Biography

Melissa Weldon is a formally trained singer / songwriter and pianist from Hamilton, Ontario. She has been singing in choirs since the age of 10 and performed in several award-winning concert and jazz bands as a singer and instrumentalist. She is a graduate of Humber College's Jazz Performance program where she received a three-year Advanced Diploma in Vocal Jazz. She has also received a three-year Advanced Diploma in Graphic Design from Mohawk College. Melissa's primary discipline is music and songwriting; however, she pulls additional inspiration from her work as a graphic designer. She often utilizes mediums from both these disciplines in her work, resulting in a blend of images, movement, and sound.

Inspired by her training in Jazz Performance, Melissa’s music straddles the line between several genres including R&B, soul, folk, pop, and Latin. As a part-time Social Psychology student, she uses her studies to inform her approach to music and songwriting; themes related to the human condition, such as memory and perception, the ego, life and death, and love and loss are often prevalent in her music.

Songs from her album "Ready to Pull" have been featured on Mohawk and McMaster radio stations, and she has also been featured on Hamilton's Cable 14. She continues to write and perform throughout the Hamilton area.

Melissa remains active within her community. She volunteered as a Graphic Designer for "StinZine," a publication created by the residents of Hamilton's Stinson community. She also spent four years as a member of the Graphic Design Program Advisory Committee at Mohawk College where she was a guest speaker in classrooms and at networking and workshop events where she mentored aspiring designers.

Currently, Melissa is working on writing and producing her next album which will include visual representations of each song. These visualizations will take on many forms and utilize several mediums including, photography, collage, video, digital art, and mixed media.

Melissa works full-time as a Senior Graphic and Web Designer at McMaster University.

Artistic Statement

Fascinated by psychology and the human condition, I use art and music to ask, “If this feeling had a sound, what would it sound like? How can I use colour, shape, movement, and sound to represent a feeling or concept?

I am a strong advocate for mental health. Music and art provide an opportunity to name and explore my feelings while getting comfortable being in the same room with them. Visually representing what we cannot see, and giving shape, colour and texture to sound and abstract concepts is the driving force behind my approach as an artist and singer/songwriter.