Vonda Shepard was born in NYC circa 1963, into a family of a mime actor and a fashion model. Later, her family moved to California, and when Vonda was 10, her mother left the family. She and her two sisters were from that point on raised by their father, whose job didn't bring much money into the family at all... Even through tough times she held on to her love of music, so much that by age 7 she played the piano up to 8 hours a day. Though she had thought of becoming a scientist at one point in her early years, she didn't pursue that dream and stuck with music. At 16, she begged her father to drop out of high school and have a full-time music career... By 20, she landed a job as a back-up singer and keyboardist... Her first years didn't do much for her fame, she was a nobody. She did find a tiny bit of air, though, in 1987 in a duet with Dan Hill "Can't We Try"... It rose to the Top Ten, and in a short time, Vonda signed a contract with her first recording company, Reprise. With that, she quickly finished her first self-titled disc in 1989... It blew. Not only that, but she didn't get ANY publicity or attention whatsoever... Reprise was skeptical about her future discs, but decided to give her another try. In 1992, her second disc, "The Radical Light", came out... And it blew, too... Sold a measely couple grand and then tanked. Now, almost completely broke, she had to borrow money to TRY and start a third disc, with the hope that MAYBE this one might sell... Just then, Reprise dropped her. So there she was: no record company, no money, no fame... She spent a few years going from bar to bar, with different bands, trying to make ends meet... Then she got noticed by a rep of Vesper Alley Records, and she quickly accepted a deal with them... Even though her 1996 album "It's Good, Eve", sold only about 9 thousand copies, she got good (REALLY good) reviews, including an "A" rating by "Entertainment Weekly" (memorable lines of the article: "piano-based, baby-faces, supple-voiced singers-songwriters rarely get any better than this..."). Vesper Alley didn't drop her, and she felt artistically satisfied. So, you ask, how'd she get on "Ally"? Explanation follows:... rewind to mid-1980's - actor Peter Horton ("thirtysomething"), then married to Michelle Pfeiffer, palls around with the guitar player in Vonda's band. He takes Michelle to a concert. Michelle becomes a Vonda fan...; fast-forward a couple of years - Future TV Titan David E. Kelley gets dragged to a Vonda show... He becomes a Vonda fan...; Cut to 1997 - David and Michelle are now almost four years into their marriage, and David is cooking up his new brainchild "Ally McBeal". Vonda fan Michelle takes Vonda fan David to see (guess who?!) Vonda at one of her shows... Vonda fan David becomes even more of a Vonda fan, and finally gives her a call to sing on and for "Ally McBeal"... Of course, Vonda accepts. By February of 1998 the theme, "Searchin' My Soul" (which, btw, was originally from "The Radical Light", Vonda's earlier album that blew... Success is a funny thing: after all, it's the same song, right?) becomes a radio hit. That same month, after a bidding war between labels to produce this hit album (one of the candidates was the Vonda-dropper Reprise...), Sony signs a contract with the Vonda-Vesper Alley-David E. Kelley Productions union for an estimated $2 million... The CD, "Songs from 'Ally McBeal'", comes out May 5th following the main song's May 4th music video release/debut in the opening credits of that night's "Ally McBeal" episode. In the first week in the US alone sales climb to 143,000 copies. "Searching My Soul" wipes out everything and takes it's No. 1 position in the charts... In Canada in a week it goes gold with sales topping 50,000... By the end of the year, the record has 1.7 million proud owners on this continent alone, with sales going over 2 million altogether if you count Europe (namely, England, Scandinavia (mainly Denmark), France, Germany and Switzerland). "Billboard" called it the "first summer anthem of the year", newspapers and mags all over the country were shouting out how thrilled they were with this album... Vonda herself was thrilled, too, as well as amazed and shocked... Now, after huge sales and an enormous clan of followers and fans, her life is "pretty crazy"... Constant tours, interviews, appearances and awards are all coming her way... A perfect example of how succes comes to those who try...

Vonda Shepard: Discography

-- 1999: "Heart & Soul: Songs From "Ally McBeal"" (Sony/550)

*Read Your Mind
*100 Tears Away
*Someday We'll Be Together
*To Sir With Love
*This Old Heart Of Mine
*World Without Love
*Confetti
*Baby Don't You Break My Hear Slow
*What Becomes Of The Broken-Hearted
*Vincent
*This Is Crazy Now
*Crying
*I Know Him By Heart
*Fools Fall In Love
*Sweet Inspiration

-- 1999: "By 7:30" (VesperAlley)

*By 7:30
*Mercy
*Clear
*Sail On By
*Confetti
*Cross To Bear
*This Is Crazy Now
*Baby Don't You Break My Heart Slow (w/Emily Saliers)
*You And Me
*Venus Is Breaking
*Newspaper Wife
*Soothe Me
*Souvenir

-- 1998: "Songs From "Ally McBeal" Featuring Vonda Shepard" (Sony/550)

*Searchin' My Soul
*Ask The Lonely
*Walk Away, Renee
*Hooked On A Feeling
*You Belong To Me
*The Wildest Times Of The World
*Someone You Use
*The End Of The World
*Tell Him
*Neighborhood
*Will You Marry Me?
*It's In His Kiss
*I Only Want To Be With You
*Maryland

-- 1996: "It's Good, Eve" (VesperAlley)

*Maryland
*A Lucky Life
*Grain Of Sand
*The Wildest Times Of The World
*Like a Hemisphere
*Naivete
*Long-Term Boyfriend
*Every Now And Then
*Mischief And Control
*Hotel Room View
*This Steady Train
*Serious Richard

-- 1992: "The Radical Light" (Reprise Records)

*Searchin' My Soul
*The Radical Light
*100 Tears Away
*Wake Up The House
*Clean Rain
*Dreamin'
*Good To Yourself
*Love Will Come And Go
*Out On The Town
*Cartwheels

-- 1989: "Vonda Shepard" (Reprise Records)

*Don't Cry, Ilene
*He Ain't With Me
*Baby Don't You Break My Heart Slow
*Hold Out
*Looking For Something
*I Shy Away
*I've Been Here Before
*A New Marilyn
*Say The Words
*La Journee
*Jam Karet (Time Is Elastic)




See bios: Calista Flockhart -- Gil Bellows -- Courtney Thorne-Smith -- Peter MacNicol -- Portia de Rossi -- Lucy Liu -- Greg Germann -- Lisa Nicole Carson -- Jane Krakowski -- Vonda Shepard