In 1998, she moved to Los Angeles, California to pursue her dream. Melissa performed at the Angelciti Music and Film Market in West Hollywood at the Key Club back in fall of 1999. She continued to write songs as she searched for someone to collaborate with, or a band to join. It wasn't until June of 2002 that she received the phone call she had been waiting for.
ERA Productions contacted Melissa and asked her to come in for a meeting. After that first meeting, she was so impressed with Eddie and Ryan and their obvious talents, that she called them back the next day to schedule her first session. After recording two songs, "Empty Arms" (an original by Melissa) and "Mr. Policeman" (by Eddie and Ryan), Melissa parted ways with ERA Productions, as they were unable to provide the kind of music she wanted to record.
In the fall of 2003, Melissa contacted a guy by the name of Andy Martinez. Andy had been working on putting a band together for quite awhile, and was impressed with Melissa's voice and passion for music. She soon joined up with Andy, Kaleo and Rob, doing her best to adapt to the new style of music, but unfortunately, after only recording a few songs, she decided to leave the band. However, she did remain friends with Andy, and continues to keep in touch and keep up-to-date on the happenings of the band which is now called "Chronicles of One". (The band was nameless when she was a member.) The songs recorded while singing with the band were a Billy Idol cover called "Rebel Yell", an original she wrote the melody line and helped write the lyrics for called "Lost", an original she wrote the melody line for which is still untitled, and another original she helped write the chorus melody line for called "Say Nothing" (however, they have since changed the way the chorus melody lines goes). Please contact Melissa if you would like to hear any of these songs.
In September of 2004, Melissa trekked to Las Vegas with her boyfriend, Chris, to audition for American Idol. After spending 4 hours driving in the car with no sleep, 6 hours of standing in line, having her car break down, not being able to get into her hotel room to sleep until late afternoon, Melissa failed the auditions and returned back home to Los Angeles, miserable, depressed, broken-hearted, disappointed in herself, and hating music. For a short while, she was ready to give up. However, she has not given up completely. She loves the feeling when she sings so much, and will be auditioning again this year, if the auditions return to Los Angeles.
In the meantime, she encourages her little sister, Rachel, who is an unbelievably talented musician (singer, songwriter, guitarist). She is very proud of her accomplishments and has the feeling that Rachel will soon be very successful...it's just a matter of time now. She truly believes that Rachel has the talent to succeed. "A young female John Mayer", she has said. So in the end, the truth is still that Melissa loves to sing, and would love nothing more than to be able to do so for a living.