 
AMANDA
MC BROOM
has been called "...the greatest cabaret performer of her generation,
an urban poet who writes like an angel and has a voice to match."
Her name first came to the attention of the music public when Bette
Midler's version of Amanda's song THE ROSE hit number one all over the
world in 1979. But it was Amanda's performance of her own song on the
Golden Globes (she won), Grammys (she didn't) and The Tonight Show that
launched her career as a singer as well as songwriter.
Her songs have have been recorded by the likes of Bette Midler, Leanne
Rimes, Barry Manilow, Judy Collins, Barbara Cook, Anne Murray, Harry
Belafonte, Betty Buckley, Stephanie Mills, The Manhattan Transfer, Donny
Osmond, the Chipmunks, and the Baby Dinosaurs in LAND BEFORE TIME (she
wrote all the songs for 11 Universal Cartoon videos with longtime collaborator
Michele Brourman).
But growing audiences worldwide became convinced that the best interpretations
of McBroom songs are by McBroom herself and applaud her in concert halls
around the world including Carnegie Hall in New York, the FORD Amphitheatre
in Los Angeles, Wolftrap and Kennedy Center (where she sang with the
National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch) in Washington
D.C., Angel Recital Hall in Sydney, Meyer Hall in Melbourne where she
headlined the Festival of the Arts and Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall
in Taiwan and Pizza on the Park in London. Amanda's concert career was
documented over two evenings high atop Manhattan's RCA building for
release as AMANDA McBROOM LIVE AT RAINBOW & STARS by the DRG label
in 1995 and remains her only live concert recording.
 Her
recording career began on an MGM soundstage where Fred Astaire and Ginger
Rogers had overdubbed the sounds of their tap routines over forty years
before. It was 1980 and she recorded direct-to-disc - no tape, no overdubs,
no mixing, no fixing - for the prestigious vinyl audiophile label Sheffield
Lab Recordings. GROWING UP IN HOLLYWOOD TOWN became an audiophile classic
around the world and set a new standard for vinyl recording and hi fi
stereo reproduction. Billboard called the LP a "stunning artistic
success" and Amanda became "the queen of the high end"
for the purity of her vocals and the emotional depth of her songs. Sheffield
released a second McBroom direct-to-disc recording entitled WEST OF
OZ in 1981. Both recordings were compiled and re-released as AMANDA
by Sheffield in 1996.
In 1985 Amanda and her manager Garry George partnered in their own label
GECKO RECORDS and released DREAMING in 1986. Under the auspices of Monster
Cable Products, Inc. Amanda performed live at the Consumer Electronics
Show in Las Vegas, Nevada in 1987. From that performance and the birth
of the CD format, DREAMING became a classic around the world especially
in SE Asia. GECKO releases followed including MIDNIGHT MATINEE in 1992,
A WAITING HEART in 1997 and the "best of" collection PORTRAITS
in 1999 released in conjunction with Hal Leonard publishing company's
release of a bound songbook of Amanda's songs.
 Her
love of and background in musical theatre (she starred in the New York,
Los Angeles, San Francisco and European productions of JACQUES BREL
IS ALIVE AND WELL AND LIVING IN PARIS, on Broadway in SEESAW, and in
SWEENEY TODD, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and MAME) compelled her to create
a musical based on her songs. HEARTBEATS made its debut in 1989 in Los
Angeles and the play has enjoyed over 15 regional theater productions
around the U.S. The original cast recording was released in 1994 on
Varese Sarabande Records. The musical is represented by the Rogers and
Hammerstein Music library.
Long time fans still revere Amanda's many guest starring roles on television
in everything from STAR TREK; THE NEXT GENERATION to her most recent
appearance at the Kennedy Center in the NBC special FROM THE HEART.
Amanda attributes her success to "divine intervention and a lot
of caffeine."
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