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Biography for Melissa Forbes (January 2006)

Melissa Forbes abandoned a lucrative law career to release her debut album "No More Mondays"

Australian-based singer/songwriter Melissa Forbes has officially closed the book on her former career as a commercial lawyer with the release of her 2005 debut album “No More Mondays”. Released on her own label Kitten Kong Records, "No More Mondays" primarily focuses on Melissa’s original material but also covers artists as diverse as D'Angelo, Metallica and Michael Jackson. Melissa describes her music as "jazzy blue-eyed soul" and cites such diverse influences as Prince, Diana Krall, Sade, Joni Mitchell, Chaka Khan and Tina Arena.

So how does a commercial lawyer come to make a full-length album of vintage-sounding soul-jazz? “I called the album ‘No More Mondays’ because it’s been a huge transition for me to move from the rigours of a 9-to-5 job to working in the music industry. Not only has it been a change of career but a change of attitude – I’m going to follow my heart from now on,” explains Melissa. “I’ve long dreamed of making an album but this wasn’t going to happen while I was working full-time as a lawyer. I ended up going to the Queensland Conservatorium of Music for four years where I studied jazz and contemporary voice while I continued to do legal work part-time. That got me on the right track.”

In 2004, Melissa finally resigned from her legal job to concentrate on putting an album together. She and husband Jim then set up their own independent record label (Kitten Kong Records). “The learning curve was incredibly steep. As an independent artist, I had to get my head around all aspects of making the album – from booking players, rehearsing, arranging, producing, recording in the studio and mixing, to dealing with copyright matters, artwork and promotion. It’s been a great but challenging experience.” Since the album’s launch to a sell-out crowd at the Brisbane Powerhouse in March 2005, Melissa has travelled to the Port Fairy Folk Festival where she was a finalist in the festival’s prestigious songwriting competition for her song "The Weekday Sun". This followed on from Melissa's achievement in the Music Oz Awards in 2004 when "Broken Wings (For Chet)" was selected as a finalist in the Jazz category. In August 2005 Melissa spent a week in Nagoya, Japan, where she performed in the Australian Pavilion at World Expo.

Melissa always had an inkling she could sing. When she was about six, she came home from school one day and was singing to herself. Her mother told her to turn the TV off and do her homework. The TV wasn’t on – it was Melissa singing the theme song. “From the very beginning, even as a kid, it was African-American music I loved the most,” recalls Melissa. “I’m from Toowoomba originally, a rural town on the Darling Downs in Queensland, which wasn’t exactly a hotbed of soul! But I remember a disco compilation my mother bought which included the song 'Super Freak’ by Rick James – when I heard that song I was hooked!” Another seminal moment was seeing blue-eyed soul singer Teena Marie perform her hit “Lovergirl” on Solid Gold. “When I saw Teena Marie perform with so much groove and soul, I knew what I wanted to do,” Melissa remembers with conviction.

So how did Melissa end up studying and working in law for over ten years? “I was scared! I kept pushing my music into the background. After finishing secondary school I went overseas and lived in Denmark for a year to think about whether to pursue music or something more conventional. When I returned to Australia I studied Arts/Law at The University of Queensland. When it came to applying for legal jobs at the completion of my degrees, I only applied for one thinking that if I didn’t get the position, it was a sign I should be singing. Unfortunately, in hindsight, I got the job!” For the next four years Melissa worked in various areas of commercial legal practice but was unhappy not doing anything about her music. “I knew I had a talent that I was ignoring and that was a painful experience. It got to breaking point so I enrolled in a year-long bridging course at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane, Australia.” In 2003 Melissa graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Voice from the Conservatorium and received the Medal for most outstanding student on graduation, with a perfect Grade Point Average. During her music studies Melissa performed extensively around South-East Queensland with covers and jazz bands, and then discovered that her true calling was original music.

Melissa's efforts culminated in the release of her debut album, “No More Mondays”, in Australia on 7 March 2005 though Kitten Kong Records & MRA Entertainment. Without a formal promotion and marketing campaign, and thanks mainly to word-of-mouth and the Internet, "No More Mondays" has received a warm response from critics and fans of independent soul/jazz music around the world. From March to July 2005, Melissa was the most downloaded artist in the Jazz category for eighteen consecutive weeks at music.download.com - the biggest free music download site in the world. Commercially, "No More Mondays" remained in the Top 10 of the Australian Independent Record Labels Jazz Chart from April to June 2005 and internationally the album has so far been purchased in eighteen countries (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA). Melissa's success has continued into 2006 with her being awarded the "Best Female Solo Artist" award at the 2006 International Online Music Awards and Soul-Patrol.com naming "No More Mondays" as its #2 Jazz CD for 2005. Melissa's remarkable career turnaround and the success of her debut album "No More Mondays" demonstrates that Melissa Forbes is a singer/songwriter ready for the world music stage!

(Kitten Kong Records, January 2006)

Compilation CDs Featuring Songs from "No More Mondays"

* 2006: "Soul Motivation Vol. 1" (USA) - Compilation CD ("Black Coffee/Brown Sugar")

* 2006: "Females On Fire II" (USA) - Compilation CD ("Thinking You Over")

* 2006: "Indie Artists Alliance" (USA) - Compilation CD ("Blackheart Blues")

* 2006: "Sounds Like Cafe Vol. 10" (Australia) - Compilation CD ("Weekday Sun")

* 2006: "Tunetank MIDEM Showcase" (Australia) - Compilation CD ("Weekday Sun")

* 2005: "The Gift - A Woman's Song" (Australia) - Compilation CD ("Still")

* 2005: "AIR Jazz Sampler No. 54" (Australia) - Compilation CD ("Blackheart Blues")

* 2005: "Sounds Like Cafe Volume 6" (Australia) - Compilation CD ("Broken Wings")

* 2005: "AIR Jazz Sampler No. 50" (Australia) - Compilation CD ("Shadows of Love")

Music Industry Achievements

* 2006: www.smoothjazzandmore.com - #4 Jazz CD for 2006 ("No More Mondays")

* 2006: Gian Fiero Music Awards - Best Female Adult Contemp CD ("No More Mondays")

* 2006: Gian Fiero Music Awards - Best Adult Contemporary Song ("Thinking You Over")

* 2006: Gian Fiero Music Awards - Best Performance of Cover Song ("Black Coffee...")

* 2006: Gian Fiero Music Awards - Best Rendition of Cover Song ("Don't Stop Til...")

* 2006: Gian Fiero Music Awards - Best Song Lyrics (Melissa Forbes)

* 2006: Gian Fiero Music Awards - Best Chance of a Publishing Deal (Melissa Forbes)

* 2006: Just Plain Folks Music Awards - Nominee for Best Vocal Jazz Song ("Rising Up")

* 2006: IAIA Golden Kayak Award - Nominee for Best Blues Song ("Blackheart Blues")

* 2006: International Online Music (IOM) Awards - Winner for Best Female Solo Artist

* 2006: IOM Awards - Top 5 Nominee for Artist of the Year

* 2006: IOM Awards - Top 5 Nominee for Best Female Vocal

* 2006: IOM Awards - Top 5 Nominee for Best Song ("Blackheart Blues")

* 2006: IOM Awards - Top 5 Nominee for Best CD Photography (Mark Turner)

* 2006: IOM Awards - Top 5 Nominee for Best Indie Record Label (Kitten Kong Records)

* 2005: Billboard World Song Contest - Honorable Mention ("Broken Wings - For Chet")

* 2005: Billboard World Song Contest - Honorable Mention ("Thinking You Over")

* 2005: Billboard World Song Contest - Honorable Mention ("The Weekday Sun")

* 2005: Billboard World Song Contest - Honorable Mention ("Still")

* 2005: Billboard World Song Contest - Honorable Mention ("Blackheart Blues")

* 2005: Billboard World Song Contest - Honorable Mention ("As I Sing")

* 2005: www.soul-patrol.com - #2 Jazz CD for 2005 ("No More Mondays")

* 2005: music.download.com - #2 in Jazz for Total Downloads in 2005 (85,000+)

* 2005: music.download.com - #1 Australian artist for Total Downloads in 2005 (85,000+)

* 2005: Great American Song Contest - Honour Award in Acoustic/Folk ("Weekday Sun")

* 2005: We Are Listening Singer/Songwriter Awards - Honorouble Mention

* 2005: World Expo (Nagoya, Japan) - Feature Performer in the Australian Pavillion

* 2005: AIR Independent Jazz Charts - Top 10 March to June ("No More Mondays")

* 2005: Port Fairy Folk Festival Songwriting Awards - Top 10 Finalist ("Weekday Sun")

* 2005: ABC Radio Oz Trax Feature Songs ("Broken Wings")

* 2004: Music Oz Awards - Top 10 Finalist in Jazz Category ("Broken Wings - Acoustic")

* 2004: Arts Queensland Grant for Recording of Debut Album

Music Festivals & International Performances

* 2006: Brisbane Festival (Brisbane, Australia)

* 2005: New Year's Eve Performance (Singapore)

* 2005: Brisbane Writer's Festival (Brisbane, Australia)

* 2005: Kingscliff Jazz Festival (Kingscliff, Australia)

* 2005: World Expo (Nagoya, Japan)

* 2005: Port Fairy Folk Festival (Port Fairy, Australia)

* 2004 & 2005: Valley Fiesta (Brisbane, Australia)

* 2004 & 2005: Valley Jazz Festival (Brisbane, Australia)

* 2003 & 2005: Biennial Festival of Music - Spiegeltent Danspaleis (Brisbane, Australia)

Queensland Conservatorium of Music Awards (Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia)

* 2000-2003: Griffith University Award for academic excellence

* 2003: Conservatorium Medal for most outstanding undergraduate student

* 2003: Sid Bromley Award for most outstanding jazz student

* 2002: Sid Bromley Award for most outstanding jazz student