Vonda Shepard
born on 7/7/1963 in New York City, NY, United States
Vonda Shepard
Vonda Shepard is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She appeared as a regular in the television show Ally McBeal, as a resident performer in the bar where the show's characters drank after work. Her version of Kay Starr’s Christmas classic "(Everybody's Waitin' for) The Man with the Bag," after it was featured on a season 4 episode of Ally McBeal, became a popular holiday song.[1][2][3] She plays piano, bass, and guitar.
Life and career
Vonda Shepard was born in New York City. Her family relocated to California when she was a child. She played piano from an early age. Her father is Richmond Shepard, a mime and improvisational actor. Vonda has three sisters.[4]
After performing as a backing singer for many years she was eventually given her own recording contract. Shepard's first chart appearance was in 1987, when she recorded a duet with Dan Hill entitled "Can't We Try." Before this, she had tried out for the part of Michael J. Fox's sister in Light of Day, but she lost the part to Joan Jett. She was also poised to sing on Peter Cetera's duet "The Next Time I Fall," but he picked Amy Grant instead. She released her first self-titled album in 1989, but with little fanfare. The album did yield one chart single, "Don't Cry Ilene," a middle-tempo piano-driven jazz-R&B flavored song dealing with the break-up of a relationship between a black woman and a white man, arising from adult peer pressure. The track is sung from the perspective of the woman's white female friend, who harbors a desire to have the man for herself, but keeps her distance out of respect for her friend. The song peaked at Number 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the charts for 12 weeks.[5]
After her third album, Vonda was signed up to appear on Ally McBeal after the show's creator, former attorney David E. Kelley, spotted her. While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and was featured on two other Ally McBeal compilations. The songs that Shepard recorded for the Ally McBeal soundtrack albums were mainly covers of old songs with lyrics that paralleled what was happening in the title character's life on-screen. However, "Searchin' My Soul," which became the album's biggest hit single after Kelley chose it for the show's titles theme, was an original selection jointly written and composed by Vonda and Paul Howard Gordon. Since her appearances in the show, Shepard has released two more studio albums and a live album.
Vonda married music producer Mitchell Froom in 2004; they had their first child in 2006. She is also the stepmother to Froom's daughter, Ruby, from his marriage to Suzanne Vega.
Vonda provided vocals for "I Need You," whose music had been composed by James Newton Howard, for the 2010 film Love & Other Drugs, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway.
Discography
Albums
- 1989 Vonda Shepard
- 1992 The Radical Light
- 1996 It's Good, Eve
- 1998 Songs from Ally McBeal
- 1999 By 7:30
- 1999 Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal
- 2000 Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas
- 2001 For Once in my Life
- 2002 Chinatown
- 2004 Live: A Retrospective
- 2008 From the Sun
- 2010 From the Sun Tour: Live in San Javier
- 2011 Solo
- 2015 Rookie
Compilation soundtracks
- Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas 2000 US: 550 Music/Epic/SME Records / UK: Epic Records
- Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life Soundtrack 2001 US: 550 Music/Epic/SME Records / UK: Epic Records
- The Best of Ally McBeal – The Songs of Vonda Shepard / Sony Legacy / October 6, 2009
Singles
| Year | Song | Chart positions | Album | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US AC | CAN AC | CAN | SPA | UK | |||
| 1987 | "Can't We Try" (Dan Hill and Vonda Shepard) | 2 | — | — | — | — | Dan Hill |
| 1989 | "Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow" | — | — | — | — | — | Vonda Shepard |
| "I Shy Away" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1990 | "Don't Cry Ilene" | 11 | — | — | — | — | |
| 1992 | "Wake Up the House" | — | — | — | — | — | The Radical Light |
| 1998 | "Searchin' My Soul" | 22 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 10 | Songs from Ally McBeal |
| "Hooked on a Feeling" | — | — | — | 7 | — | ||
| 1999 | "Maryland" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| "Tell Him" | — | — | — | 29 | — | ||
| "Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow" (with Emily Saliers) | 21 | 8 | — | — | — | Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal | |
| "Read Your Mind" | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2000 | "Someday We'll Be Together" | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2001 | "Chances Are" (with Robert Downey, Jr.) | — | — | — | — | — | Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life |
| 2002 | "Rainy Days" | — | — | — | — | — | Chinatown |
References
- ^ Atkinson, Terry. (December 3, 2000.) “TV Shows Breed Christmas Albums.” The Post-Tribune (Gary, Indiana) (Entertainment News Service), page D-5.
- ^ Maestri, Cathy. (December 15, 2000.) "Overflow of holiday CDs offer good cheer: From pop to country to alternative, there is music for everyone's stockings." The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California), page AA-13.
- ^ Gehman, Geoff. (December 8, 2000.) "CD Signs of the Season: Few Holiday Discs Will Jingle Your Bells." The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), page D-1.
- ^ IMDb Trivia information
- ^ Billboard chart information
External links
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vonda Shepard. |
- Official website
- Vonda Shepard overview web page
- Vonda Shepard on IMDb
This article uses material from the article Vonda Shepard from the free encyclopedia Wikipedia and it is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.