Anne Zhang zhangy49@gmail.com IF you have ever happened to walk into the lobby of the Futian Shangri-La in Shenzhen at night, you may have heard the beautiful voice of a female singer. It belongs to Canadian Liza Melfi. The hotel has invited her to enliven the evenings with performances of jazz, funk, pop and R&B, from 8 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Friday until July. With a career that has included stints in 10 countries, Melfi sings in five languages and has graced many well-known stages, including the Spectrum and the Bell Center in Montreal, Canada. “Music has been a big part of my life and it’s something that defines me,” Melfi said in the lobby of the Futian Shangri-La during an interview with Shenzhen Daily. Difficult beginnings Born in Montreal, Melfi has loved music since her childhood. “I was listening to jazz at a very early age and I was really fascinated by it,” Melfi said. She started singing while still a child and, at 16, she wrote her first song about her secret love for a boy. But Melfi was not confident in her musical abilities. She always sang alone in her room with the door closed. “I was mostly hiding because my brothers and sisters always made fun of my singing,” Melfi said. She said she still remembers her siblings mocking her at dinnertime for the way she sang the climax of Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you.” The adults in the family were not much more supportive of Melfi’s ambitions either. Her grandmother and her mother wanted her to have a more traditional job rather than taking risks in the unstable and difficult music industry. “At the time when I didn’t have support from the people close to me, it was really hard,” Melfi said. Grandma’s influence Although Melfi’s grandmother was not supportive at first, she has had a great influence on her granddaughter’s career. Melfi said that her grandmother has a beautiful voice, and that it is a treasure that has been passed on to her. “She said ‘don’t do the music,’ but she knew that deep in my heart I wanted to do it,” Melfi said. So her grandmother paid for Melfi’s first professional singing lessons with Lucille Dumont, a respected singer in Canada. It was a rare opportunity for a teenager to learn from Dumont. Melfi learned how to control her voice and how to better interpret a song, and this laid a solid foundation for her future. “My grandma is always like a little guardian angel beside me,” Melfi said. A singer sitting on the piano In addition to her singing talent, Melfi is a songwriter, model and actor. Her musical tastes span jazz, funk, soul, pop and R&B. In her album “Liza Melfi Live at the House of Jazz,” she interprets each song with her own special touch from each of these genres. She said a good singer should possess not only a fantastic voice but also a good personality to interact with the audience. “I am proud that this is my strength,” Melfi said. “I like people and like to communicate with them.” Her on-stage presence has lent an extra touch of showmanship to her singing performances. Melfi is always at ease on the stage. She likes to sit on the piano while singing and is known as “the singer who sits on the piano.” “I think it’s cool and elegant (to sit on a piano). When I first tried it people reacted in a positive way, so I started doing it everywhere I go and made it my trademark,” she said. Nancy Hu, assistant communications manager at Futian Shangri-La, said she was amazed and delighted when she first saw Melfi sitting on the piano while singing in the lobby of the hotel. “It’s quite charming,” Hu said, adding that Melfi has a unique way of posing on the piano, and is an easygoing and friendly person who always tries to have good interaction with the audience. Hu also said that when Melfi sings in the hotel lobby, you can see from the faces of the guests that they are relaxed and having a good time. Making a difference Melfi is also involved in charity work, assisting the Association Dysphasia Plus, a Canada-based organization, to raise money to support children who suffer from dysphasia. One of her close relatives has dysphasia, so she understands the challenges facing such children and their families. She performs at the association’s fundraising activities and often speaks of the condition to raise people’s awareness. In addition, she also donates US$1 to the association for each album sold. Melfi said she is proud of this work, but that she sometimes feels that it is “selfish generosity,” as she enjoys feeling she is needed and being helpful. A challenge Melfi has a beautiful face and keeps in good shape. She said that beauty is a challenge as well as a gift. “People always judge me by my appearance rather than my singing ability,” she said. “That bothers me a lot.” After years of hard work, Melfi has proved that she is a good singer, but people who do not know her still judge her by her appearance and doubt her singing ability. “I want to say ‘please close your eyes and just listen,’” she said. Singing and traveling Melfi has performed in countries including Canada, France, the United States, Japan and Malaysia, and she said that she enjoys such a career that enables her to travel around the world and experience various cultures. Shenzhen is the first city in China that she has visited, and she said that she enjoys her work at the Futian Shangri-La. “Some Chinese guests who don’t speak English come up, say some words to me and gave me a thumbs-up,” she said. “That’s really inspiring and makes me happy.” She believes her experience in Shenzhen will be exciting because she has plans to study Chinese, take walks in alleys, and enjoy the local cuisine. “I will continue to immerse myself into various cultures, learn songs in different languages, perform for people all over the world and discover new things,” Melfi said with a big smile. Music has been a big part of my life and it’s something that defines me.” — Canadian singer Liza Melfi, who sings in five languages and has graced many well-known stages | 