# Mel Street > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mel_Street > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Mel_Street.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Street > Source revision: 1338004796 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American singer-songwriter}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Mel Street | image = Mel Street.png | caption = Street in 1975 | image_size = 250px | background = solo_singer | birth_name = King Malachi Street | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1933|10|21}} | birth_place = [Grundy, Virginia](/source/Grundy%2C_Virginia), United States | death_date = {{Death date and age|1978|10|21|1933|10|21}} | death_place = [Hendersonville, Tennessee](/source/Hendersonville%2C_Tennessee), United States | instrument = Guitar | genre = [Country](/source/Country_music) | occupation = Singer-songwriter | years_active = 1972–1978 | label = [Metromedia](/source/Metromedia), GRT, [Polydor](/source/Polydor_Records), [Mercury](/source/Mercury_Records) | website = }} '''King Malachi "Mel" Street''' (October 21, 1933 – October 21, 1978){{Cite web |title=October 21, 1978: Country Music Star Tragically Commits Suicide |date=November 8, 2021 |url=https://kxrb.com/heres-a-little-known-fact-about-classic-country-star-mel-street/}} was an American [country music](/source/country_music) singer who had 13 top-20 hits on the ''[Billboard](/source/Billboard_charts)'' country charts. ==Biography== Street was born near [Grundy, Virginia](/source/Grundy%2C_Virginia), United States.[https://www.wvpublic.org/post/october-21-1935-country-musician-mel-street-born-virginia#stream/0 "October 21, 1933: Country Musician Mel Street Born in Virginia"]. [West Virginia Public Broadcasting](/source/West_Virginia_Public_Broadcasting). October 21, 2019. Retrieved March 7, 2020.Nelson, Dick (August 27, 2017). [https://minnesotasnewcountry.com/sunday-morning-country-classic-spotlight-to-feature-mel-street/ "Sunday Morning Country Classic Spotlight to Feature Mel Street"]. [98.1 Minnesota's New Country](/source/98.1_Minnesota's_New_Country). Retrieved March 7, 2020. Publications cite his year of birth as 1933 and his family also maintains that he was born in 1933. However, his gravestone gives the year as 1936.Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 23.[http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM335Q_Mel_Street "Mel Street – Grave of a Famous Person"]. Waymarking.com. The Social Security Death Index also shows 1936. He began performing on western Virginia and [West Virginia](/source/West_Virginia) radio shows at the age of 16. Street subsequently worked as a [radio tower](/source/radio_masts_and_towers) electrician in [Ohio](/source/Ohio) and as a [nightclub](/source/nightclub) performer in the [Niagara Falls, New York](/source/Niagara_Falls%2C_New_York), area.{{Cite web |title=Mel Street | Biography & History |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mel-street-mn0000869809 |access-date=August 10, 2021 |website=[AllMusic](/source/AllMusic)}} He moved back to West Virginia in 1963 to open an auto body shop.Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 46. From 1968 to 1972, Street hosted a show on a [Bluefield, West Virginia](/source/Bluefield%2C_West_Virginia), television station.Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 51. He recorded his first single, "Borrowed Angel" – which he also wrote – in 1969 for a small, regional record label, Tandem Records. A larger label, Royal American Records, picked it up in 1972, and it became a top-10 ''Billboard'' hit. He recorded the biggest hit of his career, "Lovin' on Back Streets", in 1972. Street's last television appearance was in 1977, in which he performed his 1976 hit "I Met a Friend of Yours Today" on ''That Good Ole Nashville Music''. Street recorded several hits in the mid-1970s, such as "You Make Me Feel More Like a Man", "Forbidden Angel", "I Met a Friend of Yours Today", "If I Had a Cheatin' Heart", and "Smokey Mountain Memories". He signed with [Mercury Records](/source/Mercury_Records) in 1978, but suffering from clinical depression and alcoholism, he killed himself by a self-inflicted gunshot on October 21, 1978, his 45th birthday. He had a record debut on the country charts on October 21, as well, called "Just Hangin' On",Schuler and Delp 2002, p. 243. and later charted four posthumous songs. Street's idol, [George Jones](/source/George_Jones), sang "[Amazing Grace](/source/Amazing_Grace)" at his funeral.{{cite book|title=[The Guinness Who's Who of Country Music](/source/Encyclopedia_of_Popular_Music)|editor=[Colin Larkin](/source/Colin_Larkin_(writer))|publisher=[Guinness Publishing](/source/Guinness_Publishing)|date=1993|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-726-6|page=398}} His posthumous album, ''Mel Street's Greatest Hits'', was promoted via television advertisements in 1981, and sold 400,000 copies. ==Discography== ===Albums=== {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Album ! [US Country](/source/Top_Country_Albums) ! Label |- | 1972 | ''Borrowed Angel'' | align="center"| 14 | rowspan="2"| Metromedia Country |- | 1973 | ''The Town Where You Live /
Walk Softly On the Bridges'' | align="center"| 37 |- | 1974 | ''Two Way Street'' | align="center"| 37 | rowspan="4"| GRT |- | 1975 | ''Smokey Mountain Memories'' | align="center"| 16 |- | rowspan="2"| 1976 | ''Mel Street's Greatest Hits'' | align="center"| 26 |- | ''Country Colors'' | align="center"| — |- | 1977 | ''Mel Street'' | align="center"| 45 | rowspan="2"| Polydor |- | rowspan="2"| 1978 | ''Country Soul'' | align="center"| 47 |- | ''Mel Street'' | align="center"| — | Mercury |- | 1980 | ''Many Moods of Mel'' | align="center"| 61 | Sunbird |} ===Singles=== {| class="wikitable" ! rowspan="2"| Year ! rowspan="2"| Single ! colspan="2"| Chart Positions ! rowspan="2"| Album |- ! width="50"| [US Country](/source/Hot_Country_Songs) ! width="50"| CAN Country |- | rowspan="2"| 1972 | "Borrowed Angel" | align="center"| 7 | align="center"| 9 | rowspan="2"| ''Borrowed Angel'' |- | "Lovin' On Back Streets" | align="center"| 5 | align="center"| 8 |- | rowspan="3"| 1973 | "Walk Softly On the Bridges" | align="center"| 11 | align="center"| 6 | rowspan="2"| ''The Town Where You Live /
Walk Softly On the Bridges'' |- | "The Town Where You Live" | align="center"| 38 | align="center"| 58 |- | "Lovin' On Borrowed Time" | align="center"| 11 | align="center"| 7 | rowspan="2"| ''Two Way Street'' |- | rowspan="2"| 1974 | "You Make Me Feel More Like a Man" | align="center"| 15 | align="center"| — |- | "Forbidden Angel" | align="center"| 16 | align="center"| 47 | rowspan="4"| ''Smokey Mountain Memories'' |- | rowspan="3"| 1975 | "Smokey Mountain Memories" | align="center"| 13 | align="center"| 43 |- | "Even If I Have to Steal" | align="center"| 17 | align="center"| 17 |- | "(This Ain't Just Another) Lust Affair" | align="center"| 23 | align="center"| — |- | rowspan="3"| 1976 | "The Devil in Your Kisses (And the Angel in Your Eyes)" | align="center"| 32 | align="center"| — | ''Mel Street's Greatest Hits'' |- | "I Met a Friend of Yours Today" | align="center"| 10 | align="center"| — | rowspan="3"| ''Country Colors'' |- | "Looking Out My Window Through the Pain" | align="center"| 24 | align="center"| — |- | rowspan="3"| 1977 | "Rodeo Bum" | align="center"| 56 | align="center"| — |- | "Barbara Don't Let Me Be the Last to Know" | align="center"| 19 | align="center"| — | rowspan="2"| ''Mel Street'' (1977) |- | "Close Enough for Lonesome" | align="center"| 15 | align="center"| — |- | rowspan="3"| 1978 | "If I Had a Cheating Heart" | align="center"| 9 | align="center"| — | rowspan="2"| ''Country Soul'' |- | "Shady Rest" | align="center"| 24 | align="center"| — |- | "Just Hangin' On" | align="center"| 68 | align="center"| — | ''Mel Street'' (1978) |- | 1979 | "The One Thing My Lady Never Puts Into Words" | align="center"| 17 | align="center"| — | rowspan="4"| ''Many Moods of Mel'' |- | rowspan="2"| 1980 | "Tonight Let's Sleep On It Baby" | align="center"| 30 | align="center"| — |- | "Who'll Turn Out the Lights" | align="center"| 36 | align="center"| — |- | 1981 | "Slip Away" (w/ Sandy Powell) | align="center"| 48 | align="center"| — |} ==Footnotes== {{Reflist}} ==References== * Huey, Steve. (2003). Edited by Vladimir Bogdanov, Chris Woodstra, & Stephen Erlewine. "Mel Street (King Malachi Street)." ''All Music Guide to Country'', 2nd ed. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003. {{ISBN|0-87930-760-9}} *Schuler, Dennis Sr. and Larry J. Delp. ''Mel Street – A Country Legend'', Charleston, WV: Mountain State Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-941092-47-X}} ==External links== *[http://www.last.fm/music/Mel+Street Mel Street @ Last.fm] *{{Find a Grave|8898}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Street, Mel}} Category:1933 births Category:1978 deaths Category:1978 suicides Category:People from Grundy, Virginia Category:American male singer-songwriters Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:Mercury Records artists Category:Polydor Records artists Category:20th-century American singer-songwriters Category:Singer-songwriters from Virginia Category:20th-century American male singers Category:Suicides by firearm in Tennessee Category:Male suicides Category:Musicians from Bluefield, West Virginia --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mel Street](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Street) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_Street?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.