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Melanie Thornton
Melanie Thornton (May 13, 1967 - November 24, 2001) was an
American pop singer who fronted the Eurodance group La Bouche, who formed
hits such as "Be My Lover" and "Sweet Dreams" in the mid-1990s. She forged a
moderately successful solo career in Germany before her untimely death in
November 2001. Her hits include "Love How You Love Me", "Wonderful Dream",
"Memories" and "Heartbeat".
Personal life
Melanie was born in Charleston, South Carolina and began studying voice from
the age of six, as well as learning to play the piano and the clarinet.
Growing up her mother would listen to Aretha Franklin, Roberta Flack, and
many Motown music artists. Melanie would mimic the female vocalists she saw
on television or heard on radio.
Later on she financed her college studies with appearances in talent shows
and smaller band concerts. She frequented a club called The Peacock Lounge,
getting up and doing jam sessions when the live band invited people up to
sing. She had long dreamed of a career in music and in February 1992 Melanie
went to Germany. Her sister lived there with her U.S. Army husband. His
uncle, Bob Chisolm, a singer and piano player, encouraged Melanie to give
the German nightclub circuit a try. She had been singing in a Macon, Ga.,
band, Danger Zone, pulling down $50 on a good night. However Bob Chisolm
told her that on a bad night in Germany she would make $150.
She tried it and soon found work in studios recording demos. It was her
recording of the song "Sweet Dreams" that caught the attention of producer
Frank Farian, the mastermind of the infamous '80s duo Milli Vanilli. Farian
took Melanie under his wing, teaming her with rapper Lane McCray in the duo
LaBouche, which is French for "The Mouth". After the first few notes Melanie
sang, the two men decided she would be the right fit as female vocalist for
their long dreamed of project, La Bouche.
She left La Bouche in February 2000 to be replaced by Natascha Wright while
Lane remained a part of the project. She signed a record deal with Sony/Epic
Records. Her first solo single was released in November 2000, titled Love
How You Love Me, a ballad (the CD-maxi includes a few dance remixes).
Melanie presented her new single on November 29, 2000 on the RTL
Spendenmarathon, and on December 1 at the Dome in Berlin. The follow-up
single was entitled "Heartbeat".
On May 7, 2001, Melanie released her first solo album entitled Ready To Fly
under the label X-Cell (distributed by Sony/Epic Records). She continued to
do club appearances in the United States under the billing "Melanie
Thornton, formerly of La Bouche".
Death and aftermath
On November 24, 2001, the night Melanie died in a plane crash of the
Crossair Flight 3597 near Bassersdorf by Zurich in Switzerland, she gave her
final performance in Leipzig and then drove to Berlin where she took the
ill-fated plane to Zurich for radio and TV appearances (among others, the
broadcast "Die Bar" on TV3, which was cancelled) to promote her new single
"Wonderful Dream (Holidays Are Coming)" and her album Ready To Fly(New
Edition). "Wonderful Dream" was a Christmas ballad recorded for a German
Coca-Cola TV commercial. It has also been used in Christmas Coca-Cola TV
commercials in the UK.
On November 25, 2002 the single "In Your Life" was released to commemorate
the first anniversary of her death. Included is an "in memory" dedication
from Lane McCray and SonyBmg/X-Cell Records
This
biography courtesy of Wikipedia.
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