Melissa Manchester

Melissa Manchester (born February 15, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and actress.

Since the 1970s, her songs have been played by adult contemporary radio stations.

She has also appeared on television, in films, and on stage.

Manchester was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, into 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".

Manchester's debut album, Home to Myself, was released in 1973; Manchester co-wrote many of its songs with Carole Bayer Sager.

Two years later, her album Melissa produced her first top-ten hit, "Midnight Blue", which enjoyed 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

She performed the song live on Burt Sugarman's television series Midnight Special in 1973.

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.

The song's peak position was #6 for the week of August 9, 1975.

In 1976, Manchester released 'Come in From the Rain' on her 1976 Better Days & Happy Endings album.

It has since been covered by several other artists including Captain & Tennille, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, Eydie Gorme, Shirley Horn, Cleo Laine, Peggy Lee, Carmen McRae, Jane Olivor, Liza Minnelli, Barbara Cook, Mel Torme, 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 #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 Academy Awards show: "I'll Never Say Goodbye" (from The Promise) and "Through the Eyes of Love" (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.

Manchester continued to place singles on the Adult Contemporary charts throughout the 1980s.

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 1982, she released the smash "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", 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 #4 in Cash Box and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as #10 Adult Contemporary.

In 1985, she signed with MCA Records and released the album Ma+hematics.

Another top-ten entry on the AC chart was a 1989 updating of Dionne Warwick's "Walk on By".

The single was pulled from her Mika/Polygram album Tribute, which honored some of the singers that influenced her style.

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.

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 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.

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.

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!