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Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, music director and actress.[1] She appeared as a regular in the television show Ally McBeal, as a resident performer in the bar where the show's characters drank, danced and conversed after work. In 1998 she had a hit with the show's theme tune and soundtrack, "Searchin' My Soul".[1] 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.[2][3][4] She plays piano, bass guitar, and guitar. Vonda has sold over 12 million records worldwide and has won two Golden Globes and two Emmy awards. She has also won two Screen Actors Guild awards. She holds the record for selling the most television soundtrack albums in history and as a result has also won a Billboard award.
Vonda Shepard | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | July 7, 1963 New York City, U.S. |
| Origin | California, U.S. |
| Genres | Alternative rock, acoustic rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, pianist, songwriter, actress |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, piano, guitar, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | Reprise/Warner Bros. Records 550 Music/Epic/SME Records VesperAlley Records |
| Website | vondashepard |
Life and career
Vonda Shepard was born in New York City in 1963.[1] Her family relocated to California when she was a child. She played piano from an early age. Her father was Richmond Shepard, a mime and improvisational actor. She has three sisters.[5]
Vonda has released 15 albums, including eight solo albums, three live albums and four albums for Ally McBeal.
Throughout her career she has played keyboards and has sung with Jackson Browne, Al Jarreau, and Rickie Lee Jones.[1]
Vonda has sold over 12 million albums. She has won two Golden Globes, two Emmy awards and two Screen Actors Guild awards and the Billboard award for selling the most television soundtrack albums in history.[citation needed]
Vonda continues to tour the world, playing her original material and songs from her days on Ally McBeal. Her latest album is titled Rookie.
After performing as a backing singer for many years, she eventually got her own recording contract. Vonda'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.[6]
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 performing in a nightclub.[1] While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and was featured on two other Ally McBeal compilations.[1] 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.[1] However, "Searchin' My Soul," which became the album's biggest hit single after Kelley chose it for the show's titles theme. The song was an original selection jointly written and composed by Vonda and Paul Howard Gordon.[1]
She 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.
She 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.[citation needed]
Discography
Albums
Studio albums
| Year | Title | Release date | Label | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [7] |
UK [8] | ||||
| 1989 | Vonda Shepard | August 1, 1989 | Reprise | — | — |
| 1992 | The Radical Light | April 8, 1992 | Vesper Alley | — | — |
| 1996 | It's Good, Eve | January 23, 1996 | Vesper Alley | — | — |
| 1999 | By 7:30 | April 20, 1999 | Jacket | 96 | 39 |
| 2002 | Chinatown | September 24, 2002 | Jacket | — | — |
| 2008 | From the Sun | September 2, 2008 | Bos | — | — |
| 2011 | Solo | December 6, 2011 | Hotelè/PanShot | — | — |
| 2015 | Rookie | July 10, 2015 | Hotelè | — | — |
| 2022 | Red Light, Green Light | September 21, 2022 | Hotelè | — | — |
Soundtrack albums
| Year | Title | Release date | Label | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [7] |
UK [8] | ||||
| 1998 | Songs from Ally McBeal | May 5, 1998 | 550 | 1 | 3 |
| 1999 | Heart and Soul: New Songs from Ally McBeal | November 9, 1999 | 550 | 17 | 9 |
| 2000 | Ally McBeal: A Very Ally Christmas | November 7, 2000 | 550 | — | — |
| 2001 | Ally McBeal: For Once in My Life | April 23, 2001 | 550 | 5 | — |
| 2009 | The Best of Ally McBeal: The Songs of Vonda Shepard | October 6, 2009 | Legacy | — | — |
Live albums
| Year | Title | Release date | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Live: A Retrospective | September 1, 2004 | Navarre |
| 2010 | From the Sun Tour: Live in San Javier | November 2, 2009 | Galileo |
| 2019 | Vonda: Live | September 6, 2019 | Hôtele |
Singles
| Year | Song | Chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US AC | AUS [7] |
CAN | CAN AC | SPA | UK [8] | |||
| 1987 | "Can't We Try" (Dan Hill and Vonda Shepard) | 2 | 41 | 14 | 2 | — | — | Dan Hill |
| 1989 | "Baby, Don't You Break My Heart Slow" | — | — | — | — | — | — | Vonda Shepard |
| "I Shy Away" | 37 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 1990 | "Don't Cry Ilene" | 17 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 1992 | "Wake Up the House" | — | — | — | — | — | — | The Radical Light |
| 1998 | "Searchin' My Soul" | 22 | 82 | 6 | 22 | 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 | — | 76 | 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
- Colin Larkin, ed. (2000). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Nineties Music (First ed.). Virgin Books. p. 352. ISBN 0-7535-0427-8.
- Atkinson, Terry. (December 3, 2000.) "TV Shows Breed Christmas Albums", The Post-Tribune (Gary, Indiana) (Entertainment News Service), p. 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", Press-Enterprise (Riverside, California), p. AA-13.
- Gehman, Geoff. (December 8, 2000) "CD Signs of the Season: Few Holiday Discs Will Jingle Your Bells"], The Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania), p. D-1.
- "Vonda Shepard". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- "Adult Contemporary Music Chart". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2019-12-19.
- Peaks in Australia:
- All except noted: "Discography Vonda Shepard". australian-charts.com. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
- "Can't We Try": Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 271. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
- "Searchin' My Soul" and By 7:30: Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 250.
- "Vonda Shepard | full Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
External links
- Official website
- Vonda Shepard at IMDb
- Vonda Shepard at Richard De La Font Agency
Authority control | |
|---|---|
| General | |
| National libraries | |
| Other | |
На других языках
[de] Vonda Shepard
Vonda Shepard (* 7. Juli 1963 in New York City, New York) ist eine US-amerikanische Singer-Songwriterin und Schauspielerin. Einem breiten Publikum wurde sie durch die musikalischen Beiträge und Rollenbesetzung in der Fernsehserie Ally McBeal bekannt.- [en] Vonda Shepard
[es] Vonda Shepard
Vonda Shepard nació el 7 de julio de 1963. Es una cantante de Estados Unidos muy conocida debido al papel que ocupó en la serie Ally McBeal, en la cual expresaba los sentimientos de Ally a través de sus canciones. Toca el piano, la guitarra y el bajo.[ru] Шепард, Вонда
Во́нда Шепа́рд (англ. Vonda Shepard; 7 июля 1963, Нью-Йорк, США) — американская актриса, певица, автор песен, композитор и гитаристка.Другой контент может иметь иную лицензию. Перед использованием материалов сайта WikiSort.org внимательно изучите правила лицензирования конкретных элементов наполнения сайта.
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