Melissa Endean

Hailing from the interior of British Columbia, Melissa Endean was raised in a family of professional musicians that included a grandfather who once toured with the legendary Johnny Cash.   

From the time that she was old enough to talk, Melissa Endean was onstage, making her first public appearance as a country vocalist at just eight years of age. Melissa released her first EP at just 18 years old, as part of the family band, The Endean Sisters, to immediate success, with Endean's first underground single release, "Kiss My Canadian Ass", quickly becoming a local hit.   

Melissa is an accomplished performer as well as a songwriter, with an immediately recognizable and distinctive vocal style that carries enormous range and power, garnering frequent comparisons to Dolly Parton, Patty Griffin, and Tammy Wynette. To date, Melissa has achieved notable success and has worked with many prominent names in the industry, including Jason Wilbur (John Prine) and Grammy award winning producer, Chuck Turner (June Carter Cash-Wildwood Flower).   

Up until 2015, Melissa was an active member of the Canadian music scene, where her prolific and eclectic songwriting style gained the attention of many notable industry professionals. Her full-length indie-jazz album, "Authentic", topped Eastern Canadian music charts in 2009 and in 2013, she was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Peak Performance Project in BC. In 2014, Melissa further honed her songwriting skills by writing and releasing the 6-track electronic EP, "Enlightened" under the stage name of Elah, which was co-written and produced by Alex Aligizakis (Nickleback, R.E.M), Leon Feldman (Glass Kites), Sikander Hayes and acclaimed Juno award nominated singer-songwriter and producer Luca Fogale.   However, following this project, Melissa was forced to let her music career take a backseat in order to focus on adjusting to life as a new, young mother. 

Early in 2022, after a five year hiatus from the music industry, Melissa went back to her roots as a country musician and re-entered the music scene with an unrestrained and unapologetic passion that is reflected in a collection of gut-wrenchingly honest and emotionally pure tracks that speak to the potential of neo-traditional & outlaw country.  Within a few short weeks of re-entering the music industry, she was invited into studio by award winning Nashville producer, Dean Miller (Dolly Parton, Allison Krauss, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Terri Clark, Kacey Musgraves).   Her new EP, set to be released later this year, will feature a number of raw, gritty, and deeply vulnerable tracks that highlight the full extent of Melissa's song-writing skills and will include the single release, 'Til We're Dirt, a dark yet catchy song that pushes the boundaries of country music for a completely unique sound. The highly anticipated EP will also include the feature track "Folsom Prison", which was recorded live at the world famous Cash Cabin Studios in Hendersonville, Tennessee, by Grammy award winner, Chuck Turner, in collaboration with John Carter Cash and on which Endean can be heard playing one of Cash's famous Martin guitars.