Melanie, the mononymous ’70s folk singer who was known for performing at Woodstock, has died at age 76.
The news was announced by her children, Leilah, Jeordie and Beau Jarred, in a Facebook post.
”This is the hardest post for us to write, and there are so many things we want to say, first, and there’s no easy way except to say it… Mum passed, peacefully, out of this world and into the next on January, 23rd, 2024,” her children wrote.
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“We are heartbroken, but want to thank each and every one of you for the affection you have for our Mother, and to tell you that she loved all of you so much! She was one of the most talented, strong and passionate women of the era and every word she wrote, every note she sang reflected that.
“Our world is much dimmer, the colours of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale with her absence today, but we know that she is still here, smiling down on all of us, on all of you, from the stars.
They asked her fans to light a candle on Wednesday January 24th at 10pm central time (Thursday January 25 at 2pm Australian time) in honour of their mother, whose 1970 song Lay Down (Candles in the Rain) launched her to stardom.
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The song was about her experience performing at Woodstock the previous year, which she did at age 22.
Then a relatively unknown singer, she recalled being terrified of taking the stage, which she would share with the like of Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead.
When it started raining she “truly believed that everyone was going to get up and go home,” she told AP.
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“It’s raining, I’m free, I’ll go back to life as it was. Maybe I will be an archaeologist; maybe I will join the Peace Corps. That’s when they said, ‘You’re next.'”
But when she came out on stage and started performing, she was comforted by the sight of people lighting candles, matches, and torches and holding them aloft as she performed. “Witnessing that hill light up was akin to seeing countless fireflies,” she said.
She then went on to create hits such as Peace Will Come, What Have They Done to My Song Ma – which she recently sang with Miley Cyrus – The Nickel Song and a cover of the Rolling Stones’ Ruby Tuesday.
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Her biggest hit to date would come with the establishment of her own label, Neighborhood Records, which according to her representatives was the first female-owned independent label in rock history.
Her first single under the label Brand New Key would go on to claim No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart during December 1971 and January 1972 and rank No. 9 in the songs of 1972. Billboard also named her 1971’s biggest-selling female artist in the U.S.
in 1968, she married her record producer and manager boyfriend Peter Schekeryk and went on to have her three children. In their tribute post, they describe the singer as an “extraordinary woman who was wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend to so very many people.”
She recently signed to LA-based label Cleopatra and was working on an album of her previous hits for re-issue, as well as a cover album titled Second Hand Smoke, which would have been her 32nd album.
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Though no cause of death was mentioned in her children’s post, her representatives mentioned an illness in their own statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter.