Melody Gardot

Born in New Jersey on February 2, 1985, Melody Gardot is an acclaimed jazz singer, songwriter, and musician. Her mother was a professional photographer and spent most of her time traveling, so she was left in the care of her grandparents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2003, while riding her bicycle, she was struck by an SUV and suffered severe head, pelvic, and spinal injuries, which confined her to bed for a year. Part of her rehabilitation was using music as therapy to get her brain functioning properly again. The long-term result was that she learned to play guitar and started writing songs. Her compositions eventually found their way on to the internet and she started getting gigs in the Philadelphia area. Gardot's sensuous blues and jazzy material and intimate vocal style found an affinity with club audiences, resulting in her 2008 debut album Worrisome Heart. The album included her signature song “Quiet Fire”. Set around piano arrangements and samba rhythms, she worked with famed producer Larry Klein on her hugely popular second album My One and Only Thrill in 2009. The album included the singles “Who Will Comfort Me”, “Baby, I'm a Fool”, and a cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, recorded in tribute to one of her heroines, Judy Garland. Gardot released her third album, The Absence, in 2012. Currency of Man, her fourth album, followed in 2015. After a five year wait, she issued her fifth album, Sunset in the Blue, in October 2020. In May 2022, Melody Gardot released the album Entre Eux Deux, a collaboration with pianist Philippe Baden Powell, which was her most intimate release to date.