Hello Everyone!
Are you all as excited as I am ? Spotlight On YOU Open Mic is two days away, THIS WEDNESDAY, May 1st!!
I wanted to kick start this week with my interview with the beautiful, full of light, multi-award winning Lisa Viggiano!
For those of you who don't know Lisa, here is a brief bio for starters:
Lisa Viggiano is a BroadwayWorld winner for best Female Vocalist, and her critically acclaimed show "Lisa Viggiano Sings Bruce" won her a Bistro award status in 2018.
She made her way back to the cabaret stage with her critically acclaimed show, NIGHT IN THE CITY. A 2017 MAC nominee for female vocalist, Lisa is currently performing in in NYC and San Francisco. Coast to Coast, VIGGIANO has performed as a singer/actor since youth, sharing stage & screen with talents such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Tom Hanks, Rita Moreno and Bonnie Raitt. Lisa has been sung the National Anthem for local sports teams: the Devils, the Rangers, the Nets & the Mets. In addition to the cabaret stages of NYC, performance venues include San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts & Herbst Theatre, and The Gardenia in Los Angeles. By day, Viggiano uses her voice as a speech-language pathologist for special needs students, helping them to find THEIR voices! Recordings include the original cast recording for the musical "Oh Progeny!", "Evening Prayer", "One Private Moment”, and an original suite of lullabies, cowritten with Christopher Marlowe, "Keepsake Lullabies".
I met Lisa in one of my arrangement experience classes with Lennie Watts and she quickly became one of my closest friends. We have a heart-felt connection and even though we don't get to spend a lot of time together due to our busy schedules, we have what we call "stolen moments" when we connect and share our thoughts! Our friendship is not about quantity but quality!
For this interview, I asked Lisa the following questions:
1) Can you share with us a couple of interesting facts that most people don’t know about you?
I became a speech-language pathologist to work with the voice, never thinking I’d ever pursue the “language” part of it, and low and behold, I work with special needs students on all aspects of communication! And I love it. My students are a great blessing to my days. Who knew?
I love LOVE love to cook!
2) What fuel your passion for music and performance? How did you discover your passion for it all and realized that it was what you wanted to do?
Music and performance are ways that I can express love and how I learn more about life’s lessons. I discovered my passion when I was about 5, but didn’t really make it a reality until I was about 40!
3) Do you have a particularly interesting story about your musical journey that you'd like to share with the readers?
When I lived in the Bay Area, I had the great privilege of participating in the HELP IS ON THE WAY series of benefits for HIV/AIDS. There, I was able to share dressing rooms and have “girl talk” with incredible and inspiring women like Bonnie Raitt, Rita Moreno, Carol Channing, and Lucy Arnaz. What a great time!!
4) What is your "go to" before a show? It can be a routine, physical or mental space.
meditation and slippery elm lozenges
5) Share with us what you have in the pipeline for us to be on the lookout for!
- Releasing a recording
- Will soon book dates for my show which features music by all of the artists who were discovered by talent scout John Hammond (artists such as Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen & more!)
Are you all intrigued by Lisa and my interviews with the other wonderful "Together" ladies? COME EXPERIENCE THEM ALL AND EXPERIENCE SINGING WITH THE FABULOUSLY TALENTED JOHN M. COOK IN TWO DAYS, THIS WEDNESDAY, MAY 1ST!
UNTIL THEN, I SEND YOU ALL LOVE AND LIGHT!