Biography
Mel Parsons (born in Westport on 21 October 1981) is an indie folk and alternative country singer/songwriter from New Zealand. She won Best Folk Artist at the 2020 New Zealand Music Awards.
Parsons started out playing piano, and also picked up the guitar at about 14, finally getting serious in seventh form (about age 17) when applying for the Nelson School of Music. After a year of music school, Parsons went overseas for a period, then returned to New Zealand to attend the University of Auckland, where she studied popular music and performance, along with history, anthropology and Spanish.
In 2007, Parsons started work on her first album. The album was written by Parsons, and recorded with co-producer Shaun Elley and her backing band, The Rhythm Kings. The album, "Over My Shoulder", was released in 2009.
In 2011, Parsons released her second studio album, "Red Grey Blue", featuring Anika Moa and Greg Johnson on harmonies, Bruce Lynch on double bass, and Don McGlashan on baritone horn, along with others. The album was recorded in Studio One, Boatshed Studios, and The Spare Room, in Auckland, New Zealand.
Parsons recorded her third studio album, "Drylands", at Surgery Studios. The album was engineered by Lee Prebble who, along with mixing engineer Oliver Harmer, won the 2015 New Zealand Music Awards for best engineer for the album.
Parsons released her fourth album, "Glass Heart", on 30 November 2018. Glass Heart is the first album Parsons recorded outside of New Zealand. It was recorded in the US in Santa Monica, California, with producer Mitchell Froom.
Parsons released her fifth studio album, "Slow Burn", on 16 September 2022.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
