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Aah...the dreaded "bio". For someone like me who is rarely at a loss for words, I have found writing a professional-sounding music bio for myself to be surprisingly difficult. So, for now at least, I'm going to take a really casual approach to this and just tell you a little bit about myself and my music without it turning into a grand sales pitch or sounding like a formal resume or something! Here goes...

For starters, I have been singing and performing music in some form for as long as I can remember. I come from what I'd consider to be a pretty "musical" family, especially on my dad's side (although I'm told that my mom played a heckuva bass drum back in her high school marching band days!). My grandmother, a music teacher, especially nurtured my love of music and helped develop my natural musical abilities from a young age. We experimented with many styles of music and all kinds of different instruments, but I loved the piano most of all.

I found the time I spent playing the piano over the years to be a great emotional release. My mom has said, "I could always tell what kind of mood Melissa was in by what she was playing." While I did find great comfort in the notes I played as composed by others, I did not start experimenting with writing my own music until I was about 19 years old. Once I began to create my own music, it truly became a passion of mine and has helped define who I am and who I want to be.

My songwriting was initially an expression of my faith, and over the years I feel my lyrics have become increasingly personal and introspective and honest. I love the line from Anna Nalick's "Breathe (2am)" that says - "I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd / 'Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud / And I know that you'll use them however you want to". It's kinda scary to make yourself vulnerable like that, but it's also a great feeling to share something through a song and I strive to write lyrics and melodies that convey real emotion, not just a "hook".

I have an appreciation for a wide array of musical genres and I'm always searching for something really different and interesting to listen to and play. I write, sing and play music because it's something I really enjoy doing and has proven time and time again to be really cathartic for me. I'm not really interested in becoming famous (although I wouldn't mind being rich...) - I just do this because I like to and I hope any listeners will like it too. If you don't, well...it's not my fault if you don't have an ear for good music. (...just kidding...) :-)