Jazz vocalist Melody Gardot started performing in Philadelphia piano bars at age 16 and earned her big break after a local radio DJ played her music. ∙ Gardot wrote and recorded her first EP, 2005’s Some Lessons, as a form of musical therapy while recovering from a head injury. ∙ Verve Records offered her a deal after the label heard her 2006 self-released album, Worrisome Heart. ∙ Her sinewy, horn-driven 2009 single “Who Will Comfort Me” reached No. 6 on Billboard’s Smooth Jazz Songs chart. ∙ She hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Albums chart with 2012’s The Absence and 2015’s Currency of Man. ∙ Currency of Man, her 2015 LP, was nominated for a Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award. ∙ In 2020, she collaborated with Sting on the Latin-influenced duet “Little Something.”