Melissa Portelli is the lead vocalist and writer in the band Chasing Pandora.

After her graduation in 2004 she found a job at Tickety-boo, an artist management company which managed comedian Billy Connolly and was owned by Steve Brown, Elton John’s producer for many years. Working as Brown’s PA, her job took an unexpected twist one day when he heard her sing and offered to help her realise her dream of becoming a singer/songwriter.

Chasing Pandora was formed in 2006 and their first EP was released that October at a launch concert in Malta. Their single “Feel the Rain” reached the top of the charts in Malta and won “Best Newcomer Award” at the Bay Music Awards.

In May 2007, Chasing Pandora released their debut album, “Mocking the Mocking Bird”, receiving great local acclaim. December of that year also saw the band receive 3 Malta Music Awards.

Chasing Pandora released the EP “Two” in April 2008. Notably, “Two” featured the popular track “Memories”, which thus far has been a favourite with audiences for years and was nominated for “Best Song” at the Malta Music Awards.

Throughout 2008, Mel performed with Chasing Pandora at various concerts around Malta and London, and in November they released their second EP, “Wide Eyed Beautiful”.

With the launch of Chasing Pandora’s second full album, “The Driver and the Dancer” in June 2009, Mel performed a series of gigs in London and received positive reviews from “The Fly”, “Acoustic Music Magazine” and “Rock N Reel”.

The end of 2009 marked the release of the first Chasing Pandora single to be released in the UK, “Running in Circles”, which was subsequently played on BBC Radio 2 and featured in another week of London-based gigs. The success paved the way for “The Driver and the Dancer” to also be released in the UK in 2010, which was then performed live to a full house at the RoundHouse Music Room, enjoyed a review in The Independent newspaper, and was performed live as part of the Janice Long BBC Radio show.

After the release of their fourth EP, “People”, Chasing Pandora were invited to perform at the North by North-East Festival in Toronto, being chosen from 600,000 applicants to be amongst 6,000 bands to perform at the event.

Various concerts in Malta followed for Chasing Pandora throughout 2010 and 2011, until the duo disbanded in October 2011.

Apart from other projects, such as Ant in Alaska with guitarist Alex Mallia where they release the song ‘Wildflowers’ and her solo EP ‘Mel Xkejfa - Who me?’ recorded with Peter Borg at Railway Studios, Melissa also wrote and performed for Naupaca’s Dance Factory ‘Divina’ , which were shows held at the MCC in Valletta and the Aurora Theatre in Gozo. Melissa recently started working on creating her e-book with poetry called ‘The Beast Called Grief’ in order to share her love for words & experiences. Mel has also performed as Ira Losco’s special guest at her concerts , as well as other performances with local musicians at events such as Xirka Rock & Strait to the Blues. Apart from that, Melissa works with guitarist Danny Magro, where they perform around Malta & Gozo under her solo stage name ‘ Mel Xkejfa’.

In 2023, Melissa and Keith Anthony reunited for a concert called ‘ Memorji’ where they performed a few songs to a packed audience in Victoria.

At the moment, Melissa is writing with Chasing Pandora and they are preparing to release the new album in September/ October 2024 where it will be launched at the Oratory of Don Bosco on the 5th of October with a full band concert.