Melody Gardot traveled a long, hard road from atraumatic brain injury she suffered in Philadelphia all the way to a number one song and double-platinum album sales in France. An interview piece on CBS Sunday Morning detailed Melody’s journey of recovery and, finally, grand success.
At age 19, Melody was riding her bike near the University she attended in Pennsylvania. A jeep struck her after the driver ran a red light. The accident left Melody with a broken pelvis, a damaged spine, and a traumatic brain injury, CBS reported. The damage didn’t stop there. Melody, now 25, still uses a cane to walk and has an extreme sensitivity to light and sound.
After undoing various treatments including therapy and pharmaceutical drugs, Melody’s doctor suggested she try music as a possible path toward recovery. She had played piano in college before her accident. CBS reported, ‘Gardot never gave up. Slowly… it would take years… music therapy began to rebuild the neural pathways in her brain.’
Not only did Melody regain access to more neural pathways in her brain, but also she went on to achieve huge success as a musician. CBS reported that Melody’s musical talent was recognized and rapidly gained in popularity after some of her songs were posted on MySpace in 2006.
Melody told CBS that she was addicted to performing, since ‘the first maybe half a dozen times experiencing this, that was the only 30 minutes in my life that I did not feel pain for that moment.’ While her recovery is not as complete as she’d like – she said that the sound of her mother dropping a plate made her collapse, and she must wear dark glasses due to light sensitivity – she has achieved a tremendous level of success.
Melody’s bluesy voice and haunting lyrics played in the background of the CBS interview, ‘Well, I’m buckled up inside, Miracle that I’m alive’¦’ When asked by Anthony Mason how she went from music therapy to double-platinum star, Melody replied, ‘That is almost a question for God.’
References:
Mason, Anthony. (January 24, 2010) ‘How Melody Gardot Found Her Voice.’ Retrieved on January 25, 2010 from the CBS Sunday Morning Web sites:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/24/sunday/main6136473.shtml andhttp://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6136503n