Melissa Manchester

Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. During the 1970s and 1980s, her music found widespread success and popularity, particularly in the adult contemporary market. Throughout her career, she has written many of her own songs, most notably her first mainstream hit single, 1975's "Midnight Blue". She is also well-known for her song "Come In from the Rain", her rendition of "Don't Cry Out Loud", and the Academy Award-nominated "Through the Eyes of Love". Her most successful song on the music charts is 1982's "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", landing at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. She has also gone on to appear on television, in films, and on stage.

Early life and career

Manchester was born on February 15, 1951, in the Bronx, Her mother was one of the first women to design and found her own clothing firm, Ruth Manchester Ltd. The Manchesters are of Jewish origin.

Manchester started a singing career at an early age. She learned the piano and harpsichord at the Manhattan School of Music, began singing commercial jingles at age 15, and became a staff writer at age 17 for Chappell Music while attending Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.

Solo career Manchester's debut album, Home to Myself, was released in 1973; Manchester co-wrote many of its songs with Carole Bayer Sager. Two years later, her album Melissa produced her first top-ten hit, "Midnight Blue", which enjoyed 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song's peak position was No. 6 for the week of August 9, 1975.

In 1974, she performed the songs "O Heaven" and "Home to Myself" on the pilot episode of Ms. magazine's television show, Woman Alive!, a feminist program. She performed the song live on Burt Sugarman's television series Midnight Special in 1973.

In 1976, Manchester released her album Better Days & Happy Endings, which included the song "Come in From the Rain". While it was never released as a single, the song became popular and has since been covered by several other artists including Captain & Tennille, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Eydie Gormé, Shirley Horn, Cleo Laine, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Jane Olivor, Liza Minnelli, Barbara Cook, Mel Tormé, and Diana Ross. The winning song that year was "It Goes Like It Goes" from Norma Rae.

In 1980, she appeared on The Muppet Show.

In 1982, she released the smash "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", which won the 1983 Grammy for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance, and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as No. 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

In 1985, she signed with MCA Records and released the album Ma+hematics.

Manchester continued to place singles on the Adult Contemporary charts throughout the 1980s. Another Top 10 entry on the AC chart was a 1989 updating of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By". The single was pulled from her Mika/Polygram album Tribute, which honored some of the singers that influenced her style. In 1992 she sang the title song for the animated musical Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, written by the Sherman Brothers and accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1995, she released the album If My Heart Had Wings on Atlantic Records.

She appeared as herself during a two-day guest appearance on the ABC-TV daytime drama General Hospital to sing the song for Robin Scorpio and her AIDS-afflicted boyfriend Stone Cates.

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Manchester alternated recording with acting, appearing with Bette Midler in the film For the Boys, on the television series Blossom,

Later career to present Manchester composed and recorded the soundtrack to the direct-to-video Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001).

In 2004, Manchester returned with her first album in nine years, When I Look Down That Road. While touring to support the album, she was praised for her still "powerful voice" and for "reinventing [herself] while staying true to what made [her] popular."

In April 2007, she returned to theater, starring in the Chicago production of HATS! The Musical, a show to which she and Sharon Vaughn contributed two songs. Also in 2007, she recorded a duet cover with Barry Manilow of the Carole King classic "You've Got a Friend" on Manilow's The Greatest Songs of the Seventies. In 2008, Manchester released a new single, "The Power of Ribbons", to digital retailers. Proceeds from the single benefit breast cancer research.

In 2011, an independent film named Dirty Girl was released with many of Manchester's songs used throughout the film, five of which made it onto 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".

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

In an interview with NPR, Manchester talks about the crowd-funding experience and relays the back-story behind the single "Feelin' for You". A drunk in a juke joint approached Manchester and asked if she was married, to which she replied, "Yes, very happily." The drunk replied, "Too bad, cause I got a feelin' for you." "Feelin' for You", written by Manchester and Sara Niemietz, includes a solo by Keb' Mo'. The single was released on January 9, 2015, and premiered at No. 2 on the Smooth Jazz charts. You Gotta Love the Life was released on February 10, 2015, and hit No. 17 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart for the week of February 28, 2015.

A second single, "Big Light", featuring a duet with Al Jarreau, along with an accompanying music video, was released for radio on June 15, 2015.

In 2017, more than 25 years after Manchester released Tribute, her 1989 album honoring the female singers who influenced her, she released The Fellas, with covers of male influences including Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Torme. This was Manchester's second independently produced studio album, which featured accompaniment by 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', performed with Barry Manilow.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Manchester kept busy working on her 24th album, Re:View, a re-envisioned and reworked compilation of several of her previous hits.

In 2021, she returned to playing club dates, though mainly telling stories and singing just a few songs of her catalog. During one such performance in which she shared the stage with Michael Feinstein, Manchester was surprised by Feinstein and Great American Songbook Foundation Executive Director Christopher Lewis with the Songbook Hall of Fame's New Standard Award.

In 2023, she played Mrs. Brice in the US national tour of the Broadway musical Funny Girl.

Awards and recognitions In 1979 and 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. Melissa was honored by the Great American Songbook Foundation with the Songbook Hall of Fame New Standard Award for her contributions to the American Songbook and her timeless music on May 15, 2021. On May 1, 1982, Manchester married Kevin De Remer, who had been serving as her tour coordinator. They have two children and divorced in 2014.

Discography Studio albums 1973: Home to Myself – US #156 1974: Bright Eyes – US #159 1975: Melissa – US #12 1976: Better Days & Happy Endings – US #24 1976: Help Is on the Way – US #60 1977: Singin'... – US #60 1978: Don't Cry Out Loud – US #33, AUS #75 1979: Melissa Manchester – US #63, AUS #93 Single only

"Feelin' for You" feat. Keb' Mo'

"For Me and My Gal" (video) feat. Barry Manilow