Bennett Morgan & Associates, Ltd.

     
Stefanie Powers
The prevailing response that results from actress Stefanie Powers opening her mouth to sing is a resounding, "Who knew?" The star of television, stage and films never consciously hid her impressive vocal talents, but she didn't put them on display either while creating signature characters such as the trend-setting April Dancer in "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." and the glamorous globe-trotting Jennifer Hart in the long-running hit franchise "Hart to Hart."

No stranger to the musical theatre, Powers, who began her formidable career as a dancer, most recently starred as Margo Channing in the revival of "Applause-The Musical All About Eve" in the United States and as Anna in "The King and I" in the U.K. and U.S., while still referring to her talents as a singer as "a closely guarded secret." Now, perhaps tardy, but certainly never too late, she's emerging as a superb interpreter of the American popular songbook with her debut recording, STEFANIE POWERS-ON THE SAME PAGE (Jambo Music), a collaboration with the renowned pianist/vocalist Page Cavanaugh.

For Powers, the new recording is a labor of love, made with and inspired by a community of friends supportive of her affection and affinity for this music. Her friend Eddie Collins, a connoisseur and great fan of the music of the bygone era, introduced her to Cavanaugh, a veteran musician best known for his work with, among others, Doris Day, Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra. It was Cavanaugh who suggested that a CD might be in order and created the brilliant musical arrangements that bring the carefully chosen repertoire to life.

The twelve songs range from the light-hearted George and Ira Gershwin tune, "They All Laughed" and the charming "I've Got a Feelin' You're Foolin" from "Broadway Melody of 1936" to a moving rendition of a rarely-recorded Harold Arlen/E. Y. Harburg song, "Last Night When We Were Young." Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart are liberally represented with Powers' poignant renditions of "He Was Too Good To Me," "Glad to Be Unhappy" and "Little Girl Blue" as well as the bittersweet showstopper, "Ten Cents a Dance." Other selections include "Autumn in New York," "Where Are You?," "Love Me or Leave Me," "Ill Wind" and "I Should Care."

"It's all very mellow," explains Powers, "but we mixed it up a little bit with some 'up' tunes as well. For those people who remember these songs, it's quite nostalgic. For those who don't remember them, I hope they'll build a bridge to an understanding of a period of music that was quite special. It calls upon a feeling of romance from an era when romance really was something that we dreamed about."

ON THE SAME PAGE was produced by Phil Mallory, long-time member of The Page Cavanaugh Trio, who plays bass on the recording. It features Cavanaugh on piano along with several stellar Los Angeles-based players, among them drummers Dave Tull and Jack LeCompte, guitarist Larry Koonse and John Mayhan on flute, saxophone and clarinet. Says Cavanaugh of Powers, "She's a joy to work with and a really good singer, and she has good taste in music."

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