Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress. Her Disney roles include Miss Kitty in The Great Mouse Detective, Ms. Euphrosyne in the Hercules TV series, and a guest appearance on The Muppet Show in Episode 512. She also composed the songs and lyrics for Lady and the Tramp II: Scamp's Adventure, and sang "Home is Where the Heart Is" on The Disney Afternoon soundtrack for TaleSpin.
Manchester was born in the Bronx, a borough of New York City. Her father was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her mother was one of the first women to design and found her own clothing firm, Ruth Manchester Ltd. She learned the piano and harpsichord at the Manhattan School of Music, began singing commercial jingles at age 15, and became a staff writer for Chappell Music while attending Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. She later studied songwriting at New York University and performed in the Manhattan club scene, where she was discovered by Barry Manilow, who introduced her to Bette Midler where she became a member of the Harlettes, Midler's back-up singers.
While doing solo work where she won a Grammy Award for her song "You Should Hear How She Talks About You", Manchester is widely known for her songwriting credits. Her songs appeared in films, such as Thief of Hearts, Out of Africa, The Money Pit, For Colored Girls, Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, Dirty Girl, The Promise, and Ice Castles. The latter two films saw Manchester be nominated the Academy Award Best Original Song for "I'll Never Say Goodbye" and "Through the Eyes of Love", respectively.
