Melody Gardot

Melody Gardot

Melody Gardot is an American jazz singer, songwriter and musician from New Jersey. She is born in 1985 and is associated with jazz, pop, smooth jazz and vocal jazz.

Early life and musical beginnings

Gardot grows up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she plays piano as a youngster and performs on the local nightclub scene. Her musical background draws on jazz, folk, rock and pop. At nineteen, she studies fashion at the Community College of Philadelphia.

In November 2003, while cycling in Philadelphia, she is hit by a car whose driver runs a red light. She suffers serious head and spinal injuries, and her pelvis is broken in two places. She spends a year confined to a hospital bed. A doctor suggests music as part of her recovery after concerns about cognitive impairment following the injury.

Recordings and albums

While still unable to walk, Gardot makes bedside recordings that are later issued as the EP Some Lessons: The Bedroom Sessions in 2005. Her early work brings her to the attention of a local radio DJ at WXPN, which helps lead to her first full-length album, Worrisome Heart. The album is first released independently and is reissued by Verve in 2007.

Gardot then releases My One and Only Thrill in 2009. The album is made with producer Larry Klein and arranger Vince Mendoza, both associated with work with Joni Mitchell. In 2012, she releases The Absence.

Performance and recognition

Gardot is a Grammy-nominated artist. She remains active in live performance, though touring is difficult because of her injuries. She is sensitive to light and noise, wears dark glasses, uses a cane, and performs with a special seating unit and a TENS device to help manage nerve and muscle pain. She performs in major East Coast U.S. cities in support of her recordings.