Melanie Blatt - Biography

Melanie Ruth Blatt (born 25 March 1975) is a singer, actress, television personality and was a member of the multi-million selling girl group All Saints. Following their split she launched a solo career.

Biography

Early life

Blatt was born at University College Hospital in the London Borough of Camden and is named after Melanie Safka. She has a French mother and an English father of Jewish descent whose ancestors were from Poland and Russia and a younger sister named Jasmine. She was brought up in both the UK and France. In 1986, Blatt was diagnosed as having scoliosis. Since her parents were not satisfied with the treatment for the condition in the United Kingdom they decided to move to France, where a specialist inserted three metal rods in her back.

Blatt went to Fitzjohn's Primary School where her musical talent was immediately noticed by the head teacher David Joyne, who encouraged her parents to send her to a stage school. In 1986, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School where she met Nicole Appleton. The two girls became best friends. During this period, Blatt also played young Eponine in Les Misérables for six months, and was the understudy for Cosette together with fellow Sylvia Young student Denise van Outen.

Career

In 1993, Blatt sang under the name Melanie Guillaume in the band Drive with Julienne Davis. They released one single, "Curfew", together. She also did backing vocals for Dreadzone with Denise van Outen. Later that year, Blatt met Shaznay Lewis at the Metamorphosis recording studio in All Saints Road, London. Together, with Simone Rainford, they formed the group All Saints 1.9.7.5 which was later renamed to All Saints when Rainford left and Nicole and Natalie Appleton joined Blatt and Lewis. In 2001, All Saints broke up and Blatt embarked on a solo career.

Solo career

Blatt's solo releases were of variable success; her most prominent being "TwentyFourSeven", a collaboration with The Artful Dodger, peaking at No 6 in September 2001 and the UK version of "I'm Leavin'" by Outsidaz on which she replaced Kelis. Her new album was being written and recorded with Matt Hales from Aqualung and featured "See Me", which was included on the Robots soundtrack (2005) and released on a single with matching video featuring footage from the movie and Melanie with her face covered in diamonds. During 2005, Blatt played small venues in the UK which featured songs from the album she was working on at the time and included unreleased songs like "In Your Arms," "I Don't Mind," "Now You're Gone," "No Lullaby" and "Love Sweet Love."

On 24 January 2006, it was announced that All Saints had reformed with a new record contract and subsequently released a new album, Studio 1 on 13 November 2006. Blatt's solo record was shelved in favour of the reunion.

Acting

In 2000, Blatt appeared in the critically panned film Honest directed by Dave Stewart opposite Nicole and Natalie Appleton and in 2001 she played a small, but memorable role in the independent British film Dog Eat Dog.

Current activities

She is currently co-hosting The Hot Desk for ITV mobile and ITV 2 - a music programme originally commissioned for mobile phones.

Personal life

Blatt gave birth to daughter Lilyella on 22 November 1998, the father of whom is Stuart Zender, one-time bassist with Jamiroquai. They broke up in early 2006.

Discography

Albums

"Shine" (unreleased)

• 1. "Love Sweet Love"
• 2. "I'm Leaving"
• 3. "I Don't Mind"
• 4. "No Lullaby"
• 5. "Who I Am"
• 6. "Wonderfully Mean"
• 7. "We Two"
• 8. "Now You're Gone"
• 9. "In Your Arms"
• 10. "Shine"

Singles

• "Do Me Wrong" (2003)
• "See Me" (2005)

Collaborations

• "Curfew" with Drive (1993)
• "TwentyFourSeven" with The Artful Dodger (2001)
• "I'm Leavin'" with Outsidaz and Rah Digga (2002)
• "Let's Get Nice" with K-Gee (2002)
• "Dreaming About Tomorrow" with Rupeski (2002)
• "Why Birds" with Mozez (2008)

External links