Melissa Manchester

Biography

Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. During the 1970s and 1980s, her music found widespread success and popularity, particularly in the adult contemporary market. Throughout her career, she has written many of her own songs, most notably her first mainstream hit single, 1975's "Midnight Blue×Midnight Blue1975 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMidnight Blue3:25BI Got Eyes2:43". She is also well-known for her song "Come In from the Rain×Come In From the Rain24 November 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Come In From the Rain2:51", her rendition of "Don't Cry Out Loud", and the Academy Award-nominated "Through the Eyes of Love×Through the Eyes of Love18 November 2022 · SingleSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 1 track1Through the Eyes of Love4:28". Her most successful song on the music charts is 1982's "You Should Hear How She Talks About You×You Should Hear How She Talks About You1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAYou Should Hear How She Talks About You (extended version)5:02BLong Goodbyes3:02", landing at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. She has also gone on to appear on television, in films, and on stage.

Early life and career

Manchester was born on February 15, 1951, in the Bronx, to a musical family. Her father, David Manchester, was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera for three decades. Her mother was one of the first women to design and found her own clothing firm, Ruth Manchester Ltd. The Manchesters are of Jewish origin.
Manchester started a singing career at an early age. She learned the piano and harpsichord at the Manhattan School of Music, began singing commercial jingles at age 15, and became a staff writer at age 17 for Chappell Music while attending Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts.
She studied songwriting at New York University with Paul Simon when she was 19. Manchester played the Manhattan club scene, where Barry Manilow, a friend and fellow singer of jingles, introduced her to Bette Midler. In 1971, she became a member of the Harlettes, the back-up singers for Midler, which she co-created with Manilow.
Manchester made a brief speaking appearance as "Yoko Ono" on the 1972 album National Lampoon Radio Dinner, on the track titled "Magical Misery Tour", and as the singer in "Deteriorata".

Solo career

Manchester's debut album, Home to Myself×Home to MyselfApril 1973 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracksA1If It Feels Good (Let It Ride)3:22A2Easy5:42A3Something to Do With Loving You2:58A4Funny That Way2:39A5Pick Up the Good Stuff (reprise)2:35B1Be Happy Now3:22B2One More Mountain to Climb2:27B3Jenny2:33B4Doing the Best (That He Can)4:03B5Home to Myself2:48, was released in 1973; Manchester co-wrote many of its songs with Carole Bayer Sager. Two years later, her album Melissa×MelissaJanuary 1975 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracksA1We’ve Got Time4:24A2Party Music3:28A3Just Too Many People3:38A4Stevie’s Wonder3:33A5This Lady’s Not Home4:31B1Love Havin’ You Around4:40B2Midnight Blue3:55B3It’s Gonna Be Alright3:32B4I Got Eyes2:43B5I Don’t Want to Hear It Anymore5:02 produced her first top-ten hit, "Midnight Blue×Midnight Blue1975 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMidnight Blue3:25BI Got Eyes2:43", which enjoyed 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The song's peak position was No. 6 for the week of August 9, 1975.
In 1974, she performed the songs "O Heaven" and "Home to Myself" on the pilot episode of Ms. magazine's television show, Woman Alive!, a feminist program. She performed the song live on Burt Sugarman's television series Midnight Special in 1973.

In 1976, Manchester released her album Better Days & Happy Endings×Better Days & Happy Endings1976 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracksA1Happy Endings3:56A2You Can Make It All Come True3:28A3Better Days4:20A4My Sweet Thing3:26A5Come In From the Rain4:17B1Rescue Me3:07B2Just You and I4:09B3Stand Up Woman4:15B4Good News5:48B5Sing, Sing, Sing4:26, which included the song "Come in From the Rain×Come In From the Rain24 November 2021 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Come In From the Rain2:51". While it was never released as a single, the song became popular and has since been covered by several other artists including Captain & Tennille, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Eydie Gormé, Shirley Horn, Cleo Laine, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Jane Olivor, Liza Minnelli, Barbara Cook, Mel Tormé, and Diana Ross.
Manchester appeared with Richie Havens, Melanie, and Frankie Valli as a contributor and performer in the 1977 NBC special documentary How the Beatles Changed the World. Manchester collaborated with Kenny Loggins to co-write Loggins' 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks, "Whenever I Call You 'Friend'". She would later record this for her 1979 Melissa Manchester album. She guest-starred on the CBS-TV daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow to teach a main character (played by Michael Nouri), who played a singer-songwriter, the essentials of the craft. In 1979, Manchester reached No. 10 with her version of Peter Allen's "Don't Cry Out Loud", for which she received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance.
In 1979, she performed two nominated songs on the 52nd Academy Awards show: "I'll Never Say Goodbye" (from The Promise) and "Through the Eyes of Love×Through the Eyes of Love18 November 2022 · SingleSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 1 track1Through the Eyes of Love4:28" (theme song from Ice Castles). The winning song that year was "It Goes Like It Goes" from Norma Rae.
In 1980, she appeared on The Muppet Show.
In 1982, she released the smash "You Should Hear How She Talks About You×You Should Hear How She Talks About You1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAYou Should Hear How She Talks About You (extended version)5:02BLong Goodbyes3:02", which won the 1983 Grammy for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance, beating out Linda Ronstadt, Olivia Newton-John, Juice Newton, and Laura Branigan. The song itself reached No. 4 on Cash Box and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as No. 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
In 1985, she signed with MCA Records and released the album Ma+hematics.
Manchester continued to place singles on the Adult Contemporary charts throughout the 1980s. Another Top 10 entry on the AC chart was a 1989 updating of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By×Walk On By1989 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAWalk On By3:45BTo Make You Smile Again3:18". The single was pulled from her Mika/Polygram album Tribute×Tribute3 October 1989 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracks1Over the Rainbow4:142The Gypsy in My Soul3:353La Vie en rose4:084Tenderly3:305Walk On By3:516Stardust4:417The Kind of Man a Woman Needs4:078Lady Be Good2:089Sophisticated Lady4:2510To Make You Smile Again3:27, which honored some of the singers that influenced her style. In 1992 she sang the title song for the animated musical Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, written by the Sherman Brothers and accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra.
In 1995, she released the album If My Heart Had Wings×If My Heart Had Wings24 January 1995 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1The House That Love Built4:272In a Perfect World4:153If My Heart Had Wings4:174Heart of Love4:255To Be in Love With Me3:586Here to Love You4:297Higher Ground4:208Crazy People2:359Moments Like This4:4410Don't Let Me Walk This Road Alone4:10 on Atlantic Records.
She appeared as herself during a two-day guest appearance on the ABC-TV daytime drama General Hospital to sing the song for Robin Scorpio and her AIDS-afflicted boyfriend Stone Cates.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Manchester alternated recording with acting, appearing with Bette Midler in the film For the Boys, on the television series Blossom, and co-writing (with bookwriter-lyricist Jeffrey Sweet) and starring in the musical I Sent a Letter to My Love based on the Bernice Rubens novel of the same name. In 1990, Manchester could be heard performing "I Wish I Knew", played over the opening credits of the CBS television drama The Trials of Rosie O'Neill. In addition, she opened Game 6 of the 1991 World Series singing the U.S. National Anthem.

Later career to present

Manchester composed and recorded the soundtrack to the direct-to-video Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure (2001).
In 2004, Manchester returned with her first album in nine years, When I Look Down That Road×When I Look Down That Road9 March 2004 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1I’ll Know You by Your Heart4:362Angels Dancing5:073Bend4:214When Paris Was a Woman5:245After All This Time3:516Lucky Break3:407When I Look Down That Road3:098Where the Truth Lies4:019TYFYFIM (Thank You for Your Faith in Me)3:4810Still Myself3:3911Crazy Loving You4:0212A Mother’s Prayer3:52. While touring to support the album, she was praised for her still "powerful voice" and for "reinventing [herself] while staying true to what made [her] popular."
In April 2007, she returned to theater, starring in the Chicago production of HATS! The Musical, a show to which she and Sharon Vaughn contributed two songs. Also in 2007, she recorded a duet cover with Barry Manilow of the Carole King classic "You've Got a Friend" on Manilow's The Greatest Songs of the Seventies. In 2008, Manchester released a new single, "The Power of Ribbons×The Power of Ribbons6 May 2008 · SingleSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1The Power of Ribbons4:07", to digital retailers. Proceeds from the single benefit breast cancer research.
In 2011, an independent film named Dirty Girl was released with many of Manchester's songs used throughout the film, five of which made it onto the soundtrack. Manchester made a non-speaking cameo appearance as the pianist who accompanies the lead character's rendition of "Don't Cry Out Loud".
In 2013, Manchester announced that she was recording her 20th studio album, You Gotta Love the Life×You Gotta Love the Life10 February 2015 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 14 tracks1You Gotta Love the Life4:382Feelin’ for You3:433Be My Baby4:384Big Light4:045Other End of the Phone4:436You Are My Heart3:457Let’s Face the Music and Dance / From This Moment On3:458Claudia4:379Your Love Is Where I Live3:3110No There There4:0011Open My Heart to Your Love2:5912The Other One3:5913I Know Who I Am3:5314Something Wonderful2:25, her first since When I Look Down That Road. She subsequently launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds to independently release the album.
In an interview with NPR, Manchester talks about the crowd-funding experience and relays the back-story behind the single "Feelin' for You". A drunk in a juke joint approached Manchester and asked if she was married, to which she replied, "Yes, very happily." The drunk replied, "Too bad, cause I got a feelin' for you." "Feelin' for You", written by Manchester and Sara Niemietz, includes a solo by Keb' Mo'. The single was released on January 9, 2015, and premiered at No. 2 on the Smooth Jazz charts. You Gotta Love the Life was released on February 10, 2015, and hit No. 17 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart for the week of February 28, 2015.
A second single, "Big Light", featuring a duet with Al Jarreau, along with an accompanying music video, was released for radio on June 15, 2015.
In 2017, more than 25 years after Manchester released Tribute, her 1989 album honoring the female singers who influenced her, she released The Fellas×The Fellas8 September 2017 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 8 tracks1Ain’t That a Kick in the Head2:582Chances Are3:543They Say It’s Wonderful4:054For Me and My Gal2:465Love Is Just Around the Corner3:366Smile4:087Night and Day3:558How Do You Keep the Music Playing4:46, with covers of male influences including Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis, Frank Sinatra, and Mel Torme. This was Manchester's second independently produced studio album, which featured accompaniment by the Blue Note Orchestra from Citrus College in Glendora, CA, where she is artist-in-residence. There was only one duet on the album, 'For Me and My Gal', performed with Barry Manilow.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Manchester kept busy working on her 24th album, Re:View×RE:VIEW23 February 2024 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 10 tracks1Whenever I Call You Friend4:032Through the Eyes of Love4:293You Should Hear How She Talks About You4:074Fire in the Morning3:535Come In From the Rain2:516Midnight Blue4:257Confide in Me3:588Just Too Many People3:529Don’t Cry Out Loud3:4410Just You and I4:17, a re-envisioned and reworked compilation of several of her previous hits.
In 2021, she returned to playing club dates, though mainly telling stories and singing just a few songs of her catalog. During one such performance in which she shared the stage with Michael Feinstein, Manchester was surprised by Feinstein and Great American Songbook Foundation Executive Director Christopher Lewis with the Songbook Hall of Fame's New Standard Award.
In 2023, she played Mrs. Brice in the US national tour of the Broadway musical Funny Girl.

Awards and recognitions

In 1979 and 1980, "Through The Eyes of Love×Through the Eyes of Love18 November 2022 · SingleSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 1 track1Through the Eyes of Love4:28" (from the Ice Castles original soundtrack) and "I'll Never Say Goodbye" (from The Promise×The Promise1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMain Title: The Promise2:24BMain Title: The Promise2:24) were nominated for Academy Awards (Manchester did not write the songs, and as such, was not an Academy Award nominee).
Grammy Award: "You Should Hear How She Talks About You×You Should Hear How She Talks About You1982 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAYou Should Hear How She Talks About You (extended version)5:02BLong Goodbyes3:02" (1982) (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance).
Bronx Walk of Fame
Manchester received the Governor's Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for her contributions to the music & recording arts.
Her body of work to date as a singer/songwriter was a featured exhibit at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum.
Manchester is an adjunct professor at the USC Thornton School of Music.
Manchester presented "The Sonic Thermal" at TEDxRiverside explaining her lifelong focus on both random and composed melodies and the back-story behind her first crowd-funded album.
Melissa was honored by the Great American Songbook Foundation with the Songbook Hall of Fame New Standard Award for her contributions to the American Songbook and her timeless music on May 15, 2021.

Personal life

During the 1970s, Manchester was married to her manager, Larry Brezner. They later divorced. On May 1, 1982, Manchester married Kevin De Remer, who had been serving as her tour coordinator. They have two children and divorced in 2014.

Studio albums

1973: Home to Myself – US #156
1974: Bright Eyes – US #159
1975: Melissa – US #12
1976: Better Days & Happy Endings – US #24
1976: Help Is on the Way – US #60
1977: Singin'... – US #60
1978: Don't Cry Out Loud – US #33, AUS #75
1979: Melissa Manchester – US #63, AUS #93
1980: For the Working Girl – US #68
1982: Hey Ricky – US #19, AUS #33
1983: Emergency – US #135
1985: Mathematics – US #144
1989: Tribute
1995: If My Heart Had Wings
1997: Joy
2004: When I Look Down That Road
2014: You Gotta Love the Life
2017: The Fellas
2024: Re:View
Live albums

2022: Live '77

Misc. albums

1998: I Sent a Letter to My Love, a musical recorded by L.A. Theatre Works

Compilation albums

1983: Greatest Hits – US #43, AUS #98
1984: The Many Moods of Melissa Manchester
1996: Best Selection (Japan release)
1997: The Essence of Melissa Manchester
2001: Midnight Blue: Encore Collection
2004: Platinum & Gold Collection
2013: Playlist: The Very Best of Melissa Manchester
2017: Through The Eyes Of Love: The Complete Arista 7" Singles – 2CD set

Songs featured on soundtrack albums and various artist compilations

1979: "I'll Never Say Goodbye", from the motion picture soundtrack for The Promise×The Promise1979 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAMain Title: The Promise2:24BMain Title: The Promise2:24
1979: "Through the Eyes of Love×Through the Eyes of Love18 November 2022 · SingleSpotifyYouTube MusicTracklist · 1 track1Through the Eyes of Love4:28", from the motion picture soundtrack for Ice Castles – US #179
1984: "Your Place or Mine", from the motion picture soundtrack for A Little Sex
1984: "Thief of Hearts×Thief of Hearts1984 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAThief of Hearts3:39BThief of Hearts (instrumental)3:02", from Thief of Hearts soundtrack – US #179
1986: "The Music of Goodbye" (duet with Al Jarreau), from Out of Africa soundtrack
1986: "Sittin' on a Dream" from The Money Pit soundtrack
1986: "Let Me Be Good to You", from Disney's The Great Mouse Detective
1989: "Little Nemo", from Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (U.S. release 1992)
1989: "Slumberland", from Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland (U.S. release 1992)
1996: "Stand in the Light", duet with Tats Yamashita on Tatsuro Yamashita-Cozy – Japan #15
1998: "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas×Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas1997 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracksAHave Yourself a Merry Little Christmas3:31BI’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm4:02" and "Breath Of Heaven (Mary's Song)" on The Colors of Christmas
2003: "Treasure", from Once in a Lifetime-Mayo Okamoto
2007: "I Know Who I Am", sung by Leona Lewis on For Colored Girls & The Butler
2011: "Rainbird", original song from Dirty Girl