Musicography:

It was really pleasant for me to discover the vocal and musical talents of this singer and I hope it will be the same for you. You will find, through her songs, many different sounds: blues, rock, country, folk and pop. Her texts present littles stories, “dark fables” as she describes it herself, and they all give the shape of her last album, Thumbelina’s One Night Stand.

I hope you will enjoy your reading and, mostly, your listening!

Biography:

Born in 1979 in Chicago (USA), Melissa McClelland lived in Burlington (Ontario, Canada) until her family decided to move to Toronto. At the age of 4, she began to sing and at the age of 11, she began to create melodies on the piano. She followed violon lessons for 10 years and it allowed her to get a musical “technic”, mostly focused on learning music by ear (instead of reading musical notation). To complete her vocal talent, she learned to play guitar: it is now her favorite instrument. She was 16 years old when she started to perform and to record songs, always with the support of her family.

It’s in 2001 that she released her self-titled debut album, Melissa McClelland, under the Daddy Warbucks Records label. It’s also the same year that she began to play in a group called The Ladybird Sideshow, with Erin Smith, Janine Stoll and Lisa Winn (who are also singers). They toured across Canada and United Stated in 2004 and they released a live album, named Ladybird Sideshow Live at the Orange Lounge. It was recorded in Toronto, at the famous Orange Lounge studio, where many artists like Tori Amos and Rufus Wainwright played.

After that, she signed a contrat with the Orange Record label, based in Toronto, and she released her second solo album, Stranded in Suburbia (2004). It was realised by Luke Doucet and it gave her the opportuny to be discovered by new fans and artists. In 2005, Sarah McLachlan asked her to be her vocalist for the 2005 shows of the Afterglow Live tour. In an interview available on the enhanced part of Stranded in Suburbia, she explains that she was musically influenced by artists like Gordon Lightfoot, Neil Yound, Liz Phair and Beautiful South, but also by local performers, like the other girls from Ladybird Sideshow.

Even if her third album, Thumbelina’s One Night Stand (2006), was released by the Orange Record label, Melissa McClelland’s new management company was Nettwerk (yeah, you probably remember that Nettwerk also manages Sarah McLachlan’s career). That last album confirmed the musical talent of this singer, with songs like “You Know I Love You” and “Passenger 24″. The great collaborations that are also featured on it (”Go Down Matthew” with Sarah McLachlan and “Skyway Bridge” with Greg Keelor) touched many new fans of folk and pop music and that was really good for Melissa McClelland. She toured with Matthew Good in March 2006 and that same year, she got married to Luke Doucet, who worked with her for her second and third albums. She also won a prize at the Independant Music Awards, in the category “Best Americana Song”.

Recently, in 2007, she created a DVD named “Pedal to Steel”, inspired by the lyrics of “Passenger 24″. In the DVD, she shows her interest for the road 66, in the United Sates, and she shares musical adventures related to that road. She sang for the Canadian Jessie Cook in his last tour and she also appeared in his DVD: “Jessie Cook: One Night at the Metropolis”. In April, she recorded a live session at the Hammerson Hall, for the “Concerts On Demand” of CBC.

Melissa McClelland is actually doing concerts and live performances across Canada. Let’s hope she will soon make her fans happy with a new album!

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