Amanda McBroom

Amanda McBroom has been called “…the greatest cabaret performer of her generation, an urban poet who writes like an angel and has a voice to match.” And WACJ calls her “The Immortal Living Legend And The Greatest Songwriter/Singer Of All Time”.

By Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette, Editor-in-Chief and Senior Art Historian/Critic of World Art Celebrities Journal, Paris, September 19^th, 2003.

Today, Amanda McBroom is the greatest songwriter/singer/entertainer in America and in the known world. She does not need more awards and additional recognition(s). She has more than enough, enough for centuries to come. Nevertheless, the readers and the editorial staff of World Art Celebrities Journal had to reveal their admiration and ultimate respect for this Super Diva; Amanda McBroom, the best of the best, the living immortal legend! So, what they did was very a propos. They elected her as the “INTERNATIONAL WOMAN OF THE YEAR”, America’s best and greatest female singer/songwriter of all time. In addition, recent international polls conducted by WACJ in 125 countries and questionnaires filled by approximately 500,000 readers and music lovers from around the globe ascertained that Amanda McBroom has been chosen as among the world’s top 30 best and greatest singers and cabaret stars of all time.

Although, in 1979, Amanda McBroom became a world’s celebrity when Bette Midler sang her song “The Rose”, it was Amanda’s performance of her own song and other tunes at various events and places including the Grammy Awards, the FORD Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, The Wolftrap in Virginia, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. (where she sang with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch), Carnegie Hall, New York’s Rainbow and Stars, the Golden Globes, Angel Recital Hall in Sydney, Meyer Hall in Melbourne where she headlined the Festival of the Arts and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall in Taiwan, Pizza on the Park in London and the Tonight Show that established her as a world class and a super songwriter and singer. Her personal rendition of that song surpassed the Bette Midler version in vocal and artistic qualities. Critics and fans alike, agreed that the best interpretation of Amanda McBroom’s songs and genius creativity are by Amanda herself, no question asked.

An excerpt from her official biography stated:” Amanda was born on the 9^th of August, 1946 in Burbank CA. Cabaret singer and songwriter; actress. Her father was actor David Bruce David Bruce (1914--76), who played a great many second leads in films of the '40s; her memories of him are offered in the touching countrified waltz 'Errol Flynn'.

tThis is Amanda. She loves coffee.

She was inspired by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Julie Andrews, Judy Collins and Jacques Brel, attended U of Texas and turned pro on graduation; she appeared in many guest spots on TV incl. Hart To Hart, M*A*S*H, Star Trek: The Next Generation etc. Like many of the best cabaret artists, she makes use of all her skills as a singing actress; as Clive Davis wrote in The Times of London, 'Who needs an all- dancing, all-singing West End spectacular when you can have Amanda McBroom instead?' She showcases her own songs, which deserve it; a medley may begin with Sammy Cahn's romantic plea 'Teach Me Tonight' and end up with a shareout of matrimonial goods, 'You Can Have The TV'. Her show is brash yet sophisticated; her style is intimate but she can also display an operetta-style vocal purity. On her albums she is backed by a full complement of studio musicians except as noted: they began with Growing Up In Hollywood '80 and West Of Oz '82 on Sheffield Labs; she formed her own label and released Dreaming '88 and Midnight Matinee '92 on Gecko; then came Amanda McBroom Live From Rainbow And Stars '94 on DRG (backed by her trio, and incl. 'The Rose', which she wrote for the Bette Midler film). Heartbeats '94 on Varese Sarabande is the original cast album of the Pasadena Playhouse prod. of her musical show (co-writers incl. Tom Snow, Michele Brourman, Jerry Sternbach; the cast incl. her husband George Ball); it had a dozen other prod. in the USA by '97. On stage '97 in London she was accompanied by pianist Joel Silberman, while A Waiting Heart '97 on Gecko has a 21-piece orchestra. Like all the best cabaret singers, she appears at Pizza on the Park in London's Knightsbridge. Graduate of The University of Texas at Austin - BFA '69. Her recording career began on an MGM soundstage where Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers had overdubbed the sounds of their tap routines over forty years before. It was 1980 and she recorded direct-to-disc – no tape, no overdubs, no mixing, no fixing – for the prestigious vinyl audiophile label Sheffield Lab Recordings. GROWING UP IN HOLLYWOOD TOWN became an audiophile classic around the world and set a new standard for vinyl recording and hi fi stereo reproduction. Billboard called the LP a “stunning artistic success” and Amanda became “the queen of the high end” for the purity of her vocals and the emotional depth of her songs. Sheffield released a second McBroom direct-to-disc recording entitled WEST OF OZ in 1981.

Both recordings were compiled and re-released as AMANDA by Sheffield in 1996.
In 1985 Amanda and her manager Garry George partnered in their own label GECKO RECORDS and released DREAMING in 1986. Under the auspices of Monster Cable Products, Inc. Amanda performed live at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1987. From that performance and the birth of the CD format, DREAMING became a classic around the world especially in SE Asia. GECKO releases followed including MIDNIGHT MATINEE in 1992, A WAITING HEART in 1997 and the “best of” collection PORTRAITS in 1999 released in conjunction with Hal Leonard publishing company’s release of a bound songbook of Amanda’s songs. Her love of and background in musical theatre (she starred in the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and European productions of JACQUES BREL IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS, on Broadway in SEESAW, and in SWEENEY TODD, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and MAME) compelled her to create a musical based on her songs. HEARTBEATS made its debut in 1989 in Los Angeles and the play has enjoyed over 15 regional theater productions around the U.S. The original cast recording was released in 1994 on Varese Sarabande Records. The musical is represented by the Rogers and Hammerstein Music library.”

One single white dove does not “make the spring”…One single ray of light does not create a sun, and one single big hit does not elevate a singer or a songwriter to the firmament of stardom and altar of immortality! And the “ Midler’s Rose” was not the only reason behind the success of McBroom and her elevation to the highest artistic throne. True, very true, when Bette Midler sang Amanda’s song, the fame of the screen star launched the career of Amanda McBroom but, did not create her genius and phenomenal artistic and vocal majesty. For, everybody knows, Amanda McBroom as a singer is far better than Bette Midler or any contemporary torch and cabaret singer in America and on the face of the planet. This woman is a phenomenon. On stage, she is magic in motion, a mesmerizing diva who spread beauty, elegance, class, drama, enigma, joy, style and roaring artistic divinity around her, around her audience and beyond the infinite realm of musical perfection. As soon as Amanda appears on stage, the audience is immediately taken and mesmerized by her lyrical, nostalgic and melodic mezzo soprano voice, her strong yet welcomingly tender and warm personality, her artistic projection, the way she moves and she looks at her audience, the truthful inner feelings she expresses in the shadows and lights of her eyes and voice, the poetic forms and drawings of her hands movements, her intimate musical projection, her phrasing, her intelligent articulation and her ease in adding more warmth, joy, drama, reality and fun to words…and her way with words. Some critics have misinterpreted her stage “persona” and depicted her as a prima dona who tries to steal the show through accentuated theatrical mannerism but, the overwhelming majority of heavy weight critics, informed connoisseurs and millions of her fans around the globe think differently. She does not need to steal the show, simply because she is the show herself, the only show in town…

As such, she appears before our eyes as a “Cabaret Femme Fatale”, a Marlene Dietrich’s Blue Angel…A sweet and tender nymph as well; a woman who graciously leaves behind her shadow a touch of her scent, so you might fantasize about how a Diva’s aroma blends with a few bars, unspoken words and the divinity of music that create the mysteries, fantasies and escapades of the world of cabaret; a world Amanda threw upon it, passion, splashes of rebellious lights and daring beauty. The cabaret of Amanda McBroom teaches you life, opens your eyes on the comforting and disturbing reality of our world, sometimes friendly and some other times troubled and troubling, for Amanda’s songs, music and lyrics are larger than life because they contain it, capture it, master it and send it free for you to catch, to sense, to feel, to challenge, to flirt with and to appreciate…This how and why Cabaret was created in first place…If cabaret is a kingdom, then consider Amanda McBroom as its reigning queen.

Amanda McBroom, The Universal Renaissance Spirit and “one-woman whirlwind of the arts.”

Amanda McBroom wrote more than one great song. “The Rose” was one but a glittering bead in a rosary of one thousand shining songs and whispers. She wrote a lot. And her songs were sang by more than one celebrated motion picture star or one single famous singer. A considerable number of her compositions were recorded by super stars and worldwide famous singers, including but not limited to Judy Collins, The Manhattan Transfer, Stephanie Mills, Anne Murray, Barry Manilow, Barbara Cook, Leanne Rimes, Harry Belafonte, Donny Osmond, the Chipmunks, and the Baby Dinosaurs in LAND BEFORE TIME (she wrote all the songs for 11 Universal Cartoon videos with longtime collaborator Michele Brourman) and Betty Buckley. Amanda also wrote Iyrics for a considerable number of songs in the experimental TV series "Cop Rock". And as expected, she was nominated for an Emmy for her song which featured on "As the World Turns". In addition, she wrote songs for the video releases of "Land Before Time" and "Hercules and Xena." Her first two albums, "Growing Up in Hollywood Town" and "West of Oz," were recorded for the prestigious audiophile label Sheffield Labs in collaboration with pianist Lincoln Majorga. Those two albums imprinted the seal of excellence on the landscape of world music. They were called "striking and complete artistic successes" by Billboard Magazine. Amanda has three albums on her own Gecko Records label, Dreaming, Midnight Matinee and her most recent release, A Waiting Heart, which have enjoyed an international success, a worldwide appeal and soaring popularity. She also recorded a live album for DRG Records of her appearance in New York at Rainbow and Stars, Amanda McBroom Live from Rainbow and Stars; an outstanding, most captivating and up lifting repertoire, a testimony to her genius and unsurpassed cosmic talent. In addition, Amanda composed numerous songs for the television series Cop Rock and most recently was the lyricist for the musical films Land Before Time III, Land Before Time V, Land Before Time VI and Hercules and Xena. She has been the recipient of the Johnny Mercer Award for Songwriter of the Year. Do you want to hear more? Get this:

Her first release, "Dreaming," has sold over 200,000 copies worldwide. Her second release, on Gecko, "Midnight Matinee," featured performances by musicians such as jazz legend Bob James and blues guitarist Robben Ford It sets the standards of excellence for Jazz and Cabaret requisites. Her fifth album, "Amanda McBroom Live From Rainbow and Stars," which was recorded at her sold out engagement atop Rockefeller Center in New York and released on the DRG label redefined the concept of musicality perfection and the codes of “Divas’ Live Entertainment”. Her latest release, "A Waiting Heart," on Gecko Records, was released in March, 1997. This album recaptured and developed the essence of lyricism and romantic realism in contemporary music and innovative nostalgia.

The creativity and immense talent of McBroom don’t expire or begin at the dawn or sunset of an international hit, the success of an artist who recorded her songs, at the end of a stormy applaud or an historical performance. Whether legends and superstars in the business record her compositions or not, McBroom’s place of honor in the world of music has been already secured and honored like a shrine, like a national monument…She is as good as Edith Piaf, but much happier. Piaf brought tragedy and sarcasm of destiny to the French song and world cabaret. McBroom took away the tragedies,

sarcasm and hurting hearts and replaced them with enchantment, joy, happiness and rays of hope, even though, around her roses and trembling leaves, a few warm drops of tears still burn each time a new day awakes and surrenders in unfulfilled dreams and vanishing wishes, each time

“Some say love, it is a river that drowns the tender reed.
Some say love, it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed.
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
I say love, it is a flower, and You its only seed.” *

McBroom is as good, as captivating, as magical, as enigmatic, as c harming and as fatale as Marlene Dietrich but she is warmer, more affectionate, more comforting, more human and friendlier, for

“When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes
The Rose.” *

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Sure, times have changed. And every single day, life brings new understanding and conceptualization of different truths, events and metamorphoses within our ups and downs. Sure, tastes in music expanded and embraced new tempos, rhythms and styles. Sure, new faces, new names, new comers, new hot hot stars and shaking and baking vedettes replaced the icons and divas of yesteryears. But, why do we still go to the Cabaret and listen to songs written some 70 year ago and enjoy listening to performers like Barbara Cook, Tony Benett and Amanda McBroom?

Because our heart is there, our whole life and its passages are still written and re-written every time we listen to and look at men and women like Benett, Cook and McBroom. Because the artistic perfection and musical ecstasy of those superb performers are timeless, ageless and spaceless. Because their art, craft, expertise, techniques, style, perfection, presence, magic, symbol and what they represent transcend time, space and the frontiers of inner world. And McBroom is that transcendental unmarked frontier that separates and unifies, redefines and unites, re-explores and nourishes our past, our memories, past experiences we learned from and sometime we did not, new visions, expectations, events and reality we foresee and escape from…McBroom is the prophetess of words and high priestess of the temple of human comedia and melodrama. Every word she wrote came from the heart and the harsh-sweet-bitter reality of life. We go to see Amanda, to experience life, to challenge it, to believe in it, to shake it a little bit, to learn from it and to mock the absurdity of destiny.

We don't go to a cabaret to schmooze and cruise, to impress and be impressed, to listen to en vogue songs, simply because they are the flair of the jour, for many of those songs and newcomers to the so-called “modern and trendy” fashionable music don't have the mysteries, the experience, the depth, the character, the fabric, the message, the aroma, the joy and sorrow, the ups and downs of the life we experienced. We go to cabarets to remember and sometimes to forget part of our life, to understand what went wrong in our life and how to overcome the hard times which brought deception and pain to our heart, we go to cabarets to face life with strength, frightening but comforting reality. We go to cabarets to hear seasoned and life-experienced performers, singers and entertainers and share with them, with time, with life itself, their joy, sorrow, smiles, experience, sometime their extravaganzas and exaggerated exploits, to share those lost moments and passages of our life through their songs and extension of their “self” on stage. We go to cabarets to recapture the universe of our existence and beyond. This is why great performers like Amanda Mcbroom remain immortal, constantly en vogue and eternally evolving, never out of fashion, out of style, taste, preference, priority or actuality. We listen to McBroom and we enjoy every second of her presence on stage, we entertain the “child” and the “mature” in ourselves, we fantasize a little bit and acquire part of her wisdom and beauty. And Amanda makes us feel good about ourselves.

Amanda McBroom is more than a singer, a songwriter and an actress. She is the prophetess of words and an enlightened thinker with humor, wisdom, existentialism, pragmatism and deep reflection on life. Amanda wrote:

“The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom.

A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete. Remember, spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever. Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.” Amanda also is a vivacious companion on the roads of life. She will put a “tiger in your tank”, keeps you fit and make you stay young! No kidding. This is what she wrote on the subject in “How To Stay Young”:

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4.Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity. AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. If you don't send this to at least 8 people... who cares? I care! And I send you all my wishes for health and joy peace in your hearts.”

Final thoughts: Just imagine the world of music without Amanda McBroom’s poetry, lyrics, music, loving heart, generosity, smile and divine voice. It would be an incomplete world; an immense ocean of waves without charming and cozy romantic harbors inns hanging in the mists and fogs and part of our memory. It would be an immense desert without an oasis, a palm tree and even one single mirage to attach and bind the real and the fantastic…A world without Amanda’s voice is a sterile world, a stagnant lake where only the shadows of sad souls and the monotony of life sail into their own reflections…

Amanda McBroom is a rare gem. Amanda McBroom is an international treasure. Amanda McBroom is America's pride. Amanda McBroom is a Goddess!

Written by Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette (WACJ), Paris, September 19^th, 2003__________________

The Immortal Queen of America’s Cabaret

Amanda McBroom anecdote as reported by Jon Aldous