MELINDA SCHNEIDER

For over two decades now Melinda Schneider has been a leading light of the ‘new-breed’ of Australian Singer/Songwriters both in Australia and the US.

 

In a career which began with a stage debut at the age of three, (appearing with her mother, Mary) she has kept her family tradition alive by becoming one of Australia’s most sublime singers and popular live performers. But it is through her assured and accomplished song writing that she has really discovered her true voice.

 

With 10 albums under her belt, she has earned two Gold records and won numerous awards, including six CMAA Golden Guitars – featuring 2008 Top Selling Album for Stronger, 2005 Album Of The Year with Family Tree, APRA Song Of The Year for the song Real People and Female Vocalist Of The Year in 2003 for The Story Of My Life.

 

2008 brought with it an exciting new phase in Melinda’s career, with the launch of her independent record label, Be Music. The label’s first release was Melinda’s fifth studio album Be Yourself in July 2008, which earned her second ARIA nomination for Best Country Album.

 

Melinda was awarded her 6th CMAA Golden Guitar for Vocal Collaboration of The Year in January 2009 for her heart-warming duet Still Here with Paul Kelly. Melinda’s songs have also been recorded by artists as diverse as John Farnham, Billy Thorpe, Jimmy Little, Olivia Newton-John and Ricky Skaggs.

 

As 2010 unfolded, the career dimensions of Melinda Schneider broadened dramatically. She dazzled with her dexterity on television’s Dancing With The Stars, and put her country music recording career on pause for a moment to indulge a passion for Doris Day that goes back decades. This passion resulted in the release of her shimmering tribute album Melinda Does Doris – A Tribute To Doris Day, which debuted at #1 on the ARIA Jazz and Blues chart, remaining there for a total of 9 weeks.

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In 2011, Melinda starred in her brand new stage show DORIS, Doris Day – So Much More Than The Girl Next Door. Co-written by Melinda and David Mitchell (of Dusty/Shout fame), this musical tribute to one of Melinda’s idols.

 

Hot on the heels of sell out seasons at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival and two huge weeks at Melbourne’s Her Majesty’s Theatre, DORIS opened at The Lyric Theatre, Sydney on November 3rd 2011 to rave reviews, followed by a sell-out reprise performance at the prestigious Sydney Opera House Concert Hall in April 2012.

 

Meanwhile, in October 2011, Melinda also released her 9th album Life Begins At 40 – The Ultimate Melinda Schneider Collection. The double CD release marked her recent milestone birthday and celebrates over three decades of Melinda’s successful recording career.

More recently, Melinda has entered another very fantastic phase of her life with the birth in August 2012 of her beautiful baby boy Sullivan.

 

In November 2014 Melinda and Beccy Cole collaborated on their #1 charting album ‘Great Women Of Country – and The Songs That Made Them’. A National major theatre tour followed in 2015, including the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

 

In 2016 Melinda toured Regional Theatres Nationally with a concert version of her DORIS show, ‘Melinda Does Doris – A Tribute to Doris Day’ and in October 2016, released the sequel album, ‘Melinda Does Doris… Again – The Movie Songs’.

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