Melody Gardto was hit by a drunk driver when she was 19 while cycling and began writing after using music to aid her recovery.
She has been influenced by such blues and jazz artists as Janis Joplin, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington and George Gershwin as well as Latin music artists such as Stan Getz and Caetano Veloso. After her accident Melody began writing music and since then often speaks and advocates in favour of using music for therapy. The accident had damaged the neural pathways between the brain's two cortexes which control perception and higher mental function and made Gardot (in her own words) "a bit of a vegetable."
As well as making it very hard for her to speak or communicate properly, she found it difficult to recall the right words to express her feelings. Music involving listening and making a verbal attempt to sing or hum is thought to help the brain form new pathways. At first, Gardot learned to hum and was eventually able to sing into a tape recorder. She made good progress and was eventually able to write original songs that sometimes talked about her rehabilitation.
For several years after the accident Gardot traveled with a physiotherapist and carried a TENS machine strapped to her waist which released pain reducing impulses. She was introduced to macrobiotics by a friend who loaned her a book on its benefits and she began to experiment and cook for several hours a day. As well as reducing her pain levels, she feels that macrobiotics helped her mental ability to cope with pain and helping her relax as the routine of cooking helped take her mind off her physical condition and she found she was able to sleep more easily.
