Amana Melome is a Euro-

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

-American singer-songwriter currently based in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. She was born in Germany and raised around the world. After finishing high school in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of medieval European t ...

she returned to America to earn her college degree and graduated from

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Her music reflects her jazz heritage as she follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, the late bass player

Jimmy Woode James Bryant Woode (September 23, 1926 – April 23, 2005) was an American jazz bassist. He played and/or recorded in bands with Flip Phillips, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Nat Pierce, Sidney B ...

who was the youngest musician in

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

's orchestra and accompanied many jazz legends such as

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April25, 1917June15, 1996) was an American singer, songwriter and composer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phra ...

and

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

. Her late grandmother was also a jazz vocalist, and her aunt Shawnn Monteiro is still active in the jazz scene today.

Early life

Born in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

but raised around the world, Melome is a singer,

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

, actress who sings in

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

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German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and English. Having grown up exposed to the music of her family, Melome followed in the footsteps of her grandfather

, the youngest musician in

's band.

Career

Melome moved to Los Angeles to pursue music after graduating, where she met Saverio "Sage" Principini and recorded her first album ''Indigo Red'' and her sophomoric album ''Phoenix Rising'', both recorded at the infamous

Henson Recording Studios The Jim Henson Company Lot, formerly A&M Studios, is a studio property located just south of the southeast corner of La Brea Avenue and Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Originally established by film star Charlie Chaplin, the property served as Ch ...

in Hollywood. After a U.S. release on indie label Savana Records, Amana's ''Indigo Red'' became the first CD to be sold in

Whole Foods Markets Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preserv ...

, as they coined her music as "organic" and had her perform a mini-tour of the west-coast stores. ''Indigo Red'' was released in Europe on Irma Records in 2008. Following the American and European release of her record, Melome was headlining festivals and clubs, performing for private events for

Fendi Fendi Srl () is an Culture of Italy, Italian luxury goods, luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925 by fashion designers Edoardo Fendi and ...

and

Christian Dior Christian Ernest Dior (; 21 January 1905 – 24 October 1957) was a French fashion designer and founder of one of the world's top fashion houses, Dior, Christian Dior SE. His fashion house is known all around the world, having gained promi ...

before she landed herself a lead role on the most popular Italian sitcom

Un medico in famiglia ''Un medico in famiglia'' (English: ''A doctor in the family'') is an Italian television series, based on the format of the Spanish series of Telecinco '' Médico de familia'', produced by Publispei and Rai Fiction. The series aired for ten seaso ...

which aired on national TV. Melome's music is said to evoke the jazz roots of her family with a sound that is a mix of

neo-soul Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contem ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

, occasionally mixed with

world The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that Existence, exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk ...

inspired by her many travels. Melome has recently finished recording her third album ''Lock and Key'' at Manifest Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

which is due for release in January 2015. The EP brings new collaborations and production by the talented duo Itai Shapira and Adam Berg of the Decoders, who have worked with the likes of Aloe Black and Rhye.

Discography

* 2008: ''Indigo Red'' * 2011: ''Phoenix Rising'' * 2014: ''Lock and Key''

Singles

* 2008: ''Caterpillar, Bella Farfalla, Platonic'' * 2011: ''Twisted'' * 2014: ''Lock and Key''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melome, Amana German women musicians Living people Year of birth missing (living people)