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(you can hear samples of her music at the end of the article and download desktop images)
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From Elli Fordyce
A lot is changing in my fledgling career right now. When I came back to singing 15 years ago, I said: "This time's for me." I'd done the top-40 cover thing, singing songs I didn't love just because they were requested. I'm also not interested in learning and recording potential new "hit" songs I don't feel anything for. There's so much left to explore in "my" genre which has been on the back burner for so long awaiting the opportunity to dive into it.

"I will do what I do from the heart to whatever success it leads." Elli Fordyce.
How long have you been doing this, Elli?
I began singing jazz in public in 1955 with many breaks on-and-off to the present, sang professionally starting in '66, sang with top-40 cover bands from '71 to '76 and have sung only jazz since '94.

Tell me about your background.
As a freshman in high school, my boyfriend introduced me to jazz and it was instantly the music of my heart, though inside I'd always "been" a singer (albeit, secretly while growing up) since the age of three. We went to jam sessions his step-father hosted and to matinees in clubs which admitted underage kids to see famous jazz musicians and singers. I made a record, a cappella, in a public recording booth on Broadway for I think fifty cents, at 15, and that year I also rehearsed with a pianist (whom I'm still occasionally in touch with, after all this time) and performed twice with him and a little band at school dances. During two years of high school, I cut classes as much as possible to catch the frequent jam sessions held whenever musicians had free time or could themselves cut classes to play in the cafeteria or music room. I never sang, but was in awe of the musicians, which included Bobby Darin (then a drummer, not yet singing or acting), the guy who became his musical director at the beginning of his career and another guy who became the "jingle king," composing and producing many commercials -- among others, the "I Love New York" series in the '60s and '70s.

Born in Manhattan and, with my family, returning there to live from 1940-54, I went to a large school, Bronx High School of Science. Though my interest in science and math was less than zero, my folks thought it would be good "college-prep" and no one ever investigated the H.S. of Music and Art, which didn't even occur to me until years later. We moved to Cape Cod, to a tiny town with a tiny school and very different culture from the eclectic NY, and absent the freedom and flexibility public transportation had always provided. Since I didn't drive until the end of that school year, I felt even more isolated than expected for a "new girl" and missed NY and my friends on many levels, especially its jazz and musicians.

At 18, I started singing in a local club with a jazz trio, the leader of which I was introduced to and who took me under his wing, letting me sit in every night that summer. In September, I went to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, met my first husband (a junior, also arriving early, for soccer-team practice) on the second day of Freshman orientation. I sang at the Freshman talent show with a jazz trio in front of 1000 people and began sitting in with them at local clubs and events but quit when my new boyfriend, jealous and possessive, didn't want me out there. Since I didn't think I was good enough to make it, that was my excuse to not try and in those days women didn't pursue their dreams if their husbands (we married between semesters) disapproved. Leaving my husband six years later, I returned to college, this time studying Music Education, where I learned basic theory and met my second husband (a jazz musician) on the second day of school! Two years later he got an offer he couldn't refuse for a great six-week gig which ruined him for further studying, and we went on-the-road, moving to Miami where we could fall back on my relatives while starting out. Two more years later, I got my first chance to sing professionally: a week on a small cruise ship. Since then, I've gigged off-and-on, moving around the US and touring here and in surrounding areas, returning to live full-time in NY in 1979. I’d again not been singing but resumed once more in 1994, focusing on jazz. My first reason for stopping was to devote myself to family. Unexpectedly, another break was after a devastating accident on a snowy highway en route to a gig when the car carrying my quartet and equipment crashed into a disabled truck, abruptly ending a successful year-long tour of "Elli Fordyce And Her Favorite Things." That experience left scars of several kinds and I stopped singing for 15 years ("Not 'Happy Birthday,' not in the shower") and focused firmly on much needed physical and spiritual healing.

My musical journey was rekindled by a ginger-colored Yorkie puppy named Dindi (pronounced Gingy and meaning "little jewel" in Portuguese as well as being the title of my favorite Jobim bossa nova). I discovered that she loved me to sing Dindi to her. Inspiration renewed, I joined a cabaret workshop taught by the brilliant MAC-Award-winning singer-songwriter Lina Koutrakos and soon after came under the influence of Barry Harris, the renowned jazz pianist and educator, to whom I give much of the credit for putting me squarely back on my path with a comeback inevitable.

What inspires you?
Early on, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughn, Carmen McCrae, George Shearing, Stan Getz; in between, the young musicians with varying taste that I worked with on the road and the music I sang covering top-40 such as James Taylor, Roberta Flack, Chicago, Stevie Wonder and Carole King, later Barry Harris and a million others over the long haul; 43 years of following and using bits and pieces of techniques and wisdom from many spiritual teachers (currently most-frequently Eckhart Tolle, the Teachings of Abraham, Jo Dunning and various holistic-health-care concepts).

Hopes for the Future
To take this CD, "Something Still Cool," the forthcoming follow-up, "Songs Spun Of Gold," and my world-wide jazz-vocal performing and on-camera acting as far as they can go, and to develop and expand my reputation as an interviewee, presenting spiritual subjects -- especially to creative and senior audiences.

Future works?
A huge annual presenters' convention just ended in NY at which my new manager introduced my work to bookers and agents, and the first CD is being promoted at the world's largest annual music-industry trade show, Midem, in Cannes this month for possible licensing, booking and distribution. Both firsts in my career, my manager and I will follow up on whatever is generated by them.

Do you have any creative works in progress planned?
“Songs Spun Of Gold” (which comes from the lyric on the bridge of the Bill Evans' tune, "Waltz For Debbie," that reminds me of my daughter at four: "In her head, she dances to silent music, songs that are spun of gold somehow in her own little head"), is being mixed for release early this year.

Any chances of touring in the near future?
We hope that Midem and my manager, with whom I began working this month, will provide connections for lots of great possibilities.

Thanks, Elli, for taking time out and giving us a little insight into your world.

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Useful Links

Elli Fordyce's Website: www.ellifordyce.com
You can follow Elli on twitter @ElliFordyce
Management: Redwood Entertainment [see artists page]
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CD and samples available from | iTunes | CD Baby | Amazon | Napster | AmieST |
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