Vonda Shepard
Vonda Shepard | |
|---|---|
| File:Vondashepard czarnob.jpg | |
| Background information | |
| Born | July 7, 1963 New York City, U.S. |
| Origin | California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations | Singer, pianist, songwriter, actress |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano, guitar, bass guitar |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels | Reprise/Warner Bros. Records 550 Music/Epic/SME Records VesperAlley Records |
| Website | vondashepard |
Vonda Shepard (born July 7, 1963) is an American singer, songwriter, music director, and actress.[1] She is best known for her supporting role as a fictionalized version of herself on the television series Ally McBeal (1997–2002), for which she recorded five soundtrack albums as well as the series' theme song "Searchin' My Soul", which saw international commercial success.[1][2] Shepard has otherwise released nine studio albums and three live albums. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award as a cast member of Ally McBeal in 1999 among two additional nominations, and received a Billboard award for selling the most television soundtrack albums in history.[citation needed]
Life and career
[edit | edit source]Vonda Shepard was born in New York City in 1963.[1] Her family relocated to California when she was a child, and she played piano from an early age. Her father was Richmond Shepard, a mime and improvisational actor. She has three sisters.[citation needed] After performing as a backup singer, Shepard received her own recording contract and made her first chart appearance in 1987 with her duet with Dan Hill, "Can't We Try." Her self-titled debut studio album followed in 1989. It saw the moderate commercial success of the single "Don't Cry Ilene", which peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and remained there for 12 weeks.[3]
While promoting her third studio album It's Good, Eve (1996), Shepard performed at the Key Club in Hollywood, California, and at one point she invited Michelle Pfeiffer and her husband David E. Kelley to come watch her perform. Kelley decided during the performance that he wanted Shepard to record the soundtrack for his forthcoming television series Ally McBeal, having been looking for a singer to be the voice and inner thoughts of the character.[citation needed] Her biggest commercial success while starring on the series was the theme song "Searchin' My Soul", an original selection that originally appeared on her second studio album The Radical Light (1992), jointly written and composed by Shepard and Paul Howard Gordon.[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.[4][5][6]
Shepard went on to record four soundtrack albums and one compilation album for Ally McBeal. Additionally, she released nine solo studio albums and three live albums to date. She married music producer Mitchell Froom in 2004; they had their first child in 2006. In 2010, she provided vocals for "I Need You," whose music had been composed by James Newton Howard, for the film Love & Other Drugs.[7]
Discography
[edit | edit source]
Albums
[edit | edit source]Studio albums
[edit | edit source]| Year | Title | Release date | Label | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [8] |
UK [9] | ||||
| 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
[edit | edit source]| Year | Title | Release date | Label | Peak chart positions | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AUS [8] |
UK [9] | ||||
| 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
[edit | edit source]| 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
[edit | edit source]| Year | Song | Chart positions | Album | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US AC | AUS [8] |
CAN | CAN AC | SPA | UK [9] | |||
| 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
[edit | edit source]- ^ a b c d Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ 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.
- ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c Peaks in Australia:
- All except noted: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- "Can't We Try": Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- "Searchin' My Soul" and By 7:30: Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
- ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
External links
[edit | edit source]
- Official website
- Vonda Shepard at IMDb
- Vonda Shepard at Richard De La Font Agency
Lua error in Module:Authority_control at line 153: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).