ADVERTISEMENT

Melanie, singer-songwriter of ‘Brand New Key’ and other ‘70s hits, dies at 76

cigaretteman

HR King
May 29, 2001
77,442
58,937
113
Chicago Tribune


Jumble Daily & Crossword
Play Now





Advertisement

Obituaries

Melanie, singer-songwriter of ‘Brand New Key’ and other ‘70s hits, dies at 76​

By Andrew Dalton
Associated Press

Published: Jan 25, 2024 at 10:09 am



The singer-songwriter Melanie plays the Day in the Garden concert in Woodstock, N.Y., on Aug. 15, 1998.

The singer-songwriter Melanie plays the Day in the Garden concert in Woodstock, N.Y., on Aug. 15, 1998. (SUZANNE DECHILLO/Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times)


Melanie, the singer-songwriter who rose through the New York folk scene, performed at Woodstock and had a series of 1970s hits including the enduring cultural phenomenon “Brand New Key,” has died.

Her publicist Billy James told The Associated Press that Melanie died Tuesday. She was 76 and lived in central Tennessee. The cause was not immediately revealed.



“Our world is much dimmer, the colors of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale with her absence today,” her children Leilah, Jeordie and Beau Jarred, said in a post on her Facebook page announcing her death.

With a voice that could shift from high-pitched and coy to a deep soulful rasp, Melanie wrote and sang hits including “Look What They’ve Done to My Song Ma” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain).”




 
Saw her at a small concert near Hunter Mountain in New York in the summer of 1970 when I worked at a camp for the disabled. Never had heard of her before but her songs were fun and geared towards the hippies. Peace Will Come has always been one of my favorites ever since.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT