CABARET VILLE MAGAZINE. P21

Interview with Amanda McBroom. Cont'd from P20

Q-What did you write?
Amanda: A song on my DREAMING album called "For Nothing".
Q-If you were not a singer, a composer, a musician and lyricist, what would you be doing today?
Amanda: Acting, which is what I used to do...or working in animal protection and rescue.
Q-What instrument do you use to compose your music?
Amanda: Piano.

AMANDA McBROOM: THE POET AND WRITER

Q-What did you do with the very first song you wrote?
Amanda: I played it for my husband and then I put it away, although it was pretty good for a first attempt.
Q-Did you want to keep it for yourself or sell it?
Amanda: I kept it in a closet.
 Q-What was the title of the first song you wrote and what did you write about?
Amanda: It was called "Losing You Again". About a love affair that fails twice."Gone with tide...lost in the sea... Left on the shore...the shell that was me...again losing you again...”That's the end...You get the idea.
Q-Besides Bette Midler, who are the recording artists who sing your songs?
Amanda: Barbara Cook, Barry Manilow, Judy Collins, The Manhattan Transfer, Leanne Rhymes, Nana Mouskouri.
Q-Which comes to life first, the music or the lyrics?
Amanda: Always the lyrics.
Q-Why is that?
Amanda: I'm a lover of language. I am a much better poet than composer.
Q-Did you write your "masterpiece" or not yet?
Amanda: I have no idea. Hopefully, not yet.
Q-What are the 3 most important qualities of a successful singer?
Amanda: A good instrument...an actor's mind...and the ability to sing the truth.
Q-And for a good composer?
Amanda: Writing a melody everyone thinks they can sing.
Q-Do you have those qualities?
Amanda: Sometimes.
Q-And the 3 most important strengths of a performer?
Amanda: Same as above.                                                 Q-How long it took you before you became famous?
Amanda: I still find it hard to think of myself as famous. I'll take your word for it. I have been and still am actress. That came first. The singing thing and the writing came much later. The ROSE was the turning point my precognition factor. That would be 1980.

 

Q-What did you do before you reached the top? Did you go through what many other struggling artists experience and suffer from, such as odds jobs, double or triple shifts, trying everything…|knocking on impresarios and agents doors and such?
Amanda: I have been blessed with luck always. I take no responsibility for it. I have never worked in any other field than entertainment. I have been an actress since I was 10 years old. I still struggle. All artists do. All people do. And I still can't get in MANY impresarios' doors!
Q-When and what was your first big break?
Amanda: THE ROSE was my big musical break in 1980.
Q-Was it luck, right time/right place, talent or something else?
Amanda: A gift from Heaven...All of the above.
Q-And then, what did you do first or what did you decide to do right after your first break and great success?
Amanda: Kept trying to write more songs and get through impresarios' doors.
Q-Amanda, what does success mean to you?
Amanda: Another BIG question.  Professional success???? To have offers on your table without having to keep auditioning and submitting over and over again. To have a name people respect. Personal success...Health, happiness, just enough divine discontent to keep you creatively hungry.
Q-Frank Sinatra once said "Of course, it was luck at the beginning but hey, once you are in, you got to have talent." Is it always like this in show business or the way around?

Amanda McBroom on Broadway.

Amanda: It is not always like this....And luck has everything to do with it. There millions of extremely talented people we will never have the privilege to experience because luck was not there to meet them.
Q- How do you explain and define your success?
Amanda: I don't know. Luck, of course. And, I guess, the ability to exchange feelings with others in a simple, clear way. Someone told me I let people know we all feel the same way about certain things, and there is great comfort in knowing you are not alone.
Q-What did you do to get noticed?
Amanda: After THE ROSE, for a while.
Q-And then?
Amanda: I disappeared again.
Q-Did your good looks help you in your career?
Amanda: You think I'm good looking? Bless your sweet heart, as we say in Texas! I don't think I was beautiful enough  or young enough to make a huge splash when my opportunity came. But I am not complaining. I am beyond happy with my life, with my art. CONTINUES NEXT