Melanie Woodstock standout and 'Brand New Key

Safka's 1969 Woodstock performance at age 22 was her first big break. She is best known for her song "Brand New Key", which is considered a cultural phenomenon. She also had hits in the 1970s with "Lay Down (Candles in the Rain)" and "Look What They've Done to My Song Ma.

Safka was known as "The First Lady of Woodstock". She remained active until her death, publishing her memoir Lake Days in 2023 and touring in late 2022. The society pop vocalist lyricist likewise scored a hit with "Set Down (Candles in the Downpour)."

Melanie, the people pop vocalist and lyricist who conveyed a champion execution at Woodstock as a relative obscure in 1969 and proceeded to score hits with "Pristine Key" and "Set Down (Candles in the Downpour)," passed on Tuesday at 76.

Her kids, Leilah, Jeordie, and Lover Jostled, reported the news on her checked Facebook page. A reason for death was not uncovered.

"We are shattered, however need to thank all of you for the friendship you have for our Mom, and to let you know that she adored every one of you so much," they said. "She was one of the most capable, solid and energetic ladies of the period and each word she composed, each note she sang mirrored that."

They added, "Our reality is a lot dimmer, the shades of an inauspicious, stormy Tennessee pale with her nonappearance today, however we realize that she is still here, grinning down on us all, on every one of you, from the stars."

Melanie, conceived Melanie Anne Safka in New York in 1947, had her most memorable public presentation at 4 years old, on the public broadcast Live Like a Tycoon. As a youngster she started acting in cafés, in the end driving her to sign with Columbia Records.

While her introduction collection was generally welcomed, it was her Woodstock execution that set her up for life. Melanie was one of three independent ladies to perform at the celebration. She didn't show up on screen in the 1970 narrative Woodstock, yet her set was incorporated as an extra on the 40th-commemoration DVD discharge.

Melanie reviewed the presentation affectionately yet conceded that she was "scared" at that point; she was helicoptered in, prompted a tent, and told to stand by. "Occasionally, somebody would put their head in and express, 'You're straightaway!' and afterward, 'Don't bother,'" she reviewed to NJ.com in 2014. "I turned out to be so unnerved the entire day that I fostered a bronchial hack. I was in this bizarre dread the entire day."

She proceeded: "I didn't happen until after Ravi Shankar. It began to rain. I at last got on. I went in front of an audience, completely scared. Just previously, a broadcaster made a persuasive declaration about passing out candles. Some place in there, I consumed all of that. And afterward, I had an otherworldly encounter. Indeed I did. I truly did. I left my body. I watched myself. Sooner or later, I was back in my body. I felt this mind boggling gleam of human connectedness. I was not apprehensive any longer. I sang my heart out for a half-hour.

The experience gave the premise to her cutting edge hit, "Set Down (Candles in the Downpour)." From that point, lighting candles turned into a brand name of her shows, no matter what. As she wrote in a 2019 Drifter exposition considering the Woodstock experience, "It turned out to be so associated with my shows that my shows were getting prohibited on the grounds that local groups of fire-fighters wouldn't endorse them. Truth be told, they wouldn't allow me to do shows in New Jersey for quite a long time since they said I comprised a live performance, and they didn't permit celebrations in that state.

Brand New Key" was released in 1971, becoming an inescapable track that reached No. 1 on the charts (it was her only top 10 hit in the U.S.). The song remains recognizable for its inclusion in films and TV shows like Boogie Nights and Doctor Who.

Melanie would later reach the top 10 in the U.K with her cover of the Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday." Over the course of her career, she released 28 studio albums, with songs including "What Have They Done to My Song Ma," "Ring the Living Bell," "Together Alone," and a cover of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

Melanie married record producer Peter Schekeryk in 1968, with whom she shared her three children. Schekeryk died in 2010. Melanie recently collaborated on music with her children, and was working on a new album of cover songs.