Melanie Joy Fontana (born October 3, 1986)Joyce Cohen

''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', December 26, 2004. is an American singer, composer and songwriter signed to

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Early life

Fontana was born in

Newington, Connecticut Newington is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Located south of downtown Hartford, Newington is an older, mainly residential suburb located in Greater Hartford. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,536. The Connecticu ...

. She moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

when she was 18, after spending seven years commuting to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, where she would audition for singing roles and work as a demo singer, recording songs for writers to pitch to record companies.

Career

Fontana co-wrote the 2011

Justin Bieber Justin Drew Bieber ( ; born March 1, 1994) is a Canadian singer. Bieber is recognized for his genre-melding musicianship and has played an influential role in modern-day popular music. He was discovered by American record executive Scooter ...

song "Home This Christmas" with

Nasri Atweh Nasri Tony Atweh ( ar, نصري طوني عطوة, born 10 January 1981), known mononymously as Nasri, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California, United States. He is the lead vocalis ...

. It was featured on Bieber's Christmas album ''

Under the Mistletoe ''Under the Mistletoe'' is the first Christmas album and second studio album by Canadian singer Justin Bieber. The album was released on November 1, 2011. The album debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 210,000 copie ...

''. Also in 2011, Fontana co-wrote the original theme song to ''Shelter Me'', a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

show, hosted by

Katherine Heigl Katherine Marie Heigl ( ; born November 24, 1978) is an American actress and former fashion model. She played Dr. Izzie Stevens on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television medical drama ''Grey's Anatomy'' from 2005 to 2010, a role tha ...

that celebrated the human-animal bond. The series focuses on shelter animal success stories. The theme song, "Love is Everything (Shelter Me)," was written by

Austin Bis Austin Bisnow (born June 9, 1987), is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and lead singer of the band Magic Giant. He has written and produced songs for artists such as David Guetta feat. John Legend ("Listen"), Big Time Rush (� ...

, Fontana and Daniel Walker, and performed by Fontana. In 2014, she co-wrote the song "Hit Me Up" with Lars Hustoft and Jon Asher for

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

competitor Charlie Tepstad of Norway. On April 5, 2013, the song "Nothing Really Matters" by

tyDi TyDi (; born Tyson Illingworth, 31 May 1987) is an Australian songwriter, record producer and DJ specializing in electronic dance music. Originally from Queensland, TyDi was signed by Armin van Buuren's Armada label at 17 and was ranked at No ...

, which Fontana was featured on and was co-written by STIX of

Fly Panda Fly Panda is an American pop group formed in 2012 by rapper Lukas Ka$h and singer Winter Rae in Los Angeles, California. Fly Panda is known for their recently launched #STUNT movement with its "Call Me Crazy" teaser video. History Formation ...

, debuted on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''.Cailey Lindberg
"tyDi keeps us dancing on 'Redefined (feat. Melanie Fontana)',"
Earmilk, October 2, 2014. It reached number 39 on the ''Billboard''

Dance Club Songs Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart in 2013. Also in 2013, Fontana worked as a songwriting consultant on Norway's ''

Idol Idol or Idols may refer to: Religion and philosophy * Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents * Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...

'' television show, co-writing

Astrid S Astrid Smeplass (born 29 October 1996) is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. In 2013, she placed fifth in the Norwegian version of '' Pop Idol'', entitled '' Idol – Jakten på en superstjerne''. In 2020, she released her debut studio album, ' ...

's single "Shattered", which went Gold in Scandinavia. In 2015, Fontana, alongside tyDi, topped the

Mediabase Mediabase is a music industry service that monitors radio station airplay in 180 US and Canadian markets. Mediabase publishes music charts and data based on the most played songs on terrestrial and satellite radio, and provides in-depth analytic ...

dance charts at Number 1 with their EDM track "Redefined", co-written by Priya J. Geddis. The song was

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

's top song of 2015 on its BPM station. She also collaborated with tyDi and Col3man on the 2017 single "That's How You Know". In 2016,

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

released the Japanese edition of her album '' Glory'', including a song written by Fontana with Jon Asher and produced by

DJ Mustard Dijon Isaiah McFarlane (born June 5, 1990), known professionally as Mustard (also known as DJ Mustard), is an American record producer and beatmaker. He is a frequent collaborator of fellow California-bred artists YG and Ty Dolla Sign; among var ...

, titled "Mood Ring".Bradley Stern
"Britney Spears' 'Mood Ring': Songwriter Melanie Fontana on the Making of the 'Glory' Track,"
Popcrush, September 9, 2016. Fontana had three Top 10 singles stemming from the Korean

Mnet M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...

TV show ''

Produce 101 ''Produce 101'' is a reality television talent competition franchise created by South Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ E&M, based around the formation of a K-pop girl group or boy group. The format is noted for having no panel of judges, empl ...

'': "Crush", "Yum Yum" and "Fingertips". On April 1, 2016,

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of the ...

released "Fools Gold" which was co-written by Fontana, Carter, Asher, Taylor Hegelson and Michel "Lindgren" Schulz. Fontana co-wrote all five tracks on Carter's 2017 comeback EP '' LøVë''. On October 7, 2016, Daya released '' Sit Still, Look Pretty'', which included two songs penned by Fontana, "Words" and "All Right". She co-wrote

The Chainsmokers The Chainsmokers are an American electronic DJ and production duo consisting of Alexander "Alex" Pall and Andrew "Drew" Taggart. They started out by releasing remixes of songs by indie artists. The EDM- pop duo achieved a breakthrough with the ...

single " Setting Fires", released in November 2016, and the

BTS BTS (), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 and debuting in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. The septet—consisting of members Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook—co-writes and co-produ ...

single "

Euphoria Euphoria ( ) is the experience (or affect) of pleasure or excitement and intense feelings of well-being and happiness. Certain natural rewards and social activities, such as aerobic exercise, laughter, listening to or making music and da ...

", released in April 2018, which reached number 2 on the ''Billboard'' World Digital Songs chart. She and her husband Michel "Lindgren" Schulz helped write the 2019 BTS single "

Boy with Luv "Boy with Luv" (Korean: 작은 것들을 위한 시; RR: ''Jag-eun geosdeul-eul wihan si'', "A Poem for Small Things") is a song recorded by South Korean boy band BTS, featuring American singer Halsey, as the lead single for their sixth extend ...

" featuring Halsey, which was the fastest

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video to reach 100 million views (doing it in under two days). Fontana is managed by Justin Garza.

Production credits

Discography

As featured artist

Television and voice over

* Vocals for all songs on

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's ''

Shimmer and Shine ''Shimmer and Shine'' is an American animated television series created by Farnaz Esnaashari-Charmatz and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on Nickelodeon's Nick Jr. block on August 24, 2015, and ran for four seasons. The sh ...

'' animated TV series (2015-2020)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Melanie Living people 1986 births American women singer-songwriters People from Newington, Connecticut Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Connecticut