmark anniversaries, she wrote about the experience for Rolling Stone.

“I had my first out-of-body experience. I was terrified,” she said. “I just left my body, going to a side, higher view. I watched myself walk onto the stage, sit down and sing a couple of lines. And when I felt it was safe, I came back. It started to rain right before I went on. Ravi Shankar had just finished up his performance, and the announcer said that if you lit candles, it would help to keep the rain away. By the time I finished my set, the whole hillside was a mass of little flickering lights. I guess that’s one of the reasons I came back to my body.”

That experience was the basis of “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),” her breakthrough hit, and possibly her most popular song today, despite “Brand New Key” having been more ubiquitous in its day. Candles lighting up became a trademark of her shows, and that song “became so connected with my concerts that my shows were getting banned because fire departments wouldn’t approve them,” she said.

Her husband, producer and manager, Peter Schekeryk, died in 2010. She had been collaborating musically with her son Beau Jarred and daughters Leilah and Jeordie in recent years on recordings and in concert.

Melanie had her biggest hits at the outset of the ’70s with the Buddah label, which she left in 1971 to found her own label, becoming a pioneer for independent artists. She had recently signed with the L.>-based Cleopatra label, which has been in the process of bringing together her entire post-Buddah catalog for reissue.


In early January, according to her label, Melanie recorded a cover of Morrissey’s “Ouija Board Ouija Board” for a forthcoming tribute album celebrating his music. (Morrissey was known to be a fan of hers, having covered “Some Say (I Got Devil).”) She had also just cut a version of and Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” for her planned covers album, “Second Hand Smoke.”

Other songs she had recorded for the new record included Radiohead’s “Creep,” the Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin,” Depeche Mode’s “Enjoy The Silence” and David Bowie’s “Everyone Says Hi.”

[1960'sTVfan]

Oh my this is an especially sad one, I liked her and she was a pretty big part of the music scene in the early 1970's. She'll always be known for her #1 hit "Brand New Key". May she R.I.P.

[80sTrivia]

So very sad to hear of Melanie's passing...

[Duster76]

I loved her music. As big as Brand New Key was my favorites were Beautiful People, The Nickel Song, and Ring The Living Bell.

[ABlairican Pie]

I remember "Brand New Key" as a song from my pre-teen years in the early 70's. I was not aware of the spiritual significance of "Lay Down (Candles In the Rain)" of her experience at Woodstock.

[Bonniegirl]

Very sad to hear of her passing . Really liked her back in the day. LAY down ( candles in the rain ) was my favorite of her songs . Very beautiful .

Rest in peace Melanie!

[Hawkee]

What a shock that Melanie passed away today because I was listening to her this morning and I heard the song Brand New Key and it's a great song that Katharine McPhee covered as well as a band named Rasputina covered it in 1997 and Melanie's songs were cute and some were funny with funny titles like Christopher Robin and Nickel Song and I bet you remember the song Animal Crackers? I also heard Lay Down "Candles In The Rain" which could've been Melanie's first attempt at gospel music too

[1960'sTVfan]

Originally Posted by Duster76

I loved her music. As big as Brand New Key was my favorites were Beautiful People, The Nickel Song, and Ring The Living Bell.

Ring The Living Bell is a good one, I like that song also.

I've been watching a few videos of Melanie from the early 1970's and she was quite beautiful indeed, a lovely young lady.

[Dude111]