“I don't sing because I'm happy; I'm happy because I sing.” ~William James
I have always loved to sing, and singing plays a large role in who I am. My mom had a beautiful voice and got tremendous joy whenever she sang. Sometimes she would sing along with my dad, an accomplished musician in his own right, when he would bring out his mandolin at family gatherings. He and my mom, who taught herself to play piano later in life, would play and sing together. I cherish those memories.
I grew up listening to the popular songs my mom listened to on the radio, many of which I still love listening to today. But somewhere along the way I developed a passion for Broadway show tunes. When I was a freshman in high school, I auditioned for, and got a role in the spring musical. It was my first time performing on stage and I never looked back.
Since then, I have enjoyed performing leading roles in musicals, children’s shows, revues and dinner theater. Some of the more memorable characters I have played include Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy, Aldonza in Man of La Mancha, Sr. Mary Amnesia in Nunsense, Cleo in The Most Happy Fella, Abigail in 1776, Velma in Chicago, Amalia in She Loves Me, Petra in A Little Night Music, Charity in Barnum, Pam in Baby, The Acid Queen in Tommy, and Anita in West Side Story. I even traveled to Israel and France to perform the role of Anita in concert with the Haifa Symphony Orchestra, and with the Orchestre National de Lille in Lille, exciting experiences for this girl from the Bronx!
As the featured vocalist with Three for the Show I toured locally, singing the beloved, timeless standards from the Great American Songbook, and in 2011 experienced another first as I debuted my solo cabaret show, Stops and Starts, at the Metropolitan Room in New York City.
Over the past three decades, while performing on stage, I was the lead female vocalist with various local cover bands. That gave me the opportunity to sing all those great songs I grew up listening to. And now here I am, happy to be part of The Thornwoods, singing with these amazing and very talented guys…Larry, Adam, Alan, Stu and Rudy.
As always, thank you to my wonderful family…my husband Bob, and my children Leeza and Sasha…for letting me sing!
