Melissa Lynn Marquais (pronounced /ˈmar-kay/ born December 14, 1977) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and recording artist. Born and raised on Long Island, she performed at many popular venues in New York such as the Apollo Theatre, before moving to Nashville, Tennessee in 2004, where she refined her skills and learned of her late Grandfathers trials and triumphs in the music business as a famous composer in the 1950's. Her Grandfather, Ernest G. Schweikert and Lyricist Frank Reardon wrote for the likes of Billie Holiday, Sammy Davis Jr., Guy Lombardo, Nat King Cole, Carmen MaCrae, The Four Aces, Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Al Hibler and many others.



Having not received any of the royalties owed to him, Ernest became so disheartened and angry that he threw away all of the musical compositions he had ever written and never spoke of it again. He died two weeks before Melissa's fifth birthday.



In 2004, Melissa's Grandmother, Norma Schweikert, extracted a promise from her Granddaughter to find her late husbands lost compositions because she was certain that they were a perfect fit for her  beloved Granddaughters voice.  Norma passed away the next day completely unexpected and so it 

was that Melissa's journey truly began.

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The first song she found was "How Do You Say Goodbye?" which was from the Broadway musical  "Rumple." composed by Ernest and Frank. The show starred Eddie Foy Jr., Gretchen Wyler and Elliott Gould who is best known for his role in the hit TV series, MASH. Upon hearing the song and falling in love with the music, Melissa made a decision to focus 100% of her time and energy on bringing new life to the beautiful music her Grandfather and Frank left behind.  

 

Refusing to allow the same Publishers who had ripped her Grandfather off to be involved in her career, Melissa took some time off from recording to pursue the legal aspects of her late Grandfathers works and won over 300 litigations on her own. She has since found hundreds of songs the duo wrote which she now publishes 100% throughout the world. She has become an advocate for songwriters rights specializing in copyright infringement, copyright fraud, copyright rescinding and back royalty collection.

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After conquering her goals to obtain the rights to Ernest's music, Melissa recorded an album of some of the works her Grandfather and Frank left behind so many years ago. The album, "Coffee In Connecticut" which is now available on iTunes is an album of quality songs that can only be described as timeless. Melissa Marquais sexy, yet innocent vocal style, is the perfect compliment to these beautifully written pieces of music. 



She continues to work on other songs her Grandfather wrote and plans to release another album that includes some more of her "personal favorites." Sharing the same love of piano that her Grandfather once had, Melissa composes her own music as well.



She currently resides in Tennessee with her Fiancé, Jon and their three very spoiled dogs (Ty, Brodi and Molly.)

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