First recorded by The 31st of February (1968).
Hit album version by The Allman Brothers (1972).
From the wiki: “‘Melissa’ was written by vocalist Gregg Allman, but dates far beyond The Allman Brothers band’s inception. It was first written in 1967, and two demo versions from those years exists, including a version cut by the 31st of February, a band that also featured Butch Trucks, the Allman Brothers’ later drummer, for an album that was scrapped when the group split.
“The song had its genesis after Allman had struggled previously to create any song with substance, and ‘Melissa’ was among the first that survived after he tossed nearly 300 attempts. The song’s namesake was almost settled as ‘Delilah’ before ‘Melissa’ came to Allman in, of all places, a grocery store where he was buying milk late one night, as he told the story in his memoir, My Cross to Bear: