MELANIE

I love to sing, I love my life

I love you so much I could love your wife

And I've been told I'm a crazy fool

Just as crazy as I look to you

That's as useless as the things that we do

For the sake of sanity, you gotta save the fool*

"Sweet Misery," Melanie's latest composition and first country single is an easy, up-tempo song that deals with the fact that people take themselves much too seriously. "Oh Lord above, do you love the fool."** Though she never had a country hit of her own before, her 3 million seller "Brand New Key" was a country hit as recorded by Jerris Ross.
Melanie's versatility as a writer and performer has made her an internationally acclaimed star. She has performed her songs all through America, Canada, Europe and Japan. In 1971 she embarked on a ten-nation tour and earned $330,000 for underprivileged children around the world. Melanie Safka was born just across the river from Manhattan in the suburb of Astoria, Long Island in 1947. Her father Fred is a businessman and her mother Polly, a former blues singer became Melanie's first musical influence. As a child, Melanie's uncle taught her to play the banjo and later the guitar. By the time she was 14 she was writing her own songs. "Born To Be," Melanie's first album immediately established her as a unique talent with seemingly unlimited potential. Critics and discerning record buyers alike were drawn to her haunting, fragile voice, which she deployed, on material of striking originality.
With her rising success, Melanie captured many of the industry's major honors, including three Gold Records, a pair of ASCAP awards for her songwriting and designations by both Billboard and Cash Box as #1 Female Vocalist. This led to international tours, concerts and TV appearances. American television audiences have seen her appear with Johnny Carson, Johnny Cash, Merv Griffin, Mike Douglas, The Everly Brothers and Mac Davis. Aside from her chart success of both singles and LPs, Melanie has written the scores for two feature films.
"Sweet Misery" is included in Melanie's latest album, 'As I See It Now.' More than a new release, 'As I See It Now' is a timely summation and a statement of strength, philosophy, and beauty. Melanie has never sung better, never before achieved this kind of emotional depth or intellectual honesty. This is a superlative Melanie - confident, commanding, consoling. Her C&W variation - 'Sweet Misery' - looks like a classic...*** Accompanying Melanie on "Sweet Misery" are noted country musicians, John Mulkey, Barry Harwood, John Shane Keister and Roy Yeager. In a recent ceremony in Nashville, John Shane Keister was honored by NARAS as an outstanding studio musician in country music.
Melanie lives with her husband Peter Schekeryk (also her producer) and their 16-month-old daughter Leilah in a sprawling natural wood home, once a monks' retreat, in rural New Jersey.
By the time you play this record, Melanie will have given birth to her second child.

Rights in the U.S.A. and Canada Administered by April Music Inc. (ASCAP)

*** AFTER DARK February 1975

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