Melanie Safka, Woodstock performer, dead at 76
Counter-cultural icon and singer-songwriter Melanie Safka, better known by her stage name Melanie, has died at the age of 76.
The New York-born singer passed away on January 23rd, her PR team has confirmed. No cause of death has been given at this time, but the songwriter was reportedly working in the studio this month, on a covers album that would have been her 32nd studio album.
Her three children, Leilah, Jeordie, and Beau Jarred, took to social media to share tributes to their mother, and break the news to fans. Posting on Facebook, the children wrote, “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.”
Melanie first shot to fame after her performance at Woodstock in 1969, the legendary music festival that encapsulated the counterculture and hippie movement of the 1960s. Safka had her first hit the following year with ‘Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)’, a song she had written about her experience at the festival.
The singer-songwriter soon became known for her unforgettable, often heart-wrenching, vocals. She is perhaps best remembered for her top-ten hit ‘Brand New Key’, released in 1971, as well as her moving cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Ruby Tuesday’.
Despite her success, Safka was often excluded from conversations about the male-dominated singer-songwriter boom of the ’60s. She once explained to The Guardian, “Men can be cute. Randy Newman can sing ‘Short People’ and that’s OK because he’s a guy, he’s got something to say. But a girl? How could she possibly have any social significance?”
Revisit Melanie’s beautiful cover of ‘Ruby Tuesday’ below:
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