Melissa Cox owes her music career to a missed curfew.

At 14, she came home late, as teenagers often do, and was grounded by her parents.

“My dad came into my room and said ‘You can’t go out with friends, go on the computer, or watch TV.  So you’re going to do something useful and learn guitar,’” recalls Cox. “If that had not happened, I don’t know what I would be doing with my life right now.”

One week later, Cox wrote her first song.  A year later, she recorded her first album.  Now, a decade later, Cox is a national touring artist, mandolin and ukulele player with six albums, her latest work titled Harmonious Maladies.

Her determination and resolve come through in her voice, which has been described as sounding like “a cross between Loreena McKennitt and Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick” (Sing Out! Magazine). Indeed, there is a New Age / World quality to Cox's songs and style, which are rooted solidly in classic rock. "Some kids ride around in the car seat listening to Barney or Sesame Street songs. My mom had the radio auto-set to classic rock stations. By the time I was three, I knew all the words by Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, and Elton John."

With a belt as impressive as her falsetto, the classically trained singer jolts audiences to attention with one of her power ballads (“Courage”, “Vicarious”), sooths them with a haunting neo-classical Latin aria (“Valedico”), and evokes eruptions of laughter with her dry wit and tongue-in-cheek humor (“To Carrie Fisher, with love”).

She writes lyrics that take on a poetic tone reminiscent of Paul Simon, Tori Amos, and Robert Plant, but never to the point of total obscurity, and always towards the goal of reaching some truth about herself or about life – “What difference can I make when all women mistake their ‘lovelessness’ with hate?” and “Guess the only way to get famous these days is to go Gaga half naked at the cabaret.”

Her talent and tenacity have helped her win several songwriting accolades, including Best Singer/Songwriter by Spark Magazine, Best Celtic Fusion Singer by Celtic MP3 Music Magazine, and Best Musical Folk Artist by the Delaware Division of Arts. She was also a finalist in the National Song of the Year Contest for her song “elijah, elijah.”

She has shared the stage with the Spin Doctors, Sister Hazel, Smash Mouth, Three Dog Night, Cyril Neville, Catie Curtis and many others, and has headlined several of the largest festivals and events in the U.S., including the Hawaiian Scottish Festival, the Denver Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, D.C.’s Live! on Woodrow Wilson Plaza series, and hundreds more. She has also made appearances on 88.5 WXPN Philadelphia, 93.7 FM WSTW, and CBS/NBC TV Hawaii, among many others.

A true independent artist, Cox self-published her six albums and two music videos. Harmonious Maladies was released independently with the support of her fans through Kickstarter and showcases not only her musical and writing talents, but also her abilities as a producer and sound engineer.  To complete Maladies, she teamed up with Marc Moss of Target Studios (David Bromberg, Angel Band) and emerging engineer William Inglis of Denver.

Cox, who is also the lead singer of Neo-Celtic band Mythica, is never satisfied to remain musically stagnant, and has begun studying the technology and art of live looping (demonstrated in this video), which is already taking her live performances and career to new heights.

Cox’s other albums include Dangerous Little Monster (2006), Vicarious (2007), and Live is Good (2009), which were all released with Mythica, as well as her earliest albums Aurophobia and Goddess.