"When you think about it, I haven't been doing this very long at all. It'll be five years next July. But it still feels like forever to me, because I really think this is what I was born to do..."
Literally, Melodi Dixon has always been a singer. "All my life," she laughs. "From the time I could talk, I was singing. My parents have these old movies of me putting on shows and singing into hairbrushes and all of those silly things." That love of music propelled Mel to create her own band when she was only ten years old. "It was me and some other kids from the neighborhood. None of us played any instruments. We just sang and called ourselves a band," she recalls.
When she became an adult, Mel had some difficulties finding her ideal career path. In her own estimation, "I was generally uninspired by everything I saw in front of me. My parents wanted me to do this, my teachers thought I would be good at this, my brother decided he wanted to do this...and me? Well, I just wanted to sing." Knowing how elusive the music business could be, Mel took a string of second-rate jobs and even attended one semester of college (majoring in the field of education) before resigning that her dream would probably never come true. "I was up all night one night, thinking about it," she remembers. "I had absolutely no direction in my life, because I didn't want to do anything but be a singer. And I had to pretty much tell myself, 'it's not gonna happen,' so I could actually get myself into gear."
By the early months of 1984, Mel had put her dreams of stardom out of her mind. She was happy working at a local retail store, saving up the money to return to college, when one night, with a group of friends, she initiated a game of truth or dare. "It sounds so bogus, but that's truly what happened!" Mel swears. "We were playing truth or dare and I had a friend dare me to make a tape and send it to the address on the back of the record we were listening to. And I was never one to back out of a dare, so I went ahead and did it. I made this stupid little tape of me singing some song - I can't even remember which one now - and I sent it to JLN, never in a million years expecting anything to come of it."
But something did. Mel was utterly shocked to receive a phone call a few months later from Andy Blackwood, who was, at the time, the Vice President of JLN Records. "He ended up leaving a message for me and when I got home, my dad told me he'd called. I just couldn't believe it. He said that he and Joel wanted to meet with me and I thought it was all some awful joke! I wouldn't put it past some of my friends to do that to me! The second I found out he was actually serious, I was on the phone, begging everyone I knew to loan me the money to fly out to L.A. I was so excited about it."
Within less than two months, Melodi Dixon had been signed to JLN Records and was in the process of recording her first album, with an unlikely person at the helm, fellow JLNer Tony Millerstein. "Oh, it was great!" Mel laughs. "It was his first time to produce anything and my first time to record anything, so neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing! It was so much fun in the studio! We had a ball! I think that out of all my records, I definitely had the most fun making the first, because he was there with me. I was so nervous about the whole thing and he had this amazing way of putting me right at ease. He was so comforting and so encouraging and there was never a single moment in the studio when I felt like, 'Oh, I can't do this.' He was always right there to tell me that I could."
In July of 1985, Mel's debut, Catch the Melodi, released, to a flurry of critical praise. Power pop singles "Noonday Sun," "Love" and "I Need You" hooked audiences far and wide and almost immediately, Melodi Dixon realized her dream. "It was amazing," she smiles. "It was really a dream come true." In 1987, her sophomore record, Crawl, released. More pensive than its predecessor, it was criticized more than praised in the industry, but Mel insists such criticisms didn't bother her. "It happens to everyone," she reasons. "It doesn't matter who you are or how long you've been in this business. Someone out there is not going to like whatever it is you're doing and they're going to say so. That's just part of it. I think that as long as you are pleased with the way it turns out, you'll be just fine. And I was incredibly pleased with Crawl."
While the critics might not have appreciated the more mature sound of Melodi Dixon, audiences did, buying it in record numbers. Crawl sold twice as many copies as Catch the Melodi, in half the time. "I was obviously doing something right," Mel grins. Singles "Let's Talk About Love," "Irish Sea" and the title cut all dominated the charts, while the record garnered Mel more wide-spread attention. "Crawl was more international than the first one," she notes. "I'm not sure why that is or what, but I started getting letters from people overseas and I couldn't believe it. I had no idea they even knew who I was. It was amazing."
By Your Side, Mel's latest release is, in her own words, "The happy medium between the first two projects. It's not as gritty as Crawl, but not as fluffy as Catch the Melodi." With the first single, bluesy "Love By Your Side," currently ascending the singles chart at a rapid rate, it's obvious that this will be another success for Melodi Dixon. "I always get excited when a new record comes out, because it's a fresh thing. It's a time to play fresh songs out on the road, an opportunity to reach a fresh audience, it's just fresh all the way around. All shiny and new. That's a lot of fun."
You can currently catch Mel on tour with Americans, through March of 1990.
When she became an adult, Mel had some difficulties finding her ideal career path. In her own estimation, "I was generally uninspired by everything I saw in front of me. My parents wanted me to do this, my teachers thought I would be good at this, my brother decided he wanted to do this...and me? Well, I just wanted to sing." Knowing how elusive the music business could be, Mel took a string of second-rate jobs and even attended one semester of college (majoring in the field of education) before resigning that her dream would probably never come true. "I was up all night one night, thinking about it," she remembers. "I had absolutely no direction in my life, because I didn't want to do anything but be a singer. And I had to pretty much tell myself, 'it's not gonna happen,' so I could actually get myself into gear."
By the early months of 1984, Mel had put her dreams of stardom out of her mind. She was happy working at a local retail store, saving up the money to return to college, when one night, with a group of friends, she initiated a game of truth or dare. "It sounds so bogus, but that's truly what happened!" Mel swears. "We were playing truth or dare and I had a friend dare me to make a tape and send it to the address on the back of the record we were listening to. And I was never one to back out of a dare, so I went ahead and did it. I made this stupid little tape of me singing some song - I can't even remember which one now - and I sent it to JLN, never in a million years expecting anything to come of it."
But something did. Mel was utterly shocked to receive a phone call a few months later from Andy Blackwood, who was, at the time, the Vice President of JLN Records. "He ended up leaving a message for me and when I got home, my dad told me he'd called. I just couldn't believe it. He said that he and Joel wanted to meet with me and I thought it was all some awful joke! I wouldn't put it past some of my friends to do that to me! The second I found out he was actually serious, I was on the phone, begging everyone I knew to loan me the money to fly out to L.A. I was so excited about it."
Within less than two months, Melodi Dixon had been signed to JLN Records and was in the process of recording her first album, with an unlikely person at the helm, fellow JLNer Tony Millerstein. "Oh, it was great!" Mel laughs. "It was his first time to produce anything and my first time to record anything, so neither one of us knew what the hell we were doing! It was so much fun in the studio! We had a ball! I think that out of all my records, I definitely had the most fun making the first, because he was there with me. I was so nervous about the whole thing and he had this amazing way of putting me right at ease. He was so comforting and so encouraging and there was never a single moment in the studio when I felt like, 'Oh, I can't do this.' He was always right there to tell me that I could."
In July of 1985, Mel's debut, Catch the Melodi, released, to a flurry of critical praise. Power pop singles "Noonday Sun," "Love" and "I Need You" hooked audiences far and wide and almost immediately, Melodi Dixon realized her dream. "It was amazing," she smiles. "It was really a dream come true." In 1987, her sophomore record, Crawl, released. More pensive than its predecessor, it was criticized more than praised in the industry, but Mel insists such criticisms didn't bother her. "It happens to everyone," she reasons. "It doesn't matter who you are or how long you've been in this business. Someone out there is not going to like whatever it is you're doing and they're going to say so. That's just part of it. I think that as long as you are pleased with the way it turns out, you'll be just fine. And I was incredibly pleased with Crawl."
While the critics might not have appreciated the more mature sound of Melodi Dixon, audiences did, buying it in record numbers. Crawl sold twice as many copies as Catch the Melodi, in half the time. "I was obviously doing something right," Mel grins. Singles "Let's Talk About Love," "Irish Sea" and the title cut all dominated the charts, while the record garnered Mel more wide-spread attention. "Crawl was more international than the first one," she notes. "I'm not sure why that is or what, but I started getting letters from people overseas and I couldn't believe it. I had no idea they even knew who I was. It was amazing."
By Your Side, Mel's latest release is, in her own words, "The happy medium between the first two projects. It's not as gritty as Crawl, but not as fluffy as Catch the Melodi." With the first single, bluesy "Love By Your Side," currently ascending the singles chart at a rapid rate, it's obvious that this will be another success for Melodi Dixon. "I always get excited when a new record comes out, because it's a fresh thing. It's a time to play fresh songs out on the road, an opportunity to reach a fresh audience, it's just fresh all the way around. All shiny and new. That's a lot of fun."
You can currently catch Mel on tour with Americans, through March of 1990.