Lifetime Achievement Award 2025

Melissa Cross talks a lot about emotion and letting things happen naturally - about avoiding contrivance at all cost. So it should come as no surprise that what brought NYC's most forward - thinking voice teacher to her profession was not a conscious decision, but the same path that led to the development of her innovative technique: personal experience.

The journey began when Melissa made a move from years of traditional music study at the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy and the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School in England to a career as a performing rock artist. All the years of perfecting her voice through classical training suddenly made little sense. "My voice lessons had absolutely no context in rock," she remembers. "They had no relevance to anything I was doing. I was basically screaming and throwing technique out the window to get a sound that felt real to me." It was only through a long process of figuring out how to really deliver those raw, heartfelt rock vocals without holding anything back - and without damaging her voice - that Melissa Cross discovered the technique that she teaches her students today. "I found the missing link between rock and classical vocal training," she reveals. "I was able to extract the essential aspects of classical technique, apply them to speech - and then, again, apply them back to music."

At first, Melissa kept the technique to herself. In fact, it inspired her to quit her day job (working for major record companies and entertainment law practices) and follow her heart, even if it meant playing the street. Which is actually where her talent was first appreciated - not only by those interested in recording her as a performing musician, but by other artists interested in learning from her. A singer was so impressed after hearing Melissa in a club that she became her first client.

That she went on to become so 'in-demand' as a vocal teacher for major label artists as well as on-the-rise stars requires little explanation. The simple truth is Melissa's vocal technique is unique and it works. "My frustration with having learned in a very 'contrived' way and not finding this helpful to what I was doing allowed me to build the bridge between good technique and real technique," she explains. "They need to be the same."

Melissa is more than thrilled at the way things have worked out. "I love my job and I love teaching vocalists with a passion for the cutting edge, for the rebelliousness of letting it all go. But I respect the importance of control in getting across that passion without sounding contrived. I know what it's like to want to be the best that you can be, and I see personal transformations. And pure joy when my students are doing it well and doing it straight from the heart. It's a great thing."