Local Singer’s Moving Duet With Grammy-Award Winning Singer Melissa Manchester Wins Top Honor at UK Songwriting Contest

Last October, Pasadena-based singer-songwriter Johnny Schaefer released his latest single, “You Can’t Hide the Light,” a duet which he sang in collaboration with Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter legend Melissa Manchester. It was produced in Stephan Oberhoff’s Pasadena studio. 

Cut to June 2022, and “a lot continues to happen with the song.”  

Since the release of the song and its accompanying music video, Schaefer won the UK Songwriting Contest, from a pool of 6500 entries from 80 countries, Schaefer said. 

Launched in London in 2002, the UK Songwriting Contest is one of the world’s longest running and most well known and successful international songwriting events, according to their website. 

Adding one more feather to their cap, new EDM Mixes of “You Can’t Hide the Light” climbed to #12 on the Music Week UK Pop Club Chart for the week of June 23. 

Schaefer and Manchester spoke to Pasadena Now last October about the origins of the song, collaboration and the layered songwriting. 

“I’ve been a fan of Melissa since I was in junior high school,” Schaefer said. “I grew up in a real small town and her music was kind of a beacon of light to me when I was growing up. Her songs just kind of helped me through some really tough times. And so I’ve always loved her music.”

Since junior high school, Schaefer has been writing songs and sending some of the tapes to Melissa Manchester, hoping she’d sing one of them. As an adult, he finally met Manchester, and sang some of the legendary vocalist’s favorite songs with her, often in Pasadena venues. 

Eventually, Schaefer got his wish to have Manchester sing his song – and in a duet with“You Can’t Hide the Light.” 

“This song actually came out of my husband and I being caregivers for my parents in Olympia, Washington last year,” Schaefer explained how the song came about. 

“During that time, I just thought a lot about what really matters in life and how we just forget to see the light in each other. Whenever we have somebody in front of us, they’re either coming from their light or they’re coming from their darkness. And so my experience is that if I remember their light and don’t buy into the darkness, then a lot of times situations will turn around.” 

Manchester was more than happy to oblige and agreed to do the duet. She remembered getting those tapes from Schaefer and how they eventually formed a friendship. Manchester said that she was impressed with the song the first time she heard the sample, especially the layered production and the background vocals that sounded “like a Greek chorus,” she said. 

“When I first heard it, I thought, ‘This is really a complete version. You don’t really need to make it a duet,” she said. “And then he asked again, and of course I said, ‘yes.’ And it was really lovely. I mean I think his writing is just tremendous. I’ve known him for a very long time and he had sent me lots of cassettes over the years when he was a fan and a mere boy.”

Schaefer said “You Can’t Hide the Light” is all about “reminding ourselves and each other who we are deep down, getting past the surface stuff.”

“The song starts out with the analogy of barbed wire, and I was thinking about how barbed wire is a very ominous barrier, but yet you can see the light right through the barbed wire, right?” he said. “Even if you were on the other side of it, there’s light shining right through. And then ultimately if you’ve got the right tools, you can cut through the barbed wire. With love, understanding and communication, you can cut through the barriers in the relationship.”

Manchester said she was struck by the layering, how the background parts add to the composition — they are an independent voice. 

Manchester was also particularly impressed with the lyrics, and the analogy to barbed wire.

“I write a lot about light myself and in these increasingly dark times, my sense of my purpose is to remind people that they are light, they’re born of light, and people seem to frequently forget that,” she said. “And John’s interpretation, that he uses the metaphor of barbed wire for the darkness, is very compelling and was very striking.” 

Manchester said Schaefer has been helping her for several years and together they have created a number of videos. 

“I’m so excited for Johnny,” she said. “I hope ‘You Can’t Hide the Light’ creates a big presence worldwide and really helps people remember who they truly are.”

The song is available to stream on all platforms, you can watch the music video (which was shot here in Pasadena at the Lineage Performing Arts Center) here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLSNRcOc0w