American jazz singer Melody Gardot only recently came to my attention, and I’m positively obsessed. Her performance career came to her the hard way. The singer was in a near-fatal bicycle accident in her late teens. Music played a key role in her recovery from her injuries, which inspired her to become a life-long advocate of music therapy. Gadot even taught herself to play guitar on her back because for the first year after her accident, sitting up was too painful. Her first album was recorded from her sickbed.

Gardot doesn’t wear her signature sunglasses because she’s cool. They are to help with her post-accident hypersensitivity to light. She’s super-sensitive to sound as well, which is maybe why her music is so smooth and lush.

“I picked the most unusual path. I have a hard time with light and a hard time with sound and I sit on the stage almost every night with a lot of noise and a lot of light!”

You can follow Melody Gardot on her website and on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.