Biography

"My desire is to create music with love in it – a space where people can reconnect with the beauty, love and goodness that is inside them and when I sing I see the music touch people." - Joanna

Capturing hearts with her soothing, sensual and sophisticated on-stage presence, Joanna has the capacity to steal your heart with a voice of outstanding expressive range and clarity which you can listen to for hours. She is unpretentious, honest and endearing in her music.

Traversing many styles of music – influenced by Latin, jazz, pop, soul, folk and R&B – with ease and charisma, Joanna’s style is free-flowing. Her ability to cross over into a variety of musical worlds means her appeal is limitless, making her one of Sydney’s busiest, most loved performers on the hotel-club circuit/ functions and events scene.

Embracing the audience with her gift of transforming a song into a mood and a message, Joanna evokes a unique rapport, and her eclectic repertoire and class act captures the attention of both young and old. As a talented singer-songwriter and instrumentalist, Joanna is regularly sought out by venues, agents and other musicians, and has garnered a following of diverse and loyal fans.

A polished act and a passion for excellence, Joanna works her magic on any audience. Her sultry voice, classy on-stage presence and timeless music combine perfectly to provide the right musical atmosphere for a range of events and venues including weddings, corporate functions, cocktail parties, cruise liners, clubs, bars…

For booking enquiries, please see the Contact Page

Read what Music Journalists are saying about Joanna

"Joanna Melas is a singer with a voice that is made for the stage. Her vocals are as smooth as velvet. It’s sexy, it’s sultry and most of all it’s captivating. Melas radiates with charisma. To be a great singer on stage, it takes more than just hitting all the right notes. To use a cliché, you have to have “it,” and Melas definitely has it! In fact, Melas at times sounds quite a bit like Gloria Estefan. She has the same instant likability. She is a star in the making.” (Zack Daggy, Review You)

"Melas has a winning Sade-like quality” (Dan MacIntosh, Review You)

"..shows a wholesome sensitivity that strongly recalls Karen Carpenter.” (Nick DeRiso, Review You)

"Fast, slow, sensual, spiritual - she makes anything sound incredible and the best part is, the listener can tell through her delivery that she is immensely enjoying herslf no matter what she is singing.” (Kelly O’Neil, Review You)

To read more reviews, please click here.

"In the arena of life we must keep ourselves tuned-up to concert pitch.” - Florence Shinn

Early Life

Joanna-2yrsJoanna was the youngest of five children born to Greek and Romanian parents. Growing up in Bondi, Sydney, in a musical household, with her father playing the mandolin and her mother singing - Joanna seemed destined to pursue a career in music. Her musical journey began early as a small child listening to music on the radio where Joanna could play back pieces by ear on the piano. Supportive of her musical talents, Joanna’s parents enrolled her in piano lessons. While the lessons for two years provided a basic grounding in piano, she found the Victorian-styled lessons boring, hardly practising set pieces but instead making up her own compositions which just increased her enthusiasm and to teaching herself guitar, taking acting and singing classes and performing for a year in the Sydney Philharmonia Choir.

Joanna says: “I remember when my father would start playing his mandolin and then my mother who was in the kitchen preparing her gorgeous dishes would start singing. Many guests who visited never wanted to leave. The music, the food, gracious hospitality and the sheer joy of making people feel loved and happy made our home a beacon. All this with their love of making music and the classic records they played would have a huge influence on me later as a performing artist. This is where I get the soul and intention in my music and the intuitive sensitivity in knowing how to approach my audiences today.”

Music Development and Career

jo-trio 570wLike many other successful artists, Gospel music played a significant role in Joanna’s musical development. She decided to move to the USA and study at the Heritage School of Communication and Evangelism in North Carolina during which time Joanna performed with a Gospel music group, touring many states and even appearing on national television. This helped prepare her for the professional career in music she would later pursue. Prior to commencing a second year of study, both of Joanna’s parents fell ill and she was compelled to abandon further studies and returned home to be with them.

Back in Sydney, Joanna filled with a sense of mission, realised that she had a message to bring to people and could do this effectively through music. After an invitation to sing at a business convention, Joanna was invited to be the music director of a prominent city church where for five years, she used her talents in the areas of inspirational music and outreach programs, touching the lives of many.heritage class resized

Over the following years Joanna developed a versatile covers repertoire and marketable act and has since performed numerous shows in live bands and as a solo artist across Australia, New Zealand and America. She has had the rare distinction of having performed daily at the Sydney 2000 Olympics as a resident singer musician to over 1500 coach drivers. The Daily Telegraph featured an article which stated - “Joanna is working in what could be one of the toughest rooms in Sydney for the Olympics” A driver’s comment was - ” The first time there it felt pretty tense, but when Ms Melas showed up it’s now great, she has changed the atmosphere around here.” Joanna said “I’m making out like this is MASH and I’m singing to the troops.”

As a talented singer-songwriter and performer, Joanna is regularly sought out by venues, agents and other musicians and has been contracted for many corporate events, weddings, cruise liners and cocktail parties see Functions/Events Page.

Influences

Genres/Styles

Latin, Jazz, Pop, R’n B, Soul, Celtic, Gypsy Jazz, Hip Hop, Afro Cuban, Folk, Inspirational, Orchestral, Broadway and MovieThemes.

Artists

Cole Porter, Jobim, Eva Cassidy, Karen Carpenter, Barbra Streisand, Julie London, Carly Simon, Madonna, Janis Ian, Sade, Angie Stone, Whitney Houston, Paula Lima, Toni Braxton, Bruce Hornsby, Burt Bacharach, Donny Hathaway, George Benson, Luther Vandross, Sergio Mendez, Pat Matheny, Michael McDonald, Toto, Steely Dan, Brand New Heavies, Average White Band, Fleetwood Mac, Black-Eyed Peas, The Gotan Project, Pink Martini, Morcheeba, Andreas Volenweider, Secret Garden, Enya, Celtic Woman, The Eagles, The Bee Gees, Mozart, Vivaldi.

"There are no borders, only horizons" - Amelia Earheart

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