Melissa Li
Melissa Li is a fierce Asian-American lesbian singer-songwriter, who has performed in the Boston area for over 8 years. Her music is a mixture of folk rock and pop, with a hint of soul and a whole lot of queer, and heavily influenced by Ani DiFranco, Jonatha Brooke, Kris Delmhorst, Deb Talan, Melissa Ferrick, and a slew of other pop/rock/folk divas. Through deeply personal acoustic songs, often punctuated with a vocal style reminiscent of hip hop, Melissa rants about love, loss, and social injustices.
Melissa started performing in high school talent shows, developing songwriting skills and teaching herself the guitar at the age of 15. She performed wherever she could, starting from small coffeehouses, community groups and even in underground train stations. Since then, she’s carved a name for herself as one of the most talented and popular Asian-American performers in Boston. She has performed at the Brattle Theater, Somerville Theater, and Boston Pride main stage to an audience of hundreds. She has also performed in most colleges and universities across New England.
Most recently, she won the honorable Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation award for her first musical Surviving the Nian, produced by The Theater Offensive in the Spring of 2007. Surviving the Nian is the story of a young woman who returns home to Hong Kong for Chinese New Year with her African-American lover. The unfolding of the family drama that ensues directly confronts stereotypes facing queers and Asians in mainstream society today.
