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Melissa Manchester (born on February 15, 1951 at New York, New York) is an American singer-songwriter and actress.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Awards and recognition 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 U.S. Chart Singles 4 Filmography 5 External links

Manchester was born in the Bronx area of New York city to a musical family of Jewish descent. Her father was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Manchester started a singing career at an early age, learning the piano and harpsichord at the Manhattan School of Music and Arts, singing commercial jingles at age 15, and becoming a staff writer for Chappell Music while attending Manhattan's School of Performing Arts.

She studied songwriting at New York University with Paul Simon. Manchester then appeared on the Manhattan club scene, where she was discovered by Bette Midler and Barry Manilow, 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 Loggins' 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks, "Whenever I Call You Friend". She would later record this herself for her 1979 "Melissa Manchester" album. At this time, she guest-starred on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow to teach a main character, who was a singer-songwriter, the essentials of the craft. In 1979 Manchester made the top ten with her version of Peter Allen's "Don't Cry Out Loud" (a UK hit for singer Elkie Brooks), 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. It was her last Top 40 Pop hit, but Manchester did well on the Adult Contemporary charts the rest of the 1980s. Her most recent big Adult Contemporary hit was a 1989 updating of Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By".

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 spring 2004, Manchester returned with her first album in 10 years: When I Look Down That Road.

• Grammy Award: "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" (1983) (Best Female Pop Vocal Performance)
• Dormitory Name: Residents renamed their dorm Manchester Hall after a Manchester concert in the mid-1970s at what was then Southwest State University (now Southwest Minnesota State University) in Marshall, Minnesota.

• Home To Myself (1973)
• Bright Eyes (1974)
• Melissa (1975)
• Better Days And Happy Endings (1976)
• Help Is On The Way (1976)
• Singin' (1977)
• Don't Cry Out Loud (1978)
• Melissa Manchester (1979)
• For The Working Girl (1980)
• "I'll Never Say Goodbye" from the motion picture soundtrack for The Promise (1980)
• "Through The Eyes Of Love" from the motion picture soundtrack for Ice Castles(1980)
• Hey Ricky (1982)
• Greatest Hits (1983)
• Emergency (1983)
• Thief Of Hearts from the motion picture soundtrack (1984)
• "Your Place Or Mine" from the motion picture soundtrack A Little Sex (1984)
• Mathematics (1985)
• "The Music Of Goodbye" from the motion picture soundtrack Out Of Africa (1985)
• "Let Me Be Good To You" from Disney's The Great Mouse Detective (1986)
• Tribute (1989)
• Little Nemo - Adventures In Slumberland (1992)
• If My Heart Had Wings (1995)
• Stand In The Light duet with Tats Yamashita (1996)
• The Essence Of Melissa Manchester (1997)
• Joy (1997)
• The Colors Of Christmas (1998)
• I Sent A Letter To My Love A Musical Recorded by LA TheatreWorks (1998)
• Melissa (2001 Re-release)
• Don't Cry Out Loud (2002 Re-release)
• When I Look Down That Road (2004)

• "Midnight Blue", 1975 – Pop #6/AC #1 (2 weeks)
• "Just Too Many People" 1975 – Pop #30/AC #2
• "Just You And I" 1976 – Pop #27/AC #3
• "Better Days" 1976 – Pop #71/AC #9
• "Rescue Me" 1976 – Pop #78 b/w "Happy Endings" – AC #33
• "Don't Cry Out Loud" 1978 – Pop #10/AC #9
• "Theme From Ice Castles (Through The Eyes Of Love)" 1979 – Pop #76/AC #13
• "Pretty Girls" 1979 – Pop #39/AC #26
• "Fire In The Morning" 1980 – Pop #32/AC #8
• "If This Is Love" 1980 – Pop #102/AC #19
• "Lovers After All" (duet with Peabo Bryson) 1981 – Pop #54/AC #25
• "You Should Hear How She Talks About You" 1982 – Pop #5/AC #10
• "Nice Girls" 1983 – Pop #42/AC #22
• "My Boyfriend's Back" 1983 – AC #33
• "No One Can Love You More Than Me" 1983 – Pop #78/AC #34
• "Thief Of Hearts" 1984 – Pop #86/AC #18
• "Mathematics" 1985 – Pop #74
• "The Music Of Goodbye" (duet with Al Jarreau) 1986 – AC #16
• "Walk On By" 1989 – AC #6

• Fame (TV series) actor, singer and writer (episode) credit
• For the Boys (1991)
• Blossom (TV) (1993–1995)

• Melissa Manchester web site
• Melissa Manchester at the Internet Movie Database