Born into a family of singers and performers, Melissa is the daughter of a piano accordion and tenor. Her uncle fronted a Melbourne band Tropicana, which he also played saxophone. It’s not surprising that her family inspired her to become the global pop artist she is today.
“My mother played the piano accordion and my father had probably the best tenor voice of all time, untrained but had a beautiful tone, a friend nicknamed him the ‘4th Tenor’…My inspiration came from my family.” ~ Melissa James
There was never any doubt about what Melissa wanted to do in life. From having fun performing ABBA songs (Melissa blushes when she tells us) in front of her classmates to auditioning in talent shows. But her real start in music began on one Saturday night at a Melbourne club. Melissa plucked up the courage to sing with a duo playing in the bar.
“I chose to sing 'The Greatest Love of All' and who should be on keyboards Chong Lim,” says Melissa. “He said 'Melissa that was great… you are going to be a star!”
And of course, Chong Lim (Malaysian-born Australian keyboardist, producer, and session musician) was absolutely right.
Since then Melissa released “Beautiful Day”, receiving national exposure through TV and radio air-play. She became the highest Australian Dance Artist on National Dance Aria Chart with her release of “Baby Come Back”, which was produced by Ross Inglis. They also co-wrote songs like “Sweet Possession” and “Show Me”.
Later Melissa performed and co-wrote the rap on “Love You Right” by Euphoria, which went to number #1. She also rapped on the Lou Richards release of the popular song, “Up There Cazaly”.
Melissa’s voice and song writing continues to soar in the release of her latest single and music video, “Like This Like That.” Its fresh groovy beat is infectious and will get you up dancing with deep underlying lyrics to make it more than just another pop song.
You can listen to Melissa on YouTube, iTunes, Vevo, Vimeo Amazon, Rhapsody, Emusic and Napster.
CLICK to listen to ‘Like This Like That”
