MELANIE BLATT

'Melanie Ruth Blatt' (born 25 March 1975) is an English female singer and occasional actress. She was born at University College Hospital in the London Borough of Camden and is named after Melanie Safka. Melanie is a solo singer and a member of All Saints. Melanie is 1. 62m (5' 3"), has a French Jewish mother and a Jewish father whose ancestors were from Poland and Russia^[1] and a younger sister called Jasmine Blatt whose name was chosen by Melanie. She was raised in both England and France. Melanie has one daughter, Lilyella (born on the 20th November 1998) with former partner Stuart Zender, one-time bassist with Jamiroquai.

Contents

Biography

Discography

Albums

Singles

Other releases

References

External links

Biography

Melanie made her name as part of top UK girl group All Saints, but following their split has launched a moderately successful solo career. Her musical style is influenced by Blackstreet, Stevie Wonder, R&B and hip-hop.^[2] Her outlook is also influenced by being the daughter of hippy parents^[3] who - when Melanie was six - camped out at the Glastonbury Festival for three days.^[4]
Melanie went to Fitzjohn's Primary School where her musical talent was immediately noticed by the head teacher David Joyne, who encouraged her parents to send her to a stage school. In 1986 Melanie went to the Sylvia Young Theatre School where she met Nicole Appleton. The two girls became best friends. During this period Melanie also played young Eponine in ''Les Misérables'' for six months, and was the understudy for Cosette together with fellow Sylvia Young student Denise van Outen.^[5]
In 1986 Melanie was diagnosed having Scoliosis. Since her parents weren't satisfied with the treatment for the condition in the United Kingdom, they decided to move to France [the country of her mother's birth] where a specialist decided that the best way to treat it was to put three metal rods in her back.
In 1993 Melanie started out singing in the band Drive with Guillaume and they recorded "Curfew" together.^[6] She performed this song on the TV programme ''Access All Areas''. She also did backing vocals with Dreadzone doing backing vocals with Denise van Outen.
Later that year Melanie met Shaznay Lewis at the Metamorphosis recording studio in All Saints Road, London and they proceeded to record together. Together with Simone Rainford they formed the band All Saints 1.9.7.5 which was later renamed to All Saints when Simone left and Nicole and Natalie Appleton joined Melanie and Shaznay. (See also: All Saints)
In 2000, Blatt appeared in the critically mauled film ''Honest'' directed by Dave Stewart opposite Nicole Appleton and Natalie Appleton and in 2001 she played a small, but memorable role in the independent British film ''Dog eat dog''.

Screen capture from the "See Me" video.

Her solo releases have been of variable success; her most prominent being "TwentyFourSeven", a collaboration with The Artful Dodger, peaking at #6 in September 2001 and the UK version of ''I'm leavin'' by Outsidaz on which she replaced Kelis. Her new album was being written and recorded with Matt Hales from Aqualung and featured "See Me", which was included on the ''Robots'' soundtrack (2005) and released on a single with matching video featuring footage from the movie and Melanie with her face covered in diamonds.
During 2005 Melanie played small venues in the UK which featured songs from the album she was working on at the time and included unreleased songs like "In Your Arms," "I Don't Mind," "Now You're Gone," "No Lullaby" and "Love Sweet Love."^[7]
On January 24 2006 it was announced that All Saints had reformed with a new record contract and subsequently released a new album, ''Studio 1'' on November 13 2006.^[8] Blatt's solo record was shelved in favour of the reunion.

Discography

Albums

'Solo releases'
t.b.a.
'With All Saints'
November 24, 1997	''All Saints''	#2
December 29, 1998	''The Remix Album''	#104[9]
October 14, 2000	''Saints & Sinners''	#1
November 5, 2001	''All Hits''	#18
November 13, 2006[10]	''Studio 1''	#40[11]

Singles

'Solo releases'
August 25 2003	"Do Me Wrong"	#18
May 2005	"See Me"	#78[12]
'With other artists'
1993	"Curfew"	-	with Drive
February 1995	"Silver Shadow"	-	with All Saints 1.9.7.5.
April 1995	"Let's Get Started"	-	with All Saints 1.9.7.5.
September 25, 1995	"If You Wanna Party"	-	with All Saints 1.9.7.5.
August 18, 1997	"I Know Where It's At"	#4	with All Saints
November 10, 1997	"Never Ever"	#1 (2 weeks)	with All Saints
April 27, 1998	"Under The Bridge / Lady Marmalade"	#1 (2 weeks)	with All Saints
August 31, 1998	"Bootie Call"	#1	with All Saints
November 23, 1998	"War Of Nerves"	#7	with All Saints
February 26, 2000	"Pure Shores"	#1 (2 weeks)	with All Saints
October 14, 2000	"Black Coffee"	#1	with All Saints
January 27, 2001	"All Hooked Up"	#7	with All Saints
September 17, 2001	"TwentyFourSeven"	#6	with The Artful Dodger
March 2002	"I'm Leavin'"	#41	with Outsidaz and Rah Digga
November 6, 2006	"Rock Steady"[13]	#3	with All Saints

Other releases

★ K-Gee feat. Melanie Blatt - "Let's Get Nice"
:Featured on the ''Bounce to this'' album

★ Melanie Blatt - "My Cherie Amour"
:Featured on the ''Honest'' soundtrack

★ Rupeski feat. Melanie Blatt - ''Dreaming about Tomorrow''
:Featured on the compilation album ''Es Vive Ibiza''
:G-Dubs 'Guided By Angels' Reprise can be found on the ''Buzzin' Fly Volume 01'' album

★ The Underwolves feat. Melanie Blatt - "Stay a While"
:Featured on the ''Under Your Sky'' album

★ Played Jo in the ''Honest'' movie (2000)

★ Played the ex-girlfriend in the ''Dog Eat Dog (2001 movie)'' movie (2001)

★ Cameo appearance on the "I Don't Really Care" video (2000) by K-Gee

References

1. The Guardian interview July 25, 2003 Accessed Jan 2, 2006
2. Alagger biography Accessed Jan 2, 2006
3. Interview Hello! magazine August 2004 Accessed Jan 2, 2006
4. Biography from the former site theallsaints.com Accessed Jan 2, 2006
5. Biography All Saints A to Z Accessed Jan 2, 2006
6. Curfew featuring Guillaume and Melanie Accessed Aug 6, 2006
7. melanie-blatt.com Set-list given by Melanie's manager Accessed Jan 2, 2006
8. Contact music: All Saints confirm reunion Accessed: Aug 7, 2006
9. Zobbel.de All Saints chart history. Accessed October 15, 2006
10. hmv.co.uk Product details ''Studio 1''. Accessed October 19, 2006
11. uk.news.launch.com "All Saints: Back", September 20, 2006 03:07 PM (Retrieved: September 20, 2006)
12. ''Music Week'', 17 April 2005, link Retrieved: October 19, 2006
13. Culture DeLuxe song description Rock Steady Accessed Sept 1, 2006

External links

★ Official Melanie Blatt Website

★ Official All Saints Website

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