Melissa

Life — the facts

Melissa Mariana Griffiths Parra del Riego was born in Lima, Peru, on 14 December 1957. She was the third of seven siblings in a family of Lima society: her father, Frank Griffiths Escardó, of British descent, and her mother, Nora Parra del Riego. Among her documented relatives are the journalist Doris Gibson and the boxer Kina Malpartida.

According to the available information, she started very early: at nine she was already appearing on Peruvian television, and in her youth she passed through rock bands in Peru and Argentina. Her arrival in Venezuela was tied to her father's job transfer; during a visit, Melissa decided to stay. In Caracas she began singing in nightclubs, until Rodolfo Rodríguez, president of the record company Sono-Rodven, was impressed by her voice and added her to its catalog.

The facts: her Venezuelan recording career begins in 1983. What this suggests: Melissa was, above all, an artistic product of the Venezuela of the 80s —even though her birth and her first steps were Peruvian— and that is why popular memory claims her as its own.

«The nickname “Madonna venezolana” describes not so much her music as the gap she came to fill: she proved that Venezuela could have a female pop star of its own with mass reach.»

The work

Her take-off coincided with a moment of realignment in the Venezuelan market. Various sources link the boom in local pop production to the so-called “Viernes Negro” (18 February 1983), the economic breaking point that, among other consequences, pushed the record companies to bet on national talent instead of the imported catalog.

In that context, Melissa strung together a sustained discography across the decade and the beginning of the next one:

• ·Melissa (1983), with “Me estoy sintiendo sola”.
• ·Melissa II (1984), which contains her most representative song, “No soy una señora” —a Spanish adaptation of the Italian hit “Non sono una signora”, popularized by Loredana Bertè.
• ·Melissa III (1986), the year of the film.
• ·Noche sin fin (1987).
• ·Perdiendo el control (1989), whose title track reached number one for four weeks.
• ·Melissa (1990) and Siempre Melissa (1994).

Across those albums she recorded duets that today document her stature in the industry: “Confesiones” with Jermaine Jackson, “Cuestión de Feeling” with the Italian Riccardo Cocciante —a Spanish-language version of an original by Cocciante himself— and “Siempre y porque sí” with Ricardo Montaner, another of the names of this same generation.

The contribution

The facts: in 1985, at the peak of her popularity, the press and the public nicknamed her “La Reina del Rock” and “La Madonna venezolana”. Part of her repertoire leaned on Spanish-language versions of international hits —a common practice in the pop of the time.

What this suggests: more than a songwriter, Melissa worked as a performer-image. In a market that was only just learning to manufacture pop stars of its own, she offered what was missing: a modern female figure, with stage presence and a look that spoke as an equal to the Anglo divas playing on the radio.

Connection with miniteca culture

The link with miniteca culture is direct and verifiable. In 1986 the director Thaelman Urgellés released La Generación Halley, a film aimed at a young audience whose plot revolved around a group of kids who dreamed of getting to a Melissa concert. The singer played herself and performed the soundtrack's central song, “Somos Tú y Yo”. The same album also features her Spanish-language version of Eurythmics' “Sweet Dreams”, titled “Dulces Sueños”.

That soundtrack, released by Sono-Rodven, worked as a photograph of Venezuelan pop in the mid-80s: the same repertoire the minitecas spun at parties, clubs and shopping malls. Melissa was not “miniteca” music in the strict sense —her format was star pop— but she played in them and, above all, she embodied the youth imagination of that generation: the one that grew up among guerras de minitecas, breakdancing and the pop boom, and which the passage of Halley's Comet across the sky of 1986 ended up naming.

Today / legacy

The facts: Melissa retired from the stage in 1995. According to the available information, she had partial reappearances —a radio show around 2005, benefit concerts in 2007 and, in 2008, a collaboration with the band Mister Blues in Peru, as well as the opening of her own production company. No sustained recording activity afterward has been located.

Her name remains, however, as one of the emotional keys of the “Generación Halley”: every time that burst of Venezuelan pop talent of the 80s is evoked, her figure reappears as an emblem.