Melissa Neels was born in St. Louis, Mo. She grew up listening to records on her mom and dad’s 1970’s stereo console.
In junior high school she started to take guitar lessons after listening to a Chuck Berry tape on the way to The Lake of the Ozarks in her family’s old green van. Not knowing that a childhood dream would come true of meeting and opening up for the legendary Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room in 2003.
Melissa Neels was born in St. Louis, Mo. She grew up listening to records on her mom and dad’s 1970’s stereo console.
In junior high school she started to take guitar lessons after listening to a Chuck Berry tape on the way to The Lake of the Ozarks in her family’s old green van. Not knowing that a childhood dream would come true of meeting and opening up for the legendary Chuck Berry at Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room in 2003.
Another event that would change Melissa’s path was meeting Bonnie Raitt with her mom in 1990 and also in 1991. Bonnie told Melissa “to keep playing the blues” and gave her an autograph picture. After that she worked real hard to learn how to play lead guitar.
After graduating high school, Melissa played in many bands including Cool Water with her friend Bud (who would be her drummer throughout the years), The Skillet Sisters, and Delilah. She realized the other bands weren’t going to allow her to express herself and play the kind of music she wanted to play. So in 2000 she set out to form her own group, The Melissa Neels Band.
Throughout the bands history, Melissa has had many talented musicians in her band. For instance Bob Keller, who was her bass player and performed on her cd “Shine”. Bob was a founding member of The Allman Joys with Greg and Duane Allman. That band later became The Allman Brothers.
Melissa is backed by 4 talented and experienced musicians who have been with her for many years. Matt McCauley on keys and back ground vocals, Bud Rager on drums, Stu Massey on bass and back ground vocals and guest appearances by Howard Young on the harmonica, make up the current Melissa Neels Band.
Not only is Melissa influenced by Bonnie Raitt but also by Debbie Davies, Susan Tedeschi, Loretta Lynn, Joanna Connor, Freddie King, Albert King, and The Allman Brothers. Melissa can appreciate all music to some extent but blues with a hint of rock really describes her sound.
In 2013, as a side project she began performing with the all women band, “Groove Sistahs” featuring Sharon Bear, Carolyn Ittner, and Leslie Sanazaro. Also that year she started to play in a duo with singer-songwriter Jen Norman.
Melissa’s lifelong dream to become a singer, lead guitarist, songwriter, performer and to entertain people has all come true thru hard work and determination. Music is Melissa’s passion and she hopes to perform and turn people on to her music for years to come.
Matt has been playing piano since 1968, spent five years on the road, 300-330 nights a year and has toured the United States and Canada. He did two tours with Ray Sawyer from Dr. Hook, opened for Merle Haggard, Mister Mister, Elton john, Eurythmics, Aerosmith, Dickey Betts, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Blackhawk and others. His playing is influenced by rock, blues and country music. Artists he’s influenced by are Elton john, Steve Winwood, Billy Joel, Leon Russell and Billy Powell from Lynyrd Skynrd.
My first musical instrument was a coronet in 1972 and then in 1976 I took up bass guitar. I was raised in a rather musical family. I got into garage bands and basement bands in junior high and high school which led to more organized bands later.
Music was put on hold in the mid 80’s to get married and raise a family. I got back into it towards 2000 and been plugging away since. My go to basses are a Fender Precision and a Fender Jazz but I love to mix in my Thunderbird and others frequently.
Bud Rager has enjoyed working in a variety of musical settings during the last two decades. In addition to having played in The Melissa Neels Band on and off since it’s inception, he has played with local bands The X, Astray Lizard, and various jazz and experimental projects.
He has done pit work for Washington University’s musical productions under the direction of Lisa Campbell. He maintains a fulltime roster of 40 or more drum students of all ages at Tower Music in Fenton, Mo and he is an endorser of Ludwig drums.
In 1967, I walked into a coffee house and heard a harmonica player and an acoustic guitarist playing the blues. I’d grown up playing flute and wanted to learn another instrument. The sound of that harmonica hit me immediately and I knew what I wanted to learn.
That harmonica player gave me a couple of tips. From that point on I was self-taught. Bargain-bin blues records gave me some early riffs to practice. The next year I was wailing away in an “echo-chamber” stairwell in the college dorm.
Another student showed up with a guitar in open-chord tuning and started playing bottleneck blues. In three weeks we were performing in the college bars, coffee houses and pizza joints. I copied a lot of riffs from his bottle neck leads, but mostly just invented my own riffs and style of playing, tending to improvise variations on the melody line.
As a “normal adult life” set in after college, I did not play out again for over 20 years. I started attending open mic and jam sessions in the late 1990’s. A jam session at the old Mike and Min’s in Soulard led to me meeting a bass player from Melissa Neels Band. He invited me to sit in with the band. Melissa nervously accepted my playing at first, but soon after invited me to join the band as she became comfortable with how I fit into the mix.
Playing with Melissa and the crew over the years has been a great experience. It has put me in some wonderful playing venues and situations and resulted in many treasured memories and friendships. I am honored to have been able to accompany her and the band over the past 20 years.
“Melissa Neels is a dynamic blues woman! She has the presence and style to be the next big thing in blues. She has excellent presence on stage and her ability to bring the audience into her world. I highly recommend Melissa for anyone wanting a blues show. Her original material is excellent and I hear at least two songs on the new album that radio needs to hook into. Melissa Neels is THE REAL DEAL.” – Don Lanier , Pearl Audio