Melanie, ‘Brand New Key’ singer, dead at 76

Melanie, who scored a No. 1 hit with “Brand New Key” in 1971 and also reached the top 10 with “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),” died Tuesday. She was 76.

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The singer’s death was announced by her children, Leilah, Jeordie and Beau Jarred, on social media, The New York Times reported. No cause of death was given, and it was unclear where she died.

Born Melanie Safka, her death was also confirmed to Variety by her publicity firm, Glass Onyon PR.

“This is the hardest post for us to write, and there are so many things we want to say, first, and there’s no easy way except to say it,” the singer’s children wrote on social media. ”Mom passed, peacefully, out of this world and into the next on January 23rd, 2024.

“We are heartbroken, but want to thank each and every one of you for the affection you have for our Mother, and to tell you that she loved all of you so much! She was one of the most talented, strong and passionate women of the era and every word she wrote, every note she sang reflected that,” her children added. “Our world is much dimmer, the colors of a dreary, rainy Tennessee pale with her absence today, but we know that she is still here, smiling down on all of us, on all of you, from the stars.”

Melanie was 22 when she appeared at Woodstock, one of only three unaccompanied female acts at the festival, in August 1969, the Times reported.

The following year her first hit, “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),” reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, according to the newspaper.

Melanie released her biggest hit, “Brand New Key,” in 1971. The song went to No. 1 on the Billboard charts but was criticized in some circles because the lyrics were construed to contain sexual innuendoes. The singer said that was not her intention.

“‘Brand New Key’ I wrote in about 15 minutes one night,” she told one interviewer, according to the Times. “I thought it was cute; a kind of old ‘30s tune.

“I guess a key and a lock have always been Freudian symbols, and pretty obvious ones at that. There was no deep serious expression behind the song, but people read things into it.”

Melanie told The Guardian in a 2021 interview that “Brand New Key” was “the bane of my existence for a few years.”

Another song, 1971′s “Look What They’ve Done to My Song, Ma,” was later covered by Miley Cyrus in 2015, with Melanie assisting in the duet.

In 1989, Melanie won an outstanding achievement in music and lyrics award with Lee Holdridge during the 1989 Emmys for composing the lyrics for the theme song of the “Beauty and the Beast” television series.

The singer was born in New York City on Feb. 3, 1947, and was raised in the borough of Queens, according to Variety.

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