ET has the details...

MELODY GARDOT was enjoying a bike ride on a day like any other. Then a van hit her. The impact hurled her from her bike and injured her head and pelvis. The driver had made an illegal u-turn and left her for dead.

Today, Gardot's debut pop album, Worrisome Heart, is scaling the charts on iTunes and Amazon.com. As of Wednesday, it is the No. 8 music bestseller on Amazon, right behind AMY WINEHOUSE's "Back to Black."

The sound -- at turns infectious, folky and jazzy, and reminiscent of SHANIA TWAIN and JONI MITCHELL -- was born of Gardot's months-long hospital stay. It first took form on an EP, "Some Lessons," which the New Jersey native (born in 1985) wrote from her hospital bed. When she finally emerged from the intensive care unit, Gardot understood that music was a healer, and her calling.

Last year she independently recorded and released "Worrisome Heart." A gifted vocalist and songwriter, her only limitations are physical. She uses a cane to walk and sports dark glasses to mute the lights and noises the accident rendered her hypersensitive to. And on stage during performances, she makes use of a special seating unit, as well as a Transcutaneous Electro-Nerve Stimulator (a TENS device) to help alleviate muscle pains.

Touring can be difficult for her, but Gardot continues to impress audiences in major cities along the East Coast. And in doing so, she demonstrates that there are no limits to what she can accomplish during her promising recording career.