It was a dark place that saw Minelli Pinto turn into the jawdropping musical sensation she is today. Her uncle’s tragic passing saw hermove, albeit nearby, to her grandmother’s house, for some solace at the time.But in that moment of solitude, something greater emerged, and Minelli sawherself transfer her emotions on to paper. Words that later made it into music.
Pinto, whose vocals lend her lyrics a mellow tone that issoothing in a Rita Lee like style, claims, “I find it hard to believe myjourney sometimes. It’s been a huge rollercoaster of emotions, but one I havefound incredible, and I owe a lot to my producer, Colin D’Cruz, who has beenliterally pushing me into the limelight.”
Pinto's father Melroy, was a member of the church choir thatD’Cruz played with in Mumbai. Having heard that his old choir mate had moved toGoa, he dropped in to see him one evening, with his family in tow. Little didhe know that it would be an evening that posed as a life changing experiencefor his daughter. An avid fan of his daughters’ talent, he asked her to playsomething for D’Cruz that the latter recalls with crystal clarity and says,“She gingerly picked up the guitar and began singing a beautiful song. I fellin love with it and asked her who it was by. In the meekest fashion, she toldme it was her own composition called 'Falling'.”
D’Cruz, with his eye known for spotting talent wasted notime, and as soon as she finished writing the piece took her into his studioand began recording what would be the beginning of a series of world class popsongs that Pinto had penned even though she was just 17 at the time.
When asked about how she manages to pen down songs with amaturity beyond her years, Pinto affably claims, “I have no idea. I just sitback, and in one moment, it all comes to me. There is no clinical approach toit.”
Clinical just about sums up the execution, if not theapproach, as all six songs that she has recorded so far, made it to the top tenof the international internet charts, on websites such as Soundclick andReverbnation. Even though she is in the process of studying to be an architect,she has a great future as a singer/songwriter if she chooses a parallel careerpath for herself. One can only assume that she has doubtlessly prepared ablueprint for success considering the path she’s currently on.
