Melissa Errico to Debut New Singles This Month

Ghostlight Records will release two previously-unreleased tracks from stage and screen star MELISSA ERRICO as a special digital exclusive on May 18, 2015. "How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" (Burton Lane/Yip Harburg) and "Maybe Someone Dreamed Us" (Michel Legrand/Alan & Marilyn Bergman) were originally recorded for her critically-acclaimed album Lullabies & Wildflowers - currently available on Ghostlight - and produced and arranged by 2015 Tony-nominee Rob Mathes (Sting, Tony Bennett). In an eclectic disc that featured the music of Judy Collins, Tom Petty, George Gershwin, folk and Celtic lullabies in addition to Melissa's self-penned songs, these were two tracks that didn't make it to the final release four years ago. Proceeds from the single will benefit The Bowery Babes, Errico's charity, a New York 501c-3 founded in 2005, offering free support and resources to Manhattan mothers and families.

While working on concert stages and in exciting recurring television roles ("The Knick" on Cinemax; the upcoming "Billions" on Showtime), Melissa has focused the last few years on raising her young family in Manhattan. She recently starred in the world premiere of the musical Bull Durham at The Alliance Theater, and has begun to develop a new musical with David Shire and Adam Gopnik called Table. (Her recording of Shire-Gopnik's new music was featured on April 19, 2015 on Jonathan Schwartz's NPR/WNYC program.) This year, Melissa recorded for her first film soundtrack: "Hurry Home" by Michel Legrand/Alan & Marilyn Bergman for the film Max Rose starring Jerry Lewis.

Errico will debut a new one-woman show at Joe's Pub at The Public Theater - co-written with Adam Gopnik from The New Yorker, and inspired by Elaine Stritch - on November 18 and 19, 2015 at 7:00 PM.

Of her current musical release from Lullabies & Wildflowers, she says "We had too many songs so I saved these two for a special moment, and I feel this is the perfect year to share these. We've just had one cold, tough winter and I, for one, would like to help kick off a happy spring!!! I hope to contribute to a collective Spring Celebration by sending these tracks out into the world. My desire is that they bring many sweet daydreams on a spring or summer hammock!"

Melissa says: "Motherhood changed my life in countless ways, and this music and these recordings were my attempt to capture how beautiful life felt. So at first glance it may seem to be a CD for parents to enjoy with their little ones. But it meant more than that to me!! Raising three daughters (all born within two and a half years), I saw how tender ALL our lives are, and how wondrous it is to really be a human being at all - each of us unique and unreplicable. I wanted to capture, with my voice somehow, some realizations... that nurturing others, and not just children, is an act of quiet encouragement. I am by no means the first to have figured this out. I just felt such gratitude and wondered how I might capture even an ounce of it. Every relationship we have thrives when we guard each other's freedom to grow. I also think there's so much FUN in it - living, loving, teaching, having pets, telling stories, forming 'families' in whatever shape that takes for you. Quiet, real and gentle time together. Being a Mom, or just being a really good caring friend, learning to slow down to LISTEN - there's real grace in it. I aimed to make groovy gentle music with great lyrics and catchy percussion to accompany you in this part of life."

"How Are Things In Glocca Morra?" features Andy Ezrin (Chris Botti band) on piano. The song is one of the greatest standards from musical theater origin, from Finian's Rainbow by Burton Lane and Yip Harburg, which was recorded for the film adaptation by Petula Clark. Errico starred in a hit New York Off-Broadway revival, winning such praise for her portrayal of Sharon. "With such songs as 'Glocca Morra,' you see how valuable an asset Melissa Errico is to New York musical theater: hers is the voice of enchantment" (Ben Brantley, The New York Times).

"Maybe Someone Dreamed Us" has music by Michel Legrand and lyrics by Alan & Marilyn Bergman. Melissa is the first and only vocalist in history to record this song, and is one of the Legrand songs she most considers "a trademark of mine, if I may be so bold. It just carries me away and I adore it, and always sing it in concert whenever I can." Melissa's first recording of this song was on her latest solo disc Legrand Affair (available from Ghostlight Records) produced by industry legend Phil Ramone and recorded by the vastly dramatic 100-piece Brussels Philharmonic, conducted and arranged by Legrand himself. Melissa's recording was given the honor of being included in the recently-released 15-disc box set collection Michel Legrand Anthology, alongside Barbra Streisand, Dusty Springfield, Tony Bennett and more. Her version from Lullabies & Wildflowers, now being released, is notable for its intimacy. Errico says, "The message of the song is huge - that we are all connected - all life forms, all things that grow and change. We are all links in one chain. All part of one universal dream." She adds "you could see it as political - as I do... or Buddhist, or just as a beautiful utopian poem."