Melanie, photographed by Marshall Fallwell, Jnr, of Nashville, who did the pictures for the Ringo Starr LP.
MELANIE looks younger and
more innocent than her 23 years belie. Her sweeping dark hair
and wide eyes give her a questioning and childlike appearance,
She is completely natural and unaffected by her success, never
thinking of herself in terms of being a 'star.'
Her first love was singing and playing the guitar and she was determined to make a career of it, despite having graduated from drama school. Working as a Folk singer in a bar in Seabright, New Jersey, she sang to college students and a few oldies.
Now, several years later she has most of the kids In America and England hanging on every word she sings.
Melanie is vehement and headstrong but most of all, sincere. If she airs her views you know she means every word of what she's saying. One of her favourite talking points is health food.
"I love good food. I'm a health fanatic. I could go on all day about it; people just don't begin to understand how important good health is. In America some vitamins are being taken off the market by the government so doctors can have more control over their patients! I'm very anti-doctor. It's simple for the body to cure itself if a person eats enough raw food
I've managed to talk Buddah Records into including "Melanie's Special Recipes for Health Salads" on the sleeve of my next album."
She spoke about her latest British LP (currently No. 4 in NME album charts). "To me 'Candies In The Rain' is more than a disappoint. My agent thought it would he a nice idea for me to make a record with the Edwin Hawkins Singers since we're on the same label. There was a slight problem though, because the Edwin Hawking Singers got the impression I was backing them. They wanted the record to he called 'The Edwin Hawkins Singers and Melanie' rather then ' Melanie and The Edwin Hawkins Singers'"
Recently, Melanie has been wondering why there are so few girls who make a living out of music. "I think it's a matter of survival." She explained, "Look at Judy Collins. She's only twenty-seven years old and she made it. If she'd dropped out a couple of albums ago who would have given her a second thought? "I was in London a while ago and I met Julie Driscoll. If she'd only waited a little longer she'd have done okay, but who can plan anyone's career like that, It's down to good fortune."