This original American music is Jazz. That is true, but it is also more than that It was the pop music of it’s day. The tunes from the Tin Pan Alley era have crossed over into all media. Radio. Stage. Film. Television. They continue to be woven into the soundtrack of our lives. When I talk to my audiences everyone has a different name for this music. How they label it is not important I am just tickled that they want more. As a child I was perfectly ruined by the MGM musical, this is where many of these composers found work. It was a sad day when I realized that singing and dancing in a supermarket were frowned upon, but the damage was done. I fell in love with the sounds of women like Anita O’Day, Peggy Lee, Doris Day and The Andrew Sisters. Once I heard Bessie Smith and The Boswell Sisters my world changed. I wanted to sing and never shortchange the stories in the songs.
Performing these songs live and looking into the faces of those who are listening, is like watching an audience remember an old sweetheart. So, it’s only fitting I should come back to my first love. Some days, you can still catch me singing to myself in the grocery, while my cart acts as a partner. Don’t judge me. Don’t call the police. As a Los Angeles based performer I continue to have a career in theatre, film and television, locally and throughout Europe and Japan. I have been so grateful to work with the amazing Coen Brothers and Rob Marshall and other greats. While working on Steven Spielberg’s Hook I recorded a song in the same studio that Judy Garland laid down the tracks for The Wizard of Oz. There I was singing music and being conducted by the film’s composer John Williams. That was truly an Over the Rainbow experience I hope you enjoy my first EP “Any Kind Of Man” and if you should feel the need to dance on the ceiling, I won’t tell.
