Melissa Manchester

Manchester was discovered by Bette Midler and Barry Manilow on the Manhattan club scene, who took her on as a backup singer in 1971. 

Her debut album, Home to Myself, was released in 1973; Manchester co-wrote many of its songs with Carole Bayer Sager. Two years later Manchester’s album Melissa produced her first top ten hit, “Midnight Blue”. Manchester collaborated with Kenny Loggins to co-write Loggin’s 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks, “Whenever I Call You Friend”. In 1979, Manchester made the top ten 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 1980 Manchester became the first singer to have two movie themes nominated for an Academy Award—”Through The Eyes Of Love” from the film Ice Castles and “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” from the film The Promise. 

Two years later she had her biggest hit “You Should Hear How She Talks About You”, which won a Grammy for Best Female Vocal Performance. Through the 1980s and 1990s, Manchester alternated recording with acting, appearing with Bette Midler in the film For the Boys and on the television series Blossom. 

Melissa also wrote and starred in the musical I Sent A Letter To My Love based on the Bernice Rubens novel of the same name. In 2004, Manchester returned with her first album in 10 years: When I Look Down That Road.