Melanie A. Scott
2 Song Famous
Trying to become famous, one open mic at a time.
After a 35-year career as a telecommunications technologist, I turned my attention to my love of music. Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, I am a self-taught guitarist who has been writing songs since I was 15 years old, even before I won my first guitar at a church bazaar. As a career telecommunications professional, I began my career in the US Navy in 1977 and wound up that career as the Director of Telecommunications at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn in 2011.
After almost 35 years as a public servant, with my children grown, whom I and my wife raised, grandchildren nearly grown, I was able to focus on my attention on playing and writing music, first with a partner and now solo. I have written over 150 songs in just the last ten years in styles ranging from jazz, to soft rock, to blues, and even a little country. Hailing from a musical family, I remember my mother saying she awoke every day with a different song in her head. I feel the same way, but in my case, it is most likely to be a new original song. My most significant musical influences are actually my family, including my classically trained pianist and organist father and my pioneering DJ/remixer brother Tee Scott. I often chuckle when I recall that at one point growing there were two guitars, a ukelele, a clarinet, a saxophone, an organ, two pianos, and a set of drumsticks in our house, but the only one to go into the music business was the one who didn’t play an instrument, my brother Tee. Tee Scott remixed over 100 records, and I proudly display the gold record he received for his work on Sylvester’s “Might Real” in the studio space I fashioned out of my garage. It was my personal pandemic project.
Prior to the pandemic, I participated in and organized events for Make Music NY at Ft. Independence Park in the Bronx and Play Music on the Porch Day and other events on the grounds of Christ Church in Riverdale, NY.
During the pandemic, I participated in online open mic events; first with Home Remedy, hosted by Johnny Seven and Jarrett Murphy, which spanned 14 weeks, then with BestOpenMic.com, hosted by Frank Okun, which my musical partner and I participated in for about 18 months. After he and I parted ways, I started hitting the local open mic circuit in and around the northern Bronx and lower Westchester county NY. There I found a talented, vibrant, appreciative, and fun community of musicians, comedians, and poets. I have spent the last year becoming a regular at open mics at An Beal Bocht and The Bronx Burger House in Riverdale in the Bronx, The Artist on City Island in the Bronx, and The Alibi in Yonkers, NY, and I’m looking to expand my presence to as many open mics as I can. My goal is not to become a star but to get my music out there so that some professional artist might want to perform/produce it. I’m trying to become famous, one open mic, or 2 songs at a time.
Blessings,
Melanie