At 19, she was hit by a car while riding her bicycle. That tragic event, in spite of everything, turned her into a remarkable artist. The start of her artistic career was prompted by her doctor, who was concerned about the after-effects of the head trauma she suffered in the accident. Following that recommendation, Melody Gardot wrote and recorded some songs while still confined to bed, unable to walk. The result was the EP Some Lessons – The Bedroom Sessions.
Although she never expected to make a living as a professional singer, one day in New York, as part of her recovery, she was performing in a small show for a handful of people, among them some music producers. They introduced themselves, “one thing led to another and everything changed.” She was given the chance to step onto a stage, and met the people she still works with today.
Festival Mas i Mas
Promoter: Mas i Mas
Venue: Palau de la Música Catalana
Photography: Jordi Amela (@amela_photo_concert)
Her first album, recorded in 2008, a follow-up to the EP, was titled Worrisome Heart.
She visited Spain for the first time in 2009 to present her second record, My One and Only Thrill, where jazz, blues and Latin rhythms all feed into her music. It was produced by Larry Klein with arrangements by Vince Mendoza, and has sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Her voice carries fine pitch and a rich, husky colour that lets her convey emotion without ever forcing the register, always in service of the melody and the lyric of each song. Her live shows usually include a classic or two: Over the Rainbow — a tribute to her grandmother — Ain’t No Sunshine, by Bill Withers, or Sodade, made famous by Cesária Évora. Mostly, though, she performs her own compositions. Some of them sound as if lifted straight from the finest American songbook of the forties and fifties. “I feel more comfortable writing a blues because I understand suffering. I like stories, reading them, feeling them and, every so often, writing them.” Carla Bruni has compared her lyrics to the poetry of Emily Dickinson.