Melodee Bahr shares her love of singing in Bigfork

When Melodee Bahr’s phone rang with an invitation to travel from her home in Rochester, Minn., to Bigfork to sing at Rising Mountains’ Getting to Know You series, she didn’t hesitate.

“When Jerry called and asked if I would sing, I said definitely,” Bahr said.

“I was born with a singing voice, before I could even speak I could sing. It was just there — it was God’s gift. I take every opportunity that I can to share the talent that God has given me.”

Bahr has been singing since she was a 3-year-old. She spent 40 years on the Broadway stage. Now at 76, she has no plans of cutting down on her time in front of an audience. 

Bahr’s career started with some help from her uncle who, also a singer, acted as her manager until he died when she was 16.

When that happened, Bahr thought she never wanted to sing without her uncle. She went back to the music when she realized he would want her to keep singing and sharing her voice.

She spent eight years in New York City studying opera. Though she never cared to work in operas, Bahr said the training was fundamental.

“Opera is the basics of learning how to use your voice,” she said. “The training was great.”

While she did work in a couple of operas, Bahr found herself preferring to perform different styles of music.

“I loved my Broadway music and my jazz,” she said.

Throughout her stage career Bahr performed in numerous plays, some musical, and some not. She took on all kinds of roles. Some were with children’s theatres and others, at the opposite end of the spectrum, were playing risqué characters including a prostitute. 

“I’ve done all kinds of acting jobs,” she said. “My favorites are the musicals.”

IT WAS BAHR’S PASSION for singing that led her to another passion, the Ms. Minnesota Senior Pageant. 

It was St. Patrick’s Day 2005 and Bahr was singing at a nursing home. When she finished, a man came up and told her she should enter the Ms. Minnesota Senior Pageant, a competition solely for women over 55.

She said she had to think about it— for about two seconds.

“When he asked me, I said what have I got to lose,” she said.

She entered the pageant and won the 2006 crown.

Unfortunately, the group that had been organizing the event fell apart shortly after Bahr won the crown. The fate of the pageant was uncertain until Bahr decided to take on the task of keeping it running. She is now state director for Minnesota senior pageants.

“I just said okay because its important to senior ladies to prove how much talent they have and how much energy they have left,” she said. 

“It isn’t about beauty, it isn’t about your shape, it’s about the goodness of your heart and what you have to offer to others.”

Bahr has enjoyed running the pageant and meeting new people through it.

“Every single senior I have met all have something to offer,” she said. “They can do so much. I don’t feel like a senior, I still feel like a 25-year-old woman. I know what I can do and I know what they can do.”

BESIDES KEEPING BUSY with the pageant, Bahr regularly performs with her trio for the Mayo Clinic. She has worked as a caregiver for the same person for the last seven years, teaches a watercolor painting class to retired nuns and runs an international music camp at Concordia University.

She is also a mother of three, and grandmother of seven.

Anyone who attends Bahr’s performance at Rising Mountains on Saturday at 1 p.m., can expect to hear some of her favorites.

“I like to do jazz and the old standards,” she said. “I feel like they were written so well and they each have a story to tell. I want to tell the stories of music, through music.”