Melody Gardot
| Melody Gardot | |
|---|---|
Gardot in Berlin, Germany (2010)
|
|
| Background information | |
| Born |
February 2, 1985 New Jersey, U.S. |
| Origin | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Genres | Jazz, vocal jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter, musician |
| Instruments | Guitar, piano |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Verve, Decca |
| Website | www |
Melody Gardot /ɡɑːrˈdoʊ/ (born February 2, 1985) is an American jazz singer whose career began after being injured in a bicycle accident.
She has been influenced by such blues and jazz artists as Judy Garland, Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Stan Getz and George Gershwin as well as Latin music artists such as Caetano Veloso. Her music has been compared to that of Nina Simone. She has been nominated for a Grammy Award.
Gardot follows the teachings of Buddhism, is a macrobiotic cook and humanitarian who often speaks about the benefits of music therapy. She has visited various universities and hospitals to speak about its ability to help reconnect neural pathways in the brain, improve speech ability, and lift general spirits. In 2012, it was reported that she had given her name to a music therapy program in New Jersey. Gardot considers herself a "citizen of the world".
Gardot was born in New Jersey, and was largely brought up by her grandparents. Her grandmother was a Polish immigrant, and her mother, a photographer, worked and traveled frequently. They moved around often and as a consequence had very few possessions, often living out of suitcases. Because of Gardot’s career, she does not stay in one place for long and she finds herself living out of three suitcases, as she did when she was a child.
Gardot studied fashion at the Community College of Philadelphia.
While cycling in Philadelphia in November 2003 she was hit by an SUV whose driver went through a red traffic light. In the accident she suffered serious head and spinal injuries and her pelvis was broken in two places. Because of these severe injuries she was confined to her hospital bed for a year and had to remain lying on her back. As a further consequence of her injuries she had to re-learn simple tasks such as brushing her teeth and walking. The most noticeable effect of the neural injuries she suffered is that she was left hyper-sensitive to both light and sound, therefore requiring her to wear dark sunglasses at nearly all times to shield her eyes. The accident also resulted in both long and short term memory problems and difficulty with her sense of time. Gardot has described coping with this as like "climbing Mount Everest every day" as she often wakes with no memory of what she has to do that day.
...
Wikipedia