Melanie Faye (born May 16, 1998), is an American R&B musician and

social media personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. She became known after a video of her guitar playing on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

went viral in the summer of 2017. She has since performed with artists such as Noname and

Mac Demarco MacBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco (born Vernor Winfield MacBriare Smith IV; April 30, 1990) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. DeMarco has released six full-length studio albums, his debut ''Rock and Roll Night C ...

. She was a featured artist at the

NAMM Show The NAMM Show is an annual event in the United States that is organized by the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM), who describe it as "the industry’s largest stage, uniting the global music, sound and entertainment technology commun ...

Early life and education

Born in

Huntsville, Alabama Huntsville is a city in Madison County, Limestone County, and Morgan County, Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Madison County. Located in the Appalachian region of northern Alabama, Huntsville is the most populous city in t ...

and raised in a

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household by

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

parents, Faye began writing songs at an early age. Her family moved to

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...

when she was three, and in the third grade she won a music competition run by the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

. She credits her fascination with becoming a musician from learning how to play

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in middle school. She got her first guitar a year later "trading in her Xbox controller for the real thing." She studied jazz guitar at the

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

high school

Nashville School of the Arts Nashville School of the Arts (NSA) is a public magnet high school including grades 9-12 for arts-interested students located in Nashville, Tennessee. Each student enrolls in one or more of the nine conservatories within the school; dance, theatre ...

. Faye had "idolized

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

when I was a little girl," and started writing songs when she was 19.

Career

Faye's guitar skills came to prominence in the summer of 2017 when SZA retweeted a 2016 video of Faye playing her

sky blue Sky blue is a shade of light blue comparable to that of a clear daytime sky. The term (as "sky blew") is attested from 1681. A 1585 translation of Nicolas de Nicolay's 1576 ''Les navigations, peregrinations et voyages faicts en la Turquie'' in ...

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...

. Amassing a large number of followers and receiving critical acclaim, she dropped out of school to pursue music full-time. She cites

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

, and

Eric Gale Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and R&B guitarist. ''Early life and career'' Born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York, Gale grew up in a diverse household. His paternal grandfather was from Yorksh ...

as major influences on her playing style, which varies between R&B,

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, and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

. She has performed nationwide with associated soul and R&B acts such as Noname, Bibi McGill,

Masego Masego is a Tswana/ Pedi name (a Bantu tribe found in Botswana and South Africa) meaning blessings that may refer to: *Masego (musician) (born 1993), modern hip hop artist who utilizes elements of jazz and house music * Masego Kgomo (c. 1999–2009) ...

, and Dammo. She was featured on the cover of ''She Shreds'' magazine, and was chosen by Fender to demo the Player Series of guitars. Faye sees her guitar playing as a role model for others: "I want more people who don't necessarily listen to rock to also play guitar."

Discography

Singles

*''Melanie Faye EP (August 13, 2020)'' *''It's a Moot Point'' (March 17, 2020) *''Super Sad Always'' (December 20, 2019) *''Eternally 12'' (February 1, 2019)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faye, Melanie 1998 births Living people Musicians from Huntsville, Alabama Musicians from Nashville, Tennessee 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists African-American guitarists African-American women musicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American musicians