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Melanie, Pioneering Folk Singer Who Dazzled at Woodstock, Dies at 76

A hit single inspired by her set at Woodstock inspired audiences at later concerts to light candles as she sang—much to the dismay of local fire departments, she joked.

Melanie, the zephyr-voiced songstress who performed at the Woodstock musical festival in 1969 and topped the next decade’s charts with hits like “Brand New Key” and “Lay Down (Candles in the Rain),” died Tuesday, her family said. Responding to one reporter’s questions about fans reading between her almost childish lines about rollerskates and keys, Melanie explained she’d written the song “in about 15 minutes one night.” Titled Second Hand Smoke, the album was to have featured versions of Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” Radiohead’s “Creep,” and the Moody Blues’ “Nights In White Satin,” according to Variety.

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