Music
Press
A star was born at the Pantene Pro-Voice Music Competition that took place at Central Park's SummerStage Thursday.
Her name is Melissa Bathory, she's 18, and her Christina Aguilera-meets-Alicia Keys style wowed celebrity judges including Willa Ford, Vitamin C and Jamie-Lynn Sigler. - Katrillion.com
SOCAN members established a strong presence among the winners of the 2002 John Lennon Songwriting Contest, which drew more than 25,000 entries in 12 categories. Each category awarded one Grand Prize, three finalists, and six runners-up.
Melissa Bathory of Toronto was the Grand Prize Winner in the R&B category, for her song "You Are." - SOCAN.com
Thursday September 09, 2004
Indie Week
Many a band knows the frustration of trying to get into big music conferences like Canadian Music Week and NXNE. Both those festivals try their hardest to break independent bands, but with record labels taking up a lot of the space with their showcases, truly indie bands are often left out in the cold. Hence, the creation of Indie Week.
Indie Week is a Toronto-based music festival that shines a light on independent bands. The inaugural fest will be held from September 16 to 18 in venues around Toronto. Almost 50 bands from Canada and the U.S. will participate.
The Indie Week line-up was revealed earlier this month and will feature bands and artists in a variety of genres. Participating artists include Ryan Luchuck, Frog Pilot, Obsidian, Emma Cook and many others. Your pals here at Chart will be sponsoring two nights during the festival. You can hang with us on the launch night at the Rivoli on September 16 and check out Triad, Shade Latent, Suni Clay, Melissa Bathory and G-Force. We'll also be around at the Cameron House on the Saturday (September 18) for Bill Foreman, Rick Temporao, Statues, Viscera's Recital and David Hein. Both nights are part of the Indie Start-Up program, which is an online songwriting contest, with all of the performers being participants or finalists in the competition. For more info on Indie Start-Up, click here. - ChartAttack.com
Beginning her career in theatre at a young age, Melissa Bathory understands the power of the voice in communicating emotions very well. She is now a seasoned performer, yet still extremely young for what she has managed to accomplish. Her accomplishments include performing on numerous prestigious occasions such as the 2008 Olympic bid presentation and was a finalist in Popstars 2 among many other festivals and shows, various television and theatre appearances, and multiple music related awards and achievements. With a strong voice that combines the jazz-era attitude and the soulfullness of the 70's, she brings songs to life over contemporary neo-soul R&B production. Extremely talented, Melissa Bathory has the potential to 'wow' the world as a performer as soon as she finds the right opportunity. - Word Magazine
Melissa Bathory will be performing at the Lion's Den in New York Thursday, Oct. 21 as part of the Diskmaker's Independent Music World Series night. Show starts at 8 p.m. and lasts until Midnight.
Out of 1,000 bands, six were selected by the editors of Billboard magazine to showcase, and one of which will be picked to win up to $35,000 in prizes including a free pressing of 2,000 of our next CD (this makes us drool just a little bit). The winner will be announced at midnight. Other performers include: Chinua Hawk, The Oggs, The Last Hotel, Mark Geary and The Defog. - Diskmakers
Discography
Upcoming single to be released on Canadian radio and video airplay off her debut album "READY"
Available for sale at www.melissabathory.com
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
"Sometimes its hard to say all the right words. Life and love can be complicated and the only way we communicate is through words, touch, or music. Words get contorted and are redifined over time and a touch can feel colder once it's gone. The only constant in my life is music. Music is always pure and writing songs and singing has never lost it's appeal to me."
As a young singer, Melissa began to develop her ear and skills as a songwriter. After years of writing songs just for the sake of writing, she began to find her style; Her voice that separated her from the next girl down the block. It was at that time that she traced her ears back to her roots, her father's collection of Stevie, Lionel, MJ and Aretha.
Although still an up and coming artist in the music scene, she's established herself as a serious musical force, blending R&B and jazz, over acoustic hip hop elements and has received recognition all over the globe. With fans from London, Seattle to Australia, her music crosses borders and shatters genre classifications and stereotypes.
From headlining Toronto's Indie Week festival, Melissa has also performed at the Toronto Urban Music Festival on the Bandshell stage at the CNE and toured with Duncan Sheik on the West coast of the United States, playing such legendary venues as The Fillmore San Francisco and House of Blues on Sunset Strip. As seen on muchmusic usa, Melissa's televised standout performance at Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, New York won her the title of the Pantene Pro-Voice "Voice of 2002". She won over a crowd of 5,000, sharing the stage with Michelle Branch and Queen Latifah.
Her song "You Are" which she co-wrote with producer Adam Messinger and artist Nasri won the 2002 John Lennon Songwriting content in the R&B category. In the fall of 2004 her band was chosen as the top 6 finalists for Diskmaker and Billboard Magazine's Independent Music World Series. They were invited to perform at the Lion's Den in NYC to a sold out crowd. They've graced the stage of Nathan Phillips Square for Toronto's Wintercity festival as well as performing regularly in their city of Toronto.
Melissa and the band recently returned from recording in Philadelphia with Grammy Nominated Producer and Engineer David Ivory (The Roots, Erykah Badu, Patti LaBelle) where they showcased at the Grape Street club.
Melissa just released her debut album "ready" which is available for purchase online at www.melissabathory.com. She will be showcasing at this year's NXNE Festival in June, along with performing at the Toronto Summre Street Festival in July.
Links
