Linda Eder

[Elphaba4]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 5:24pm

What's she up to?

[Justice]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:03pm

Just did a concert for the holidays.

Right now, she's probably putting another cd of her EX-husbands redundant music. Hopefully, though, her next cd will be able to show how talented she is without the use of her gay ex.

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:06pm

Is Frank gay? I'd alway thought he was.

[Justice]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:13pm

Most people do...that's why I said it.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:23pm

In a recent interview, this is what Linda had to say...

[q]By Jim Ruth
Sunday News Entertainment Editor[/q]
[e-mail].500

To her fans, Linda Eder’s passion for playing “Camille Claudel” looked like artistry. Her intimates knew it was more.

Like Camille, an unsung 19th-century sculptor whose art and soul were deeply affected (some say subjugated) by her lover, famed French sculptor Auguste Rodin, Linda Eder, too, has struggled for her own identity.

"All through my career, I had men around me try to control what I do," said the statuesque brunette with the stunning, three-octave voice.
"I was doing songs and things that I didn’t necessarily want to do."

Playing "Camille" in a workshop production of husband Frank Wildhorn’s latest musical at the Goodspeed Opera House in July 2003 "galvanized me to get off the plateau I was on," she said.
"I wasn’t happy. But it’s difficult when the thing you love the most becomes your jailer. ‘Camille’ gave me the courage to speak up."
Eder is now separated from her mate of 6 1/2 years, whose music has dominated her career. Living alone with their son, Jake, 5 – plus four horses and three dogs on a hobby farm northeast of New York City – Linda Eder, 43, is a woman in transition.

"I am not opposed to input. I’m a good team player," Eder assured during a phone interview to publicize her Saturday, Jan. 15, concert at the American Music Theatre. "But I have stopped doing everything for the sake of other people. I was doing songs and things that I didn’t necessarily want to do."

For two decades, she has been channeling her husband’s astonishingly prolific outpouring of songs – on stage, in concert and on a dozen albums.
"Frank is a great writer, and his material served me well" she conceded, "but any hitter has a limited average."
Ties that bound Eder, the longest-reigning “Star Search” champion when she met Wildhorn, devoted herself to his "Jekyll & Hyde" project for eight years.
She starred in its Houston workshop production in 1989-90, recorded two concept albums (1990’s "Highlights From Jekyll & Hyde" and 1995’s "Jekyll & Hyde: The Gothic Musical Thriller") and headlined a regional tour prior to finally reaching Broadway in 1997 and completing its original cast recording.

Many a tune was cut and replaced along the way, including – much to her regret – "Bring on the Men," a bawdy come-on with which Eder made a sensational entrance nightly as Lucy, the doomed prostitute.
Eder didn’t appear in Wildhorn’s second Broadway musical, "The Scarlet Pimpernel," but she did record its 1992 concept album and its 1999 "Encore: Broadway Revival" CD, too.
His "Civil War: The Musical" went on tour and on to Broadway without her, too, but she lent her remarkable voice to both of its recordings – an all-star "Nashville Sessions" CD in 1998 and a "Studio Cast" album in 1999.

All three musicals broadened Wildhorn’s pop base but none were financial or critical successes.
Wildhorn’s music also prevailed on all eight of Eder’s solo albums, from her 1991 RCA debut, "Linda Eder," through her eighth and latest, "Storybook."
The latter was cut under a new contract with Angel Records, on which she also recorded "And So Much More" in 1994, before shifting to Atlantic to record "It’s Time" (1997), "It’s No Secret Anymore" (1999), "Christmas Stays the Same" (2000), "Gold" (2002) and "Broadway, My Way" (2003).
"Storybook" might be better titled "Scrapbook." It contains mostly tunes from earlier albums. Her next CD, she promised, will be totally different, "a tribute to someone who’s never had one."
Who?
"I can’t say," Eder teased with a chuckle. "I was sworn to secrecy by my new label."

No matter who it is, Eder should be in a comfort zone. This is, after all, the woman who stunned PBS-TV’s "My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies" audience by belting the tenor aria, "Man of La Mancha," out of testosterone park. She has also proven her chops for everything from swing tunes to the hot dance mix of "Vienna."
But the way she makes a soulful ballad soar remains her indelible trademark.

Not the end
Impending divorce does not mean that Eder has severed her professional ties to Wildhorn.
Some of his songs will remain in her cabaret canon. Fans wouldn’t have it otherwise. And Eder still yearns to play “Camille” on Broadway if that show ever finds a backer.
Eder feels she has something to prove, and "Camille" would be the perfect medium.
"I always wanted to act," she said. "As a kid, I would stand in front of a mirror in our freezing basement (in Minnesota) and say a line 50 different ways."
"I’m lucky. I have a natural cry in my voice, but I can’t fake anything," Eder admitted. "I have always known that. I was not trained for that professionally, so I was always very shy about performing because it was always me" – even in "J&H," which she called mostly a sung-through caricature.
"Camille" is different. That emotionally charged musical, which brought her to tears several times a night, "has a strong script," she said. "You could take out the songs and it would still play."

To do it justice, Eder began taking acting lessons for the first time in her life.
"I discovered what I kind of expected – I CAN act," she reported with obvious delight.
She now wants to do a straight play to prove her acting chops.

She has no such need musically. Those credentials are already emblazoned in solid gold, fast approaching platinum.

Tickets to Linda Eder’s 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15, concert at the American Music Theatre, 2425 Lincoln Highway E., are $50. Call [phone]..500

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:27pm

I always knew he was gay. He and Linda were so wrong for each other.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:53pm

I almost went to her concert at the Palace. I was looking at shows to take my sister to and her concert was on the TKTS board. I ended up seeing Dracula instead.

[Ebonic_Singer]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 7:55pm

you saw DRACULA instead???!

How ironic.

I saw her in concert 2 weeks ago. She's as amazing as ever.

[Marquise]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 8:19pm

she's a vocal goddess.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 9:32pm

What's she up to???

She's been busy for the last year singing at every single Republican fundraiser she can, in order to get Bush reelected.

Screw you, Linda Eder.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 9:38pm

I don't recall her singing at one Republican fundraiser. A newspaper reported her singing at one, but she put out a statement denying it.

[VeuveClicquot]

Posted: 1/23/05 at 9:42pm

Never mind, this board is not the place for a political diatribe, and I'm biting my tongue. Updated On: 1/23/05 at 09:42 PM

[DickonDefysGravity]

Posted: 1/24/05 at 12:25am

I am Linda.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 1/24/05 at 12:27am

I'm Reba Macintyre.

[wildcat]

Posted: 1/24/05 at 12:34am

I am Spartacus.