Melanie, the singer-songwriter who rose to fame after Woodstock and sang the hit Brand New Key, has died at the age of 76

Singer Melanie, who was best known for her immensely 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 people,” they began, with a greeting their mother often preferred when writing to fans: “This is the hardest message for us to write, and there are so many things we want to say first, and there is no easy way except to say it… My mother passed peacefully from this world to the next on January 23, 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 that time” and noted that “every word she wrote and every note she sang reflected that.”

They urged her fans to light a candle in honor of their mother on Wednesday, January 24 at 10pm Central Time.

“Our world is much darker, the colors of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale in her absence today,” they continued, “but we know she is still there, smiling down on us all, on all of you, from the stars. .'

Although her string of hits had faded by the mid-1970s, Melanie continued to record and perform live until the end, and had previously been in the studio in January working on a new album of covers, entitled Second Hand Smoke.

Melanie was born Melanie Anne Safka in Astoria, Queen, in 1947, and 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 pursue a college education, but while attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts she also worked on the side singing in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village, which was then a had great experience. rise in popularity that would propel singers like Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary to stardom.

She briefly signed with Columbia Records, but with the smaller label Buddah Records 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 appearances in Europe, and she further expanded her profile when she became one of only three female solo acts to play the iconic Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969.

The festival served as inspiration for her first American hit, Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), which also featured the singers of Edwin Hawkins and was released in 1970.

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 song 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 later received gold certification from 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-along performance give the song a sense of childlike wonder, some radio stations and more conservative listeners considered the lyrics to be 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 denied that she had deliberately tried to write sexual lyrics.

Brand New Key was later given a new lease of life when Paul Thomas Anderson used it in his critically acclaimed 1997 film Boogie Nights.

The song's success kept her on the charts throughout 1974, but her string of hits quickly dried up, even though she remained popular with her devoted fan base for years.

Melanie continued to release studio albums every few years until 2010's Ever Since You Never Heard Of Me, and in recent years she has filled the drought of recordings with live archive albums.

Melanie spent her last years 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 reflected that she was never afforded the critical respect that some of her fellow singers who started out in the folk scene received.

She also complained that male singer-songwriters were perceived as writing more intellectual songs than she did.

'Men can be cute. Randy Newman can sing Short People and that's fine because he's a man, he has something to say. But a girl? How can she ever have any social significance,” she said as she spoke The guard in 2021.

At the time, she also shared her bitterness at how many listeners considered Brand New Key a novelty hit due to its nursery rhyme-like sound and her sing-along performance.

The singer received renewed critical and commercial interest when Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker invited her to perform a solo concert at the Meltdown Festival in London in 2007.

Her show sold out due to huge 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.