Melissa Auf der Maur was born on the 17th of March 1972 to parents Nick Auf der Maur and Linda Gaborieau, in Montreal, Canada. In her childhood she lived in Kenia with her mother for a short period of time, but they moved away after Melissa'd caught Malaria for the third time. She grew up in Montreal, Canada. "I grew up in Montreal, across the street from a small mountain, called 'Mont Royal', after which Montreal was named. On the mountain stands a cross, which the European settlers set up there and which shines at night. The fact that the very thing breathed history fascinated me as a child."
Melissa attended Concordia University in Montreal, where she was majoring in photography. At the time Melissa was a rock-dj at a local bar, where she hooked up with a lot of musicians. After the bar would close, they would go to their practising space and jam. Melissa wanted to pursue her musical interests, and decided on playing the bass. Her father bought her her first bass(A japanese Fender Squier) for her 21st birthday. "At that time I was going up to the local punk bands and asked if I could jam with them. 'Well', they said, 'Are you any good?' and I said, 'No, but I will be.'"
Melissa was making waves in her hometown with her band Tinker. In that period, Melissa attended Smashing Pumpkins show in Montreal. The band's singer, Billy Corgan and a member of Melissa's group of friends initially got off on the wrong foot. "Melissa saw us play in 1990 or 1991, and the reason I met her was because some guy that she knew whipped a bottle at me, and I walked off the stage and throttled the guy. And she came up to me after the show to apologize, and we struck up a conversation, and we've been friends ever since," as Billy Corgan later said. When the Pumpkins later returned to Montreal after making it big, they initially had an American band open for them. Melissa wrote Billy a letter, gutsily asking whether her band could open for them. And they did. And around that time, the Seattle-based group Hole tragically lost their talented bass player Kirsten Pfaff to an overdose. Band leader Courtney Love, widow of Kurt Cobain, was looking for a new bassiste, and rang Billy Corgan who then recommended Melissa to Courtney. Melissa got a call from Courtney, who was inviting her for an audition. But, Melissa initially said no to the offer. Her father had to talk her in to taking the audition. "Why did Melissa turn down the offer of an audition? Because she didn't really want to play in a band dominated by somebody else and maybe Hole's music was a tad commercial. What a girl, I thought to myself. Spunk. Her own boss. Her own mind, not swayed easily. Full of artistic integrity. Well, I suggested, artistic integrity is one thing and sometimes we should be flexible. 'But,' she said, 'you told me you have to be honest with yourself'. 'Well, yes,' I said, 'but I strongly suggest you get a hold of Mr. Big Pumpkin and tell him you've reconsidered'."
And so, Melissa reconsidered, auditioned and got the job, causing her to leave her home, love and school. Her first performance with Hole was at Reading Festival, in front of 60.000 people, so Melissa had to take the plunge. Melissa played with Hole for 5 years, writing for their last album 'Celebrity Skin' and remaining a constant factor in the band. However, after her 5-year contract with Hole ended, Melissa left the band to pursue her own musical career, the thing she had always dreamed about most. But before she could do that, she got hauled in by Billy Corgan for his band The Smashing Pumpkins. She would guest for what would be their final tour. Melissa replaced Pumpkins bassiste D'Arcy Wretzky who left the band because of personal problem unrevealed. So yet another year of touring for Melissa, and yet another year of putting her own musical aspirations aside. "I pretty much found one of the loudest sounds inside myself in this band. And I felt this thing when I walked within(a concert)and pretty much started to play the bass that year, and Billy would weave in and out of my life giving me thumbs up or a kick in the ass." When the pumpkins split at the end of 2001, Melissa decided to take a year off of music, to come to her senses and to focus on her photography, which she still loves.
Melissa started recording her solo album 'Auf der Maur', not with one regular band, but with all her friends from the music industry. The entire album was self-financed, and not until all songs were final and finished did Melissa approach a label for the release. 'Auf der Maur' consists of songs written over the last decade, and it also contains some songs Melissa wrote ten years ago with her first band Tinker.
Big names on the album are Josh Homme, Nick Oliveri, James Iha, Twiggy Ramirez and many others. The album, which was released in Europe February 2, 2004, has created quite a stir among fans, non-fans and music critics. Melissa's first single Followed the Waves made a top 40 listing in the U.K. and even reached a number 1 spot on a Belgian weekly chart for two weeks.
The end of the monstrous year-long continuous tour for 'Auf Der Maur', saw Melissa's label, Capitol Records, being taken over by EMI. Melissa, who had been recording for her new album, got caught up in red tape and saw her album shelved. After years of working hard to get her album free, Melissa succeeded, and decided to release her new album on her own. This gave her the opportunity to let the album evolve into a three-way including a movie and a comic. The album is lined up for an early 2009 release, under the name MAdM. A 3-song EP, 'This Would Be Paradise', was released late 2008 and was followed by a short string of European concert dates.
During her musical career, Melissa has been seen in side projects as her Black Sabbath cover band "Hand of Doom", with whom she released a live album, and The Chelsea, with friends Paz Lenchantin, Samantha Maloney and Radio Sloan. Melissa has also featured on many albums by her friends, like Rufus Wainwright, Ryan Adams, Steve Durand and The Stills.
