Now in her early 30s, Melinda met and fell in love with Mark Needham and on condition that he never asked her to marry him, they moved to Staffordshire. Following the birth of their second son, it was in 1996 that Melinda asked Mark to marry her!

When the children were old enough, and like many mums, Melinda thought of returning to work, but it was Mark who reminded her of the long-held dream of singing with her Dad’s band – still going strong and still on the road.

She took singing lessons and with her confidence growing, built a repertoire of jazz, swing and blues and she formed the Melinda Lightfoot Duo with pianist John Betts. However, just weeks before her first professional appearance in April 2000, her eldest sister Sharon was diagnosed with breast cancer. In early December, Sharon left her bed to see Melinda sing – for the last time. She died that Boxing Day aged just 42.

“We had gone from being on top of the world to the very depths of despair,” said Melinda.

The following February, Terry invited Melinda to record two tracks for his next album. The arrangements were by her pianist John, who was also a frequent performer with Terry’s band. The recording at John Dankworth and Cleo Laine’s famous, The Stables Theatre at Wavendon went well, but a week later John was dead from a heart attack.

Again, her dream had been tipped up by tragedy, but to give up would be a betrayal of Sharon and John.

In late 2001, Melinda auditioned pianists to get back out there the following year.

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