Singer-songwriter Melanie dies at 76
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Singer Melanie, who performed at Woodstock and called Nashville home, passed away Tuesday at the age of 76. She had multiple hits in the 1970s with “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain).”
Her death was announced on social media by her children —Leilah, Jeordie and Beau Jarred. Melanie’s cause of death was not immediately released.
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“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… Mom passed, peacefully, out of this world and into the next on January, 23rd, 2024,” the post explained.
Fans were asked to light a candle at 10 p.m. Wednesday to remember the iconic singer.
American singer-songwriter Melanie (Melanie Safka), UK, 19th June 1974. (Photo by B. Gomer/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) NEW YORK – CIRCA 1972: Singer songwriter Melanie poses for a Neighborhood Records publicity photo circa 1972 in New York City, New York. (Photo by Maddy Miller/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) UNITED STATES – JANUARY 01: WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL Photo of MELANIE, Melanie, still one of my favorite singers, Woodstock Festival, Bethel, NY, 1969 (Photo by Elliott Landy/Redferns) Melanie Safka performs on stage, London, 1974. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
Melanie, who full name was Melanie Safka, was known as the First Lady of Woodstock and performed at the festival when she was 22. “I had an out-of-body experience and I wasn’t altered by drugs,” she recalled to the Associated Press in 2019. She was one of the few female performers at Woodstock.
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Melanie lived in Old Hickory and was an honored performer at the Old Hickory Village’s Centennial Celebration in 2018.
Read Melanie’s children’s full post below:
Dear Ones,
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… 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.
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.
We ask tonight, Wednesday January 24th, at 10pm central time, each of you lights a candle in honor of Melanie. Raise, raise them high, high up again. Illuminate the darkness, and let us all be connected in remembrance of the extraordinary woman who was wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend to so very many people.
We are planning a Celebration of Life for Mom and it will be open to all of you who want to come and celebrate her. The details will be announced as soon as they are in place. We look forward to seeing you there.
At this time please allow us, her family, privacy as we grieve for her, remember her, and figure out how to navigate this crazy world without her.
Thank you all for your love – you meant so very much to her.
Love and Peace,
Leilah, Jeordie, and Beau Jarred
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