Melissa Manchester was already well on her way toward establishing a solo career before she met Bette Midler. Melissa's father, who was a bassoonist for the Metropolitan Opera may be credited for instilling her love for music, but her own talents were apparent very early on. At the tender age of 15 she was already a published poet and was singing commercial jingles. In high school she studied acting, and after graduating from the High School of the Performing Arts she attended New York University. At the university, she enrolled in a song writing course taught by Paul Simon! Soon she was working at Chappell Music as a staff writer and performing at clubs in Greenwich Village and Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was at one of these performances that Bette Midler and Barry Manilow saw her singing and playing piano. They were impressed, and (in 1971) Bette hired Melissa as a backup singer. As one of Bette's original "Harlettes", Melissa was able to realize one of her lifelong dreams...performing at Carnegie Hall! Only months later, Melissa had a recording contract of her own and was soon headlining and performing to sold-out crowds there herself...as a solo act! In the later 90's, Melissa wrote a musical entitled "I Wrote a Letter to my Love" which was performed off-Broadway, co-starred with Kelsey Grammar in Stephen Sondheim's acclaimed musical "SWEENEY TODD" at The Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles, and composed and recorded the score for "LADY AND THE TRAMP II". She recently received the Governor's Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for her contributions to the music and recording arts.