PS Classics Releases HOWARD SINGS ASHMAN 2-CD Set 11/11

PS Classics will release a new 2-CD set, HOWARD SINGS ASHMAN, as part of their ongoing Songwriter Series, on November 11, 2008. The album features performances by the late American playwright and film music lyricist. The first CD has 18 tracks, and include several collaborations with Mencken from ALADDIN, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, GOD BLESS YOU MR. ROSEWATER and THE LITTLE MERMAID. The other CD features 15 unreleased demo recordings from SMILE, a Broadway collaboration between Ashman and Marvin Hamlisch.

Howard Ashman was born in 1950 in Baltimore, and received a master's degree from Indiana in 1974. He was the artistic director of the WPA Theater in New York. His first collaboration with Alan Mencken was in 1979, for the musical adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater." Along with Mencken, Howard Ashman was the co-recipient of two Academy Awards, two Grammy Awards and two Golden Globes.Ashman passed away in 1991 in New York and was posthumously named a Disney Legend in 2001. BEAUTY AND THE BEAST was dedicated to him.

Past songwriters featured in the Songwriter Series include Hugh Martin, Jonathan Larson and Charles Strouse. The series is a collaborative project between PS Classics and the United States Library of Congress.

For more information, visit www.psclassics.com.