Melinda's Story

Born in 1962, Melinda is the youngest daughter of British jazz legend Terry Lightfoot and his wife Iris.

During her early childhood he would often be on tour with his band, or appearing with Morecambe and Wise, Des O’Connor and many, many others. In 1965, Terry toured the UK with Louis Armstrong – but what did that mean to a three year old girl?

Melinda remembers, “I would come downstairs in the morning and the house was full of sleeping musicians while Mum made breakfast for our family of five and another family – Dad’s band. Then Dad was heading out of the door to the next gig.

“But no matter how tired Dad was when he came home, or how far he had travelled, he would still take me and my sisters off to school and at the weekends, when he could, to gymkhanas with our ponies.

“He rode too and even show-jumped at Olympia, London. It was a proud moment for us all. We had a wonderful childhood in Hertfordshire, England, and I treasure the memories.”

The girls grew up, got married and left home, but for Melinda marriage came too soon and at 26 it failed. In her late 20s, she fell in love again with an old friend and two years later they married. Just 12 weeks later he disappeared. Unknown to Melinda, he had a gambling addiction and deep in debt, he cleaned out their bank accounts, fled to the US and was last traced by the FBI to Las Vegas.

With no job, no money and a broken heart, she returned to her beloved family and slowly, steadily, pulled herself up again by her bootstraps and got on with life.

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