`ROAD' WARRIOR AFTER A DECADE AWAY, MELISSA MANCHESTER IS BACK.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

One day, several years after dropping off the music scene due to her increasing disappointment with the industry, Melissa Manchester was approached by a man in a restaurant who knew an old producer friend of hers.

That producer was Steve Buckingham, with whom Manchester had lost touch over the years.

``He never puts his return address on his Christmas cards so I didn't know where he was, I just kept getting these Christmas cards,'' she says.

She jotted down his number with lipstick and called her old friend, who would ultimately lead the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter back to the spotlight.

On Tuesday, Manchester makes her first L.A. appearance in a decade when she checks into the Cinegrill for a five-night engagement in support of ``When I Look Down That Road,'' her first set of new material since 1994.

While Buckingham had no part in the making of this album, Manchester explains that collaborating with him on 1997's ``The Color of Christmas'' put her at ease for the first time since souring on the industry in the '80s.

``It was such a quiet ... deeply musical experience,'' she says. ``I thought, 'If I'm ever feeling a knot in the gut or feeling anxious or fretting about the direction of my music, I just have to remember that this is what my path feels like. It's easy to get back on my path.' ''

The path now leads her to ``When I Look Down That Road,'' an album she says is informed by her decade in musical seclusion.

``It was remarkable for me to see her rediscover herself, because she was really struggling for a long time,'' says Kevin DeRemer, who is not only co-executive producer on the album but also Manchester's husband and the father of their two children.

``She's always been very talented and soulful as a writer, and to see her get back to that and get excited about it was wonderful.''

Manchester quietly withdrew from music after a successful career as a singer-songwriter. She scored a top 10 single with the 1975 song ``Midnight Blue,'' which was followed by a string of hits like ``Don't Cry Out Loud'' and ``You Should Hear How She Talks About You,'' as well as movie themes for ``Ice Castles'' and ``The Promise.'' She says her decision to leave was over the compromising of her artistry and the inability to live up to the expectations of her label, she says.

But these days she's the only person in control of her career.

``It all turned out OK,'' she says. ``But there was a lot of stuff I had to let go of and a lot of stuff I had to grieve for, like my own self-imposed weakness and inability to fight for my musical voice along the way.''

Sandra Barrera, [phone]

sandra.barrera(at)dailynews.com

MELISSA MANCHESTER

Where: Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, 7000 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood.

When: 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday; 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Cover: $50, plus $20 food and beverage minimum; or $30 cover, plus $10 food and beverage minimum.

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(color) no caption (Melissa Manchester)