| Melissa Manchester | |
| Background: | solo_singer |
| Birth Date: | 15 February 1951 |
| Birth Place: | New York City, U.S. |
| Years Active: | 1971–present |
Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951)[1] is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Since the 1970s, her songs have been played by adult contemporary radio stations. She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage.
Manchester was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, into a musical family. Her father, David Manchester, was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera for three decades.[2] 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.[3]
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.
She studied songwriting at New York University with Paul Simon when she was 19. Manchester played the Manhattan club scene, where Barry Manilow, a friend and fellow singer of jingles, introduced her to Bette Midler. In 1971, she became a member of the Harlettes, the back-up singers for Midler, which she co-created with Manilow.
Manchester made a brief speaking appearance as "Yoko Ono" on the 1972 album National Lampoon Radio Dinner, on the track titled "Magical Misery Tour", and as the singer in "Deteriorata".[4]
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 #6 for the week of August 9, 1975.[5]
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.[6] She performed the song live on Burt Sugarman's television series Midnight Special in 1973.
In 1976, Manchester released 'Come in From the Rain' on her 1976 Better Days & Happy Endings album. It has since been covered by several other artists including Captain & Tennille, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Eydie Gorme, Shirley Horn, Cleo Laine, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Jane Olivor, Liza Minnelli, Barbara Cook, Mel Torme, and Diana Ross.
Manchester appeared with Richie Havens, Melanie, and Frankie Valli as a contributor and performer in the 1977 NBC special documentary How the Beatles Changed the World. Manchester collaborated with Kenny Loggins to co-write Loggins' 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks, "Whenever I Call You 'Friend. She would later record this for her 1979 Melissa Manchester album. She guest-starred on the CBS-TV daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow to teach a main character (played by Michael Nouri), who played a singer-songwriter, the essentials of the craft. In 1979, Manchester reached #10 with her version of Peter Allen's "Don't Cry Out Loud", for which she received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.
In 1979, she performed two nominated songs on the Academy Awards show: "I'll Never Say Goodbye" (from The Promise) and "Through the Eyes of Love" (theme song from Ice Castles).[7] The winning song that year was "It Goes Like It Goes", from Norma Rae.[8]
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, beating out Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton-John, Juice Newton, and Laura Branigan. The song itself reached #4 in Cash Box[9] and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart[10] as well as #10 Adult Contemporary.[11]
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-ten entry on the AC chart was a 1989 updating of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By".[12] 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 , written by the Sherman Brothers and accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.[13]
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[14] 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, and co-writing (with bookwriter-lyricist Jeffrey Sweet) and starring in the musical I Sent a Letter to My Love based on the Bernice Rubens novel of the same name. In 1990, Manchester could be heard performing "I Wish I Knew", played over the opening credits of the CBS television drama The Trials of Rosie O'Neill. In addition, she opened Game 6 of the 1991 World Series singing the U.S. National Anthem.[15]
Manchester composed and recorded the soundtrack to the direct-to-video (2001).[16]
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."[17]
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 othe single benefit breast cancer research.[18]
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".[19]
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.[20]
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."[21] "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 #2 on the Smooth jazz charts.[22] [23] You Gotta Love the Life was released on February 10, 2015,[24] and hit #17 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart for the week of February 28, 2015.[25]
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.[26]
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 pandemic of 2020, Manchester kept busy working on her 24th album, RE:VIEW, a re-envisioned and reworked compilation of several of her previous hits. She released just one song per month with its accompanying video, which addressed the political and social climates of the time. The complete album was planned for a Fall 2021 release via CD and streaming services.
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 Songbook Foundation Executive Director Christopher Lewis with the Songbook Hall of Fame's New Standard Award. While presenting her with the award, Feinstein said, "Among the awards we present each year is the New Standard Award, which is presented to a songwriter or performer who continues to write and perform music that will stand the test of time and become the pop standards of tomorrow. I can't think of anyone who fits that description more than Melissa Manchester. Her music has touched the lives of so many people over the years. Her songs – many of which we heard tonight – have become standards and are part of the fabric of our lives."
In 2023, she played Mrs. Brice in the US national tour of the Broadway musical Funny Girl.[27]
"You Should Hear How She Talks About You" (1982) (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance).[28] [29]
On May 1, 1982, Manchester married Kevin De Remer, who had been serving as her tour coordinator.[32] They have two children.
Live albums
1998: I Sent a Letter to My Love, a musical recorded by L.A. Theatre Works
| Year | Single | Chart Positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US AC | US CB | Various | ||||
| 1967 | "Beautiful People" b/w "A Song for You" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 1973 | "Never Never Land" b/w "Be Happy Now" (from Home to Myself) | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 1974 | O Heaven (How You've Changed Me)" (single remix) b/w "Inclined" | — | — |
| — | Bright Eyes | |
| 1975 | "Midnight Blue" b/w "I Got Eyes" | 6 | 1 | 7 |
| Melissa | |
| "Just Too Many People" b/w "This Lady's Not Home Today" | 30 | 2 | 32 |
| |||
| 1976 | "Just You and I" b/w "Sing Sing Sing" | 27 | 3 | 46 |
| Better Days and Happy Endings | |
| "Better Days" b/w "My Sweet Thing" | 71 | 9 | 88 |
| |||
| "Happy Endings (single edit)" b/w "Rescue Me" | — | 33 | — | — | |||
| "Rescue Me" b/w "Happy Endings" | 78 | — |
| — | |||
| "Monkey See, Monkey Do" b/w "So's My Old Man" | — | — | — | — | Help Is on the Way | ||
| 1977 | "Be Somebody" b/w "Dirty Work" | — | — | — | — | ||
| "I Wanna Be Where You Are (single mix)" b/w "No One's Ever Seen This Side of Me" | — | — | — | — | Singin | ||
| 1978 | "Don't Cry Out Loud" b/w "We Had This Time" | 10 | 9 | 10 |
| Don't Cry Out Loud | |
| 1979 | "Through the Eyes of Love (Theme from Ice Castles) (single mix)" b/w "Such a Morning" | 76 | 13 | 87 |
| Ice Castles (Original Soundtrack) & Don't Cry Out Loud (Single Mix) | |
| "Pretty Girls" b/w "All in the Sky Above" | 39 | 26 | 44 |
| Melissa Manchester | ||
| 1980 | "Fire in the Morning" b/w "Lights of Dawn" | 32 | 8 | 35 |
| ||
| "If This Is Love" b/w "Talk" | 102 | 19 |
| — | For the Working Girl | ||
| "Lovers After All" feat. Peabo Bryson b/w "Happier Than I've Ever Been" | 54 | 25 | 74 | — | |||
| "Without You" b/w "Boys In The Backroom" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1982 | "Race to the End" b/w "Long Goodbyes" (Non-LP track) | — | — | — | — | Hey Ricky | |
| "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" b/w "Long Goodbyes" (Non-LP track) | 5 | 10 | 4 |
| |||
| "Hey Ricky (You're a Low-Down Heel)" b/w "Come in from the Rain" (1982 Version) | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1983 | "Nice Girls" b/w "Hey Ricky" | 42 | 22 | 40 | — | Greatest Hits | |
| "My Boyfriend's Back" b/w "Looking For The Perfect Aah" | — | 33 | — |
| |||
| "No One Can Love You More Than Me" b/w "White Rose" | 78 | 34 | — |
| Emergency | ||
| "I Don't Care What the People Say" b/w "Emergency" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1984 | "Thief of Hearts" b/w "Thief of Hearts" (instrumental) | 86 | 18 | — |
| Thief of Hearts (Soundtrack) | |
| 1985 | "Ma+hema+ics" b/w "So Full of Yourself" (Non-LP track) written by Manchester | 74 | — | 73 | — | Ma+hema+ics | |
| "Energy" b/w "So Full of Yourself" | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Just One Lifetime" (Barbra Streisand's wedding song) b/w "So Full of Yourself" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1986 | "The Music of Goodbye" (with Al Jarreau) b/w "Have You Got A Story For Me?" John Barry (composer) | — | 16 | — |
| Out of Africa (Soundtrack) | |
| 1989 | "Walk On By" b/w To Make You Smile Again (1989 Version) | — | 6 | — | — | Tribute | |
| 1995 | "In a Perfect World" | — | — | — | — | If My Heart Had Wings | |
| "Here to Love You" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2004 | "After All This Time" | — | — | — | — | When I Look Down That Road | |
| "Bend" b/w "Treasure" (Non-CD track) | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Angels Dancing" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2006 | "My Christmas Song for You" | — | — | — | Platinum Christmas, Vol. 3 | ||
| 2008 | "The Power of Ribbons" | — | — | — | — | The Power Of Ribbons" | |
| 2011 | "You've Got a Friend" (Long Version) | — | — | — | — | Barry Manilow Duets | |
| 2011 | "Rainbird" | — | — | — | — | Dirty Girl (Soundtrack) | |
| 2013 | "I Know Who I Am" (Live) | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Be My Baby" | — | — | — | — | You Gotta Love The Life | ||
| 2014 | "Two Courageous Hearts" (The Remixes by Mig & Mike Rizzo) | — | — | — |
| Single only | |
| 2015 | "Feelin' for You" feat. Keb' Mo' | — | — | — | #2 Smooth Jazz | You Gotta Love the Life | |
| "Big Light" feat. Al Jarreau | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Open Spaces & Gas Stations" written with James Collins | — | — | — | — | Single only | ||
| 2016 | "Let There Be More Light" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2017 | "Ain't That A Kick In The Head" | — | — | — | — | The Fellas[35] | |
| "For Me and My Gal" (video) feat. Barry Manilow | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2018 | "A Better Rainbow" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2020 | "Just You And I" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2020 | "Midnight Blue" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2020 | "Don't Cry Out Loud" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2021 | "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2021 | "Covid-19 Blues" feat. Tony Orlando | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2021 | "Fire In The Morning" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2022 | "Come In From The Rain" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2022 | "You Can't Hide The Light" (Duet with Johnny Schaefer) | — | — | — | Single only | ||
| 2022 | "Through The Eyes Of Love" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2023 | "Lessons To Be Learned" | — | — | — | — | Single only | |
| 2023 | Whenever I Call You Friend (Duet with Kenny Loggins) | — | — | — | — | From the forthcoming album Re:View 2050 | |
| 2024 | Midnight Blue (Duet with Dolly Parton) b/w Confide In Me | — | — | — | — | From the forthcoming album Re:View 2050 | |
| Year | Song Title | Artist | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | "Deteriorata", "Magical Misery Tour" | National Lampoon | Radio Dinner | |
| 1977 | "They Never Met" | Martin Mull | I'm Everyone I've Ever Loved | |
| 1978 | "A Half Hour of Heaven (and Eight Hours of Sleep)" | Martin Mull | Sex & Violins | |
| 1990 | "Making Every Moment Count" | Peter Allen | Making Every Moment Count | |
| 1996 | "Stand in the Light" | Tatsuro Yamashita | Cozy | |
| 2000 | "A Mother and Father's Prayer" | Collin Raye | Counting Sheep | |
| 2002 | "Never Let Me Go" | Michael Feinstein | Livingston & Evans Songbook | |
| 2008 | "You've Got a Friend" | Barry Manilow | Greatest Songs of the 70's | |
| 2010 | "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" & "What You Won't Do for Love" (not released yet) | Juice Newton | Duets: Friends & Memories | |
| 2018 | "A Fine Romance" | Oleg Frish | Duets With My American Idols | |
| 2019 | "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" | Keb' Mo' | Moonlight, Mistletoe & You |
Manchester appeared on the Blossom television series as Maddy Russo, from 1993 to 1995. She played Corrine in the feature film For the Boys (1991) and the piano teacher in Dirty Girl (2010). In addition to live performances as herself, Manchester composes and performs songs and has done character voice in animated works.[36]
| 1978 | The Promise | Performance | |
| 1980 | The Music of Melissa Manchester | Performance | |
| 1984 | The Last Starfighter | "Just One Star Beyond", written by Melissa and Craig Safan for the Sci-Fi Cult Classic The Last Starfighter | |
| 1986 | The Great Mouse Detective | Songwriter, Voice of Miss Kitty Mouse | |
| 1991 | For the Boys | Actor | |
| 1992 | Musical Performer | ||
| 1993 | Precious Moments: Simon the Lamb | Duet with James Ingram – "The Brightest Star" | |
| 1998 | Precious Moments: Timmy's Special Delivery | Reprise of duet with James Ingram – "The Brightest Star" | |
| 2001 | Songwriter | ||
| 2010 | Michel Legrand & Friends: 50 Years of Music and Movies | Performance | |
| 2010 | Dirty Girl | Actor | |
| 2010 | For Colored Girls | Songwriter – "I Know Who I Am" |