Born on this day ...

[Ruby]

Melody Gardot was born on this day in 1985, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She learned how to play piano around the age of nine but got heavily involved in songwriting and playing the guitar in 2003 when she was badly injured by a hit and run driver while out riding her bicycle. She ended up in hospital with head and spinal injuries, a broken pelvis and hectic memory problems. She had to spend an entire year flat on her back and during that time she was encouraged by her physician to sing, hum, write songs and play guitar, which she learned to do lying down. He believed that this would be a form of therapy and healing for her, creating new neural pathways between her damaged cortices (those that control perception and higher mental function). She also had an increased sensitivity to sound and light, hence the pretty much permanent sunglasses. It certainly seems to have worked … she has produced what one might almost call ‘quiet’ music, however she’s nowhere as hushed (thank goodness) and IMHO much edgier than Diana Krall, for example. A contemporary jazz singer and a person who has endured and overcome a great deal of pain - I can listen to Melody with consummate ease and enjoyment, and all power to her ...