Melissa Janis Lefton is a singer, songwriter, and self-styled comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

. Her song "I Love Life" was on the soundtrack album

Princess Diaries (album)

The Princess Diaries soundtracks are soundtracks of the movies The Princess Diaries and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement starring Julie Andrews and Anne Hathaway. The albums contain songs sung by today's top artists as well as Disney's homegrown talents...

 for The Princess Diaries

The Princess Diaries (film)

The Princess Diaries is a 2001 comedy film produced by singer and actress Whitney Houston and directed by Garry Marshall. It is based on Meg Cabot's 2000 novel of the same name...

movie, released in 2001. A cover song she did, He Blinded Me With Science

She Blinded Me with Science

"She Blinded Me With Science" is a New Wave song by British musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the UK in October 1982 and was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science and the second edition of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless. It is...

appeared on the soundtrack to Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (film)

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius is a 2001 computer-animated film based on a few three-minute animated shorts shown on Nickelodeon between the years 1999-2002, and a pilot in 1998. The film was produced by Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies with O Entertainment and DNA Productions...

.

Her debut major label album, with her punk rock band "Product," was slated to be released in 1999 but was shelved two weeks beforehand. Her second album, Melicious

Melicious

"Melicious" is the title of the second album by singer Melissa Lefton. On many promotional copies it was simply titled "Melissa Lefton". The album was due for release in September, 2001 on Jive Records but that release was suspended indefinitely...

, for Jive Records

Jive Records

Jive Records was a record label based in New York City, operating under RCA Music Group. Jive was primarily known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and in teen pop and boy bands in the late 1990s. The word "jive" was inspired by Township Jive, a form of South African...

, was slated for release on September 11, 2001 and (partially) because of the events of that day, was not released at all. In addition she was told by her label there was no viable single on the album.

In an attempt to salvage her career the label set her up with a manager who sent her to Los Angeles to become an actress. Discouraged with the vapid roles she was offered she returned to New York City. She spent several years working professionally as a commercial jingle writer; Lefton's vocals can be heard in the infamous commercial for Pepsi

Pepsi

Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink that is produced and manufactured by PepsiCo...

 by Britney Spears as well as ads for T.J. Maxx and Chevy.1

Lefton has been compared to singers like Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

, Deborah Gibson

Deborah Gibson

Deborah Ann "Debbie" Gibson is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. In 1987 she was pronounced the youngest artist to write, produce, and perform a No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, with her song "Foolish Beat" and she remains the youngest female to write, record, and...

 and Julie Brown

Julie Brown

Julie Ann Brown is an American actress, comedienne, screen/television writer, singer-songwriter, television director. Brown is perhaps best known for her work in the 1980s, where she often played a quintessential valley girl character...

 and was even critically referred to as the "anti-Britney." Combining an upbeat pop sound with breathy, little-girl vocals. Lefton writes satirical songs that often address very serious issues. Melicious took on topics like pollution, date-rape, occultism and murder, with tongue in cheek.
In 2006 Lefton released the album Hello on an independent record label.

External links

- The site may not have been updated since 2001.

• Melissa Lefton at Blender
  Blender (magazine)
  Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....
  
  
• [ Melissa Lefton] at Allmusic
• Reighley, Kurt B., "Two Ears and a Tale: Melissa Lefton", Seattle Weekly, July 4, 2001.
• McDonnell, Evelyn, "Melissa Lefton - musician - Brief Article - Interview", Gale Group at FindArticles.com. April 2001.
• Details about and how to buy 2006 album "Hello"