Melody Gardot

In the organizer's words:

A tragic event marked the beginning of her career. In 2003, Melody Gardot was riding her bicycle in Philadelphia when the owner of an SUV drove in front of her and committed a hit-and-run after the collision. The singer was hospitalized with severe head and spinal injuries and a multiple pelvic fracture. During her rehabilitation, music played a central role in her recovery process. She became interested in jazz singing as part of music therapy, learned to play the guitar and wrote songs. "I started recording because it was a way of remembering what I had done. I had really bad problems with my short-term memory. I couldn't remember at night how the day had started," Gardot once said in an interview. Two years after the accident, she appeared in public again, even though she developed a sensitivity to noise and light as a result of the accident, which forces her to wear dark glasses to this day. In the meantime, the singer-songwriter has released several albums, some of which have been nominated for Grammy awards, which in their diversity - from jazz and blues to French chanson and pop to Latin American music - reflect the stylistic range of the artist.