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O/T Melissa Manchester praises Barry & Bette in "An Intimate Conversation With Melissa Manchester" last night
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marvin
Feb 22, 2017, 6:35:18 PM2/22/17
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I had the pleasure with 25-50 music Professors, students and other guests to hear Melissa Manchester discuss her music career and what was positive and what was not over her 45 year career Tuesday night in "An Intimate Conversation With Melissa Manchester" that included dinner, an informal photo op and personal meeting for each individual with Melissa at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton while Melissa is in South Florida on a ten city concert tour of retirement communities.
The program was for two hours, just as long or even longer than a concert. Even though Melissa was talking and not singing, I felt, like most in the audience, a better understanding of Melissa's career and ups/downs than I would have had the program would have been in concert.
I saw firsthand what Sharon(DC) felt when she saw Barry talk about music in the NY Barn event. There is a deeper understanding of what Melissa has to do to prepare her songs, plan her life and the many adjustments she had to make in her life as the music industry changed and balancing her private life of raising two children while touring and going through a divorce. So, in some ways, there is greater satisfaction of learning and bonding with an artist than you can just by going to a concert.
Earlier in the day, Melissa, who is an adjunct Professor of Music in California, gave a class on the art of conversational singing. She emphasized that students must understand more than the rhythm in the song, but have a deeper appreciation of the sophisticated need for sophisticated melodies that enhance a singer's presentation.
She said a singer can score a big hit on youtube and think he/she made it, but the struggle is to sing the song for the next 10-45 years and deliver a new meaning to the song each time you sing.
Melissa emphasized that her groundwork of working with Barry and Bette, writing and singing the McDonald's jingle and being hired as a songwriter as a young teen gave her the good grounding she needed. She emphasized that her first mentor Paul Simon emphasized that there is nothing new for a singer to sing about that has not already been written,but that the interpretation of what was written is always what is unique and the singer must have the hunger to always yearn for performing the same song with a new meaning each time in a performance,
Melissa praised Barry and Bette for sharing a love of sophisticated melodies that helped all three have long careers. She felt, like Barry and Bette, that to structure a song with the complex variations that Gershwin and Rogers & Hammerstein will always make new interpretations of the Great American Songbook popular for audiences.
It was a wonderful evening and look forward to seeing Melissa again in concert on Saturday night. I hope Barry can do another intimate conversation in the future. The evening was invaluable and memorable for me. Thanks, Marvin
The program was for two hours, just as long or even longer than a concert. Even though Melissa was talking and not singing, I felt, like most in the audience, a better understanding of Melissa's career and ups/downs than I would have had the program would have been in concert.
I saw firsthand what Sharon(DC) felt when she saw Barry talk about music in the NY Barn event. There is a deeper understanding of what Melissa has to do to prepare her songs, plan her life and the many adjustments she had to make in her life as the music industry changed and balancing her private life of raising two children while touring and going through a divorce. So, in some ways, there is greater satisfaction of learning and bonding with an artist than you can just by going to a concert.
Earlier in the day, Melissa, who is an adjunct Professor of Music in California, gave a class on the art of conversational singing. She emphasized that students must understand more than the rhythm in the song, but have a deeper appreciation of the sophisticated need for sophisticated melodies that enhance a singer's presentation.
She said a singer can score a big hit on youtube and think he/she made it, but the struggle is to sing the song for the next 10-45 years and deliver a new meaning to the song each time you sing.
Melissa emphasized that her groundwork of working with Barry and Bette, writing and singing the McDonald's jingle and being hired as a songwriter as a young teen gave her the good grounding she needed. She emphasized that her first mentor Paul Simon emphasized that there is nothing new for a singer to sing about that has not already been written,but that the interpretation of what was written is always what is unique and the singer must have the hunger to always yearn for performing the same song with a new meaning each time in a performance,
Melissa praised Barry and Bette for sharing a love of sophisticated melodies that helped all three have long careers. She felt, like Barry and Bette, that to structure a song with the complex variations that Gershwin and Rogers & Hammerstein will always make new interpretations of the Great American Songbook popular for audiences.
It was a wonderful evening and look forward to seeing Melissa again in concert on Saturday night. I hope Barry can do another intimate conversation in the future. The evening was invaluable and memorable for me. Thanks, Marvin
Mary H.
Feb 23, 2017, 10:50:54 AM2/23/17
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Sounds like an amazing experience, Marvin. Thanks for sharing.
Mary
Mary
Carmen
May 1, 2017, 6:22:54 AM5/1/17
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Marvin--
If you're referring to Melissa raising her children while touring in the present tense, both of them are adults now so they don't need raising any longer.
Regarding the divorce you mentioned, are you sure it was from her most recent husband (her 2nd, & the father of her children)? If it was, I'm a bit surprised it wasn't in the media, though I know there isn't really as much interest in her now as there may still be/probably still is in Barry. Also (& I know these can be wrong) her Wikipedia page still indicates she's married to the husband of whom I speak, & she has been for, like, 34 years (I checked it over the weekend). The other reason I ask is, in another post I think you said the husband was acting/trying to act as her manager (which I'm not sure husband #2 did). Back in the '70's, at the beginning of her career (about when her first hit, Midnight Blue, became popular), she was married to an attorney (who I believe is deceased as of recent years) who also seemed to function as her manager (I believe this was also stated in her early album credits); they eventually divorced but they had no children together (her children are both from her 2nd marriage).
If you're referring to Melissa raising her children while touring in the present tense, both of them are adults now so they don't need raising any longer.
Regarding the divorce you mentioned, are you sure it was from her most recent husband (her 2nd, & the father of her children)? If it was, I'm a bit surprised it wasn't in the media, though I know there isn't really as much interest in her now as there may still be/probably still is in Barry. Also (& I know these can be wrong) her Wikipedia page still indicates she's married to the husband of whom I speak, & she has been for, like, 34 years (I checked it over the weekend). The other reason I ask is, in another post I think you said the husband was acting/trying to act as her manager (which I'm not sure husband #2 did). Back in the '70's, at the beginning of her career (about when her first hit, Midnight Blue, became popular), she was married to an attorney (who I believe is deceased as of recent years) who also seemed to function as her manager (I believe this was also stated in her early album credits); they eventually divorced but they had no children together (her children are both from her 2nd marriage).
marvin
May 1, 2017, 10:11:41 AM5/1/17
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Hi Carmen,
Thanks for the post. I was aware that Wikipedia still has Melissa married to Kevin and the only reason I know Melissa is divorced from him is that she told she divorced Kevin when I interviewed her about taking time off from touring when she was raising her then young children. I congratulated her and Kevin for raising their children as two fine adults when she corrected me and said "I am not married to Kevin any more."
You are right that her first husband, whom she divorced, is now deceased as I met his brother who spoke with me when Melissa had her meet and greet following one of her concerts in South Florida in February.
Melissa's manger now is Susan Holder, who also sings back up for Melissa. Regards, Marvin
Thanks for the post. I was aware that Wikipedia still has Melissa married to Kevin and the only reason I know Melissa is divorced from him is that she told she divorced Kevin when I interviewed her about taking time off from touring when she was raising her then young children. I congratulated her and Kevin for raising their children as two fine adults when she corrected me and said "I am not married to Kevin any more."
You are right that her first husband, whom she divorced, is now deceased as I met his brother who spoke with me when Melissa had her meet and greet following one of her concerts in South Florida in February.
Melissa's manger now is Susan Holder, who also sings back up for Melissa. Regards, Marvin
dcsharon
May 1, 2017, 10:27:17 AM5/1/17
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Carmen -
A fun FYI - Melissa was (very!) pregnant with her son Nathan at Liberty Weekend (1986). Barry was extremely attentive to her during the rehearsal. It was sweet to watch.
(DC) Sharon
Carmen
May 9, 2017, 5:40:22 PM5/9/17
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Sharon--
I totally remember that! They even mentioned it in the BMIFC magazine, or whatever it was called then, when they wrote about Liberty Weekend. And by then they could tell us she'd had a son, Nathan.
I totally remember that! They even mentioned it in the BMIFC magazine, or whatever it was called then, when they wrote about Liberty Weekend. And by then they could tell us she'd had a son, Nathan.
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