Мелани Блатт: от All Saints до сольной карьеры и телевидения.

English singer (born 1975)

Melanie Ruth Blatt (born 25 March 1975), also known as Mel Blatt, is an English singer. She rose to fame in 1997 as a member of the girl group All Saints. The group have gained five UK number one singles, two multi platinum albums and two BRIT Awards, and have sold over 10 million records worldwide. As a solo artist, Blatt released only two singles, "Do Me Wrong" (2003) and "See Me" (2005), and recorded an unreleased album on London Records. In 2013 and 2015, she was a judge on the television series The X Factor NZ.

Blatt was born at University College Hospital in the London Borough of Camden and is named after American folk singer Melanie Safka. She has a French mother and a British father, David Blatt (known also as author of the book Manchester United Ruined My Wife), whose ancestors were from Poland and Russia and a younger sister named Jasmine. She was brought up in both the UK and France. In 1986, Blatt was diagnosed as having scoliosis. Since her parents were not satisfied with the treatment for the condition in the United Kingdom they decided to move to France, where a specialist inserted three metal rods in her back. Blatt went to Fitzjohn's Primary School where her musical talent was immediately noticed by the music teacher David Joyner, who encouraged her parents to send her to a stage school. In 1986, she attended the Sylvia Young Theatre School where she met Nicole Appleton. The two girls became best friends. During this period, Blatt also played young Eponine in Les Misérables for six months, and was the understudy for Cosette together with fellow Sylvia Young student Denise van Outen.

In 1993, Blatt sang under the name Melanie Guillaume in the band Drive with Julienne Davis. They released one single, "Curfew", together. She also did backing vocals for Dreadzone with Denise van Outen. Blatt's solo record was shelved in favour of the All Saints reunion.

On 24 January 2006, it was announced that the band had reformed and signed a record deal with Parlophone. They subsequently began work on their third studio album, Studio 1. The first single, "Rock Steady" (released in November 2006), reached number three on the UK Singles Chart. Studio 1 entered the albums chart at number forty and sold 60,000 copies according to the BPI, being certified silver. A second single, "Chick Fit" failed to reach the top 200. Blatt discussed the reunion's failure in an interview with i D magazine in 2012: "I don't think it was done for the right reasons I know that I did it for the money. We got signed before we had even made music again, it wasn't like we felt we had something to give back to the world we were given an opportunity and took it, without really thinking about it too hard". She also said she never felt comfortable with the success the band had and that "it was not necessarily the plan at the beginning; there was a lot of compromise involved". Since 2007 Blatt presents the TV show The Hot Desk on ITV2 with co hosts Nicole Appleton, Dave Berry, Emma Willis and Jayne Sharp. Between 2009 and 2010 she was reporter of Angela Griffin's show Angela and Friends. In January 2013 it was announced Melanie Blatt would join Daniel Bedingfield, Stan Walker and Ruby Frost as a judge/mentor on the New Zealand version of The X Factor: "I can't wait to see what kind of artists and voices we are going to find in New Zealand." Blatt mentored the Groups category. It was reported that she and her daughter Lilyella will live in the country for the duration of the series. In February 2013, Blatt revealed she is "making music" and when asked about a solo comeback she said she is going to do something she never thought in a million years she would do. On 11 September 2014 MediaWorks announced both Blatt and Stan Walker would return to judge the second season of the X Factor NZ alongside returning host Dominic Bowden. Blatt and Walker would be joined by new husband wife duo Willy Moon and Natalia Kills until their sacking, and replaced by Natalie Bassingthwaite and Shelton Woolwright. Blatt mentored the Over 25's and placed 5th with her contestant Steve Broad. In 2014, All Saints reformed to support the Backstreet Boys for five dates across the UK and Ireland in 2014. On 27 January 2016, it was confirmed that All Saints will release their fourth studio album Red Flag on 8 April 2016. The lead single from the album, "One Strike", preceded the album on 26 February 2016.

On 20 November 1998, Blatt gave birth to daughter Lilyella, whose father is Stuart Zender, Jamiroquai's former bass player. The couple split in early 2006.

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album UK IRL SCO "Do Me Wrong" 2003 18 36 25 rowspan=2 "See Me" 2005 78 — 72 "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

+ List of singles, with selected chart positions Title Year Peak chart positions Album UK BEL EUR IRL SCO "TwentyFourSeven" 2001 6 16 32 41 16 All Hits "I'm Leavin'" 2002 41 — — — 57 The Bricks "Let's Get Nice" — — — — — Bounce to This "Dreaming About Tomorrow" — — — — — "Ecstasy / Need Your Lovin'" 2012 — — — — — Efunk "Fall's Away" 2013 — — — — — Mind Over Matter "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.