Vonda Shepard to Serenade at The Suffolk 

Vonda Shepard’s familiar face and powerhouse voice has charmed audiences way before her five-year stint as the resident musician on the Emmy Award winning television series Ally McBeal.

Shepard and her three sisters grew up in a household where artistry was encouraged. By the age of 6, she was playing piano, taking voice, dance and acting lessons. When asked if she was groomed for the entertainment business, Shepard said, “It’s part of our family to be educated in the arts, whether it was music, dance or acting. I think our parents wanted us to have the skills so we could use them later in life, but there was no pressure.”

Her father, Richard, was a mime and improvisational actor who raised his daughters in a rather unconventional household. In describing their everyday life, Shepard said, “My dad had an old funky beat up jalopy convertible and he would put on his mime makeup and outfit to sometimes drive us to school with the top down. We had clowns and jugglers crashing on our couch. The Flying Karamazov Brothers stayed with us for a while.”

In addition to bringing her distinctive vocals to Ally McBeal, Shepard was the music producer on the show recording five soundtrack albums as well as composing the series’ theme song “Searchin’ My Soul” which was a major international hit. She won a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her work on Ally McBeal as well as the Billboard prize for selling the most television soundtrack albums in history.

Prior to Ally McBeal, Shepard performed as a keyboard player and backup singer in Al Jarreau’s band, toured with Rickie Lee Jones and Jackson Brown. As a solo artist, she has released nine studio albums and three live albums.

Joining Shepard for her present tour are consummate musicians, bass player Jim Hanson, previously with Roseanne Cash and Bruce Springsteen, who has worked with Shepard for about 28 years and guitarist James Ralston, previously with Tina Turner, who has worked with Shepard for about 23 years.

Vonda Shepard gave this exclusive interview just prior to the start of her tour which lands at The Suffolk in Riverhead on November 20.

A Conversation with Vonda Shepard

What should fans expect when they come to your concert at The Suffolk?

I would like to play a couple songs from each of my albums, a little sample of my own songs and for Ally McBeal fans, I will play a bunch of those songs. I’m bringing a trio which is a bass, guitar and myself on piano and all three of us sing so it’s going to be intimate but we really do get the place rockin’. It will be fun. I’m excited!

Next year looks busy for you with stops in Las Vegas then jetting to Germany for shows. How do international audiences differ from those in the US?

By the way I’m going to be recording an album in March as well with release anywhere between July and September. The working title for the album is Written on the Water because it’s one of the songs, but that’s not definite yet. As for how international audiences differ from the US, each country has its own personality. Eastern Europe is more subdued when they’re listening and suddenly at the end they get on their feet and beg you for encores so that’s kind of confusing and amazing. We played Helsinki a few months ago and they wouldn’t let us leave though during the show they were pretty mellow. You never know how you’re affecting people, so you play your show and trust that people are into it.

You were a regular on Ally McBeal. How did you get that job?

I was friends with David Kelly who produced and created the show. His wife Michelle Pfeiffer and I have been close friends since I was 18. I was playing songs from an album of mine called It’s Good, Eve at a club and David and Michelle were there. David connected to these songs. He was right in the middle of writing a new show about this lawyer. He was looking for almost a Greek chorus, some music that reflected her inner life. It’s totally serendipitous that I flew in from New York to play this club and David was there and asked me if I wanted to do the theme song. He wanted a cover tune but my manager and I asked if we could play some of my songs. So, we got together in the studio and I played him “Searchin’ My Soul” and four other songs. That song was chosen as the theme song which was fantastic. We shot the pilot and I didn’t know I was a cast member yet. All of a sudden they said you have a job, move back to LA. I was on the show and worked as music producer too for the length of the show which was five years.

Did you find it demanding to produce over 500 songs in five years for Ally McBeal?

Yes, it was demanding. I’d get the script sometimes the day before, learn the songs that night, meet with my band at 10 a.m. the next morning, work until sometimes 3 a.m. cutting these songs, having background vocals, horn sections, often the string section. Sometimes we’d have to film the next day. It was mayhem! Plus, I was flying out on hiatuses, going to Europe touring and playing 5,000 seaters. It was exciting and wonderful but demanding as a producer. Ninety percent of my work was behind the scenes.

Randy Newman hand-picked you to play the part of Martha in his version of Faust: The Concert, at New York City Center’s Encores for which you received rave reviews. Is more musical stage acting in your future?

I can’t express how much it meant to me to have the Broadway world open their arms and invite me in. I had journalists saying where have you been. Bravo! Please join us in New York; we’d love to have you. It was a dream come true. I don’t know at my age if I could do eight shows a week on Broadway, but I like a challenge so who knows.

How do you prepare your voice for touring?

I warm up every day for about 1/2 hour before I even sing a song. At the three-week mark before going out to do these shows I kick into high gear because when I sing “Sweet Inspiration,” which I will do in this run, I want to explode with energy and have my voice be as powerful as possible so I’m doing three hours a day of singing to get ready for this. I’m lucky to have my soundproof studio and my gorgeous piano where I can practice and be able to say oh it’s still there, I still have it.

Visit thesuffolk.org for tickets and info.