Melanie, the singer-songwriter who shot to fame after Woodstock and sang the chart-topping hit Brand New Key, is dead at 76
The singer Melanie Safka, who was best known for her massively popular singles Lay Down (Candles In The Rain), Brand New Key and the Rolling Stones cover Ruby Tuesday, has died.
The songwriter’s children Leilah, Jeordie and Beau-Jarred announced that she died on January 23 at the age of 76.
‘Dear ones,’ they began, using a greeting that their mother often favored when writing to fans, ‘This is the hardest post for us to write, and there are so many things we want to say, first, and there’s no easy way except to say it… Mom passed, peacefully, out of this world and into the next on January 23rd, 2024.’
Her cause of death was not immediately released.
Melanie’s children praised her as ‘one of the most talented, strong and passionate women of the era,’ noting that ‘every word she wrote, every note she sang reflected that.’
The singer Melanie, who was best known for her massively popular singles Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) and Brand New Key has died; pictured circa 1970
They urged her fans to light a candle in honor of their mother on Wednesday, January 24, at 10 p.m. Central Time.
‘Our world is much dimmer, the colors of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale with her absence today,’ they continued,’ but we know that she is still here, smiling down on all of us, on all of you, from the stars.’
Although her string of hits had petered out by the mid-1970s, Melanie continued to record and perform live to the end, and she had been working in the studio on a new album of cover songs, titled Second Hand Smoke, earlier in January.
Melanie was born Melanie Anne Safka in Astoria, Queen, in 1947, and she graduated from high school in New Jersey in 1964.
She went on to study acting at the insistence of her parents, who wanted her to get a college education, but while attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts she also worked on the side by singing at Greenwich Village folk clubs, which were then experience a surge in popularity that would propel singers including Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary to stardom.
She was signed briefly to Columbia Records, but it was with the smaller label Buddah Records that she had her first real success in 1969 with the single Bobo’s Party, which topped the charts in France and did well elsewhere in Europe.
The song’s success led to TV performances in Europe, and she further expanded her profile when she became one of only three solo female acts to play at the iconic Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969.
The festival served as the inspiration for her first US hit, Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), which also featured the Edwin Hawkins singers and was released in 1970.
Melanie’s children urged her fans to light a candle in her memory on Wednesday, January 24, at 10 p.m. Central Time; pictured with Woodstock co-creator Michael Lang at her Long Island Music Hall of Fame induction in 2018
The songstress’ hits petered out after the mid-’70s but she continued to record and perform to the end, and she was reportedly working on a covers album as of earlier in January; seen in 1989 at Woodstock 20th anniversary concert
After success in 1969 in Europe, she became one of only three solo women to play Woodstock, and the experience inspired her hit later Lay Down (Candles In The Rain) in 1970; seen in 1969
The song reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, marking her first top 10 single.
Later that year she released a modestly popular cover of the Rolling Stones’ classic tune Ruby Tuesday.
Melanie’s biggest hit to date was her 1971 song Brand New Key, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and was later achieved Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
The song was produced by her husband Peter Schekeryk, who died in 2010.
Although the song’s melody and Melanie’s sing-song delivery give the song a sense of childlike wonder, some radio stations and more conservative listeners saw the lyrics as filled with sexually suggestive phrases. She later admitted that she understood why some listeners could make the connection based on common symbols in the lyrics, but she denied intentionally trying to write sexual lyrics.
Brand New Key later had a second life when Paul Thomas Anderson used it in his acclaimed 1997 film Boogie Nights.
The song’s success helped her stay on the charts throughout 1974, but her string of hits quickly dried up, even though she remained popular with her devoted fanbase for years to come.
Melanie continued to release studio albums every few years up to 2010’s Ever Since You Never Heard Of Me, and she filled the drought of recordings with archival live albums in recent years.
Melanie spent her final years living near Nashville, Tennessee.
Her three children Leilah, Jeordie and Beau-Jarred all followed in her footsteps by becoming musicians.
Her youngest, Beau-Jarred, even accompanied his mother on guitar during live performances.
In her later years, Melanie mused that she was never afforded the critical respect that some of her fellow female singers who began in the folk scene received.
She also complained that male singer–songwriters were presumed to write more intellectual songs that she did.
‘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,’ she said while speaking with The Guardian in 2021.
Her 1971 hit Brand New Key reached number one on the charts and was certified Gold. It led to hits throughout 1974, and she continued to release studio LPs until 2010; seen in 1969
Melanie had a late-career triumph when Jarvis Cocker invited her to play a sold-out solo concert at London’s Meltdown Festival in 2007, which was released as a concert film; pictured on the cover of her third LP, Candles In The Rain
At the time, she also shared her bitterness over how many listeners considered Brand New Key to be a novelty hit due to its nursery-rhyme like sound and her sing-song delivery.
The songstress received renewed critical and commercial interest when Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker invited her to perform a solo concert at London’s Meltdown Festival in 2007.
Her show sold out in the face of massive demand, and the filmed performance was later released as the concert film Melanie: For One Night Only.
Her recently recorded covers album Second Hand Smoke is expected to be released later this year.
