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Melanie, a 76-year-old singer who had huge hits in the early 1970s with songs like “Brand New Key“ and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)“ and who played at Woodstock in 1969, passed away on Tuesday. Glass Onyon PR, her public relations firm, broke the news of her immediate cause of death was not disclosed. Earlier this month, Melanie was reportedly in the studio working on a cover album titled “Second Hand Smoke“ for the Cleopatra label. The album would have been Melanie's 32nd studio , Beau, and Jeordie Jarred, their mother's three children, took to Facebook to express their sorrow and gratitude for the outpouring of love for their mother. In their heartfelt statement, they emphasised that their mother loved each and every one of them deeply. Her remarkable talent, unwavering strength, and boundless passion shone through in everything of her writing and singing. Even though she isn't physically here today—her absence has dulled the colours of a sombre, rainy Tennessee—we take comfort in knowing that she is watching over us from , January 24th, at 10 o'clock CT, “each of you lights a candle in honour of Melanie,“ her children have asked. Take them up, take them up very, very high once more. Bring light into the shadows, and may we all draw together in honour of the remarkable woman who was many people's wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and 's 1970 Hot 100 debut single, a gospel-tinged collaboration with the Edwin Hawkins Singers titled “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),“ peaked at number only had one more top ten single in the US with this one, and it peaked at No. 1. She also had success in the UK, when her rendition of “Ruby Tuesday“ by the Rolling Stones peaked at number 10. “It was the bane of my existence for a few years,“ Melanie said in an interview with the Guardian in 2021 on “Brand New Key,“ a song that many thought was juvenile because of its insincere melody. The artist claimed she originally wrote it as a blues song but sped it up for more commercial success. Even when she was in the same room as other female folk-rock musicians like Joni Mitchell, Melanie was too often overlooked and underappreciated in the male-dominated culture of the era. “It wasn't the age of smiling women,“ she pondered with the Guardian, offering her thoughts on the possible reasons behind this. It needed to be far more broody, and I was far too chubby. Some men are adorable. Because he is a man with something to say, Randy Newman can sing “Short People,“ and that's OK. And a female? In what way could she possible be important to society?Born on February 3, 1947, in Astoria, New York, Safka spent his childhood in Queens. Although she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, her passion for performing in Greenwich Village's folk clubs ultimately guided her to pursue a career in acting. When she was airlifted into the Woodstock Festival in 1969, she had no radio hits and was almost unknown. She contributed an article to Rolling Stone commemorating the festival in 1989 and again in 2019 on the occasion of significant anniversaries.
