Photo Coverage: Melissa Manchester Plays BLUE NOTE

A protégée of Barry Manilow and Bette Midler, she parlayed her notoriety on Manhattan’s club scene into a recording career. Her debut releases “Home to Myself” and “Bright Eyes” led to “Melissa” (1975), which featured her first top ten hit, “Midnight Blue.” She earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance (“Don’t Cry Out Loud”), and in 1983 she won the Grammy in that category for her 1982 hit, “You Should Hear How She Talks About You.”

Throughout the 1980’s she placed hit singles on the Adult Contemporary charts, including her version of Dionne Warwick’s hit “Walk on By” from the acclaimed album “Tribute” (1989), and the modern standard “Come in from the Rain.” In 1980 she was the first artist in the history of the Academy Awards to have two nominated movie themes in a single year – “Through the Eyes of Love” and “The Promise” – and she went to make more Oscar history by performing both songs during the world.