Shelean Newman Performs ANYTHING GOES 6/9 At The Living Room NYC

The great American songbook will get an injection of sass this summer when acclaimed musical theater actress and vocalist Shelean Newman reinterprets twelve classics on her new album ANYTHING GOES, out June 9 on GrandVista Music. Blessed with a warm, inviting vocal style, Newman brings a fresh perspective, as well as unexpected arrangements, to the masters, from Cole Porter to Rodgers & Hammerstein to Gershwin and Johnny Mercer. Newman is backed on ANYTHING GOES by a superb band featuring some of Nashville's seasoned players who infuse elements of blues, jazz, Southern rock, pop and New Orleans flavors into the music.

ANYTHING GOES was first conceived a few years back when Newman first tried her hand at songwriting in collaboration with veteran Nashville composer (and now GrandVista Music president) Paul Carrol Binkley. "It was a wonderful opportunity," she admits. "But although my songwriting
was coming along, I didn't feel I had enough high-quality originals for an album." Acclaimed producer/keyboardist/composer Chris Walters soon joined the team and also played a vital role in the inception of the album, bringing musical influences from his native New Orleans such as Crescent City piano boogie, funky horns and bluesy slide guitar riffs. This musical melange resulted in a diverse new collection. "Certainly one could argue that nobody can really improve on an interpretation by Nat Cole or Tony Bennett, two of the all-time great singers," comments Newman. "But for people who've grown up on contemporary rock and hip-hop, this is really a new way to hear this material."

A Texas native whose earliest musical influences were her father, a Southern Baptist minister and church music director, and her older sister, also an accomplished singer/stage performer, Newman made her stage debut at age seven in a local production of "Fiddler On The Roof." "Performing," she says, "was just in my blood." After moving to Nashville as a teenager, Newman took an acting/singing job at Opryland, the famed Nashville theme park that drew hundreds of aspiring stage performers from around the country. Soon after, she joined the Tennessee Repertory Theater where she has enjoyed a steady and successful 15-year career. She appeared in leading roles in TRT productions of "West Side Story," "The Sound of Music," "You Can't Take It With You," and other Broadway favorites.

GrandVista Music was founded in 2006 by Paul Carrol Binkley and entrepreneur David Mastran. This spring the label launched a series of new releases adeptly embracing an eclectic array of Big Band, jazz, orchestral and new pop music.

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