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FAMED LAS VEGAS BASED ENTERTAINER DRAWS ON HER SOUTHERN ROOTS TO STIR UP SOME SPIRITED ‘MISSISSIPPI STARDUST' ON HER HIGHLY ANTICIPATED DEBUT RECORDING, WHICH WAS PRODUCED BY THE LEGENDARY JIMMY “WIZ” WISNER (TONY BENNETT, BARBRA STREISAND, CARLY SIMON)
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The Versatile Singer, Songwriter, Pianist And Comedienne Regularly Performs Over 150 Shows A Year In Vegas—Where She Recently Completed A Run At The Gold Coast Hotel & Casino--On Top Cruise Lines And At Special Events Around The Country
Throughout her illustrious several decade long career, Karon Kate (www.karonkate.com) has headlined showrooms everywhere from New York, Chicago and Los Angeles to her adopted hometown of Las Vegas, where she and legendary comedian Marty Allen earned rave reviews and enthusiastic full houses this past year for their musical comedy act at the Gold Coast Hotel & Casino.
Over the years, the versatile singer, songwriter, pianist and comedienne has appeared on The Tonight Show and The Regis Philbin Show, opened for Wayne Newton and continues to sail the world over as a star performer on every major cruise line. But all bright lights, big city glitz, glamour and acclaim aside, Karon is still a country girl at heart.
She grew up on a farm near Ellisville, Mississippi before leaving for Chicago at age 18 to pursue her singing career. Many years later, Karon celebrates those roots—as well as her love for pop, rock and the traditional country music that has always been part of her life--on her highly anticipated debut album Mississippi Stardust .
Karon's dynamic live performances find the musical dynamo piano pounding and belting out medleys of hits by The Beatles, Four Seasons and Stevie Wonder and mining fresh gold from “Johnny B. Goode,” “Great Balls Of Fire” and “Proud Mary.” But she and her producer Jimmy “Wiz” Wisner take a different approach on this exciting collection, including only one well-known pop classic—a beautiful rendering of Van Morrison's “Have I Told You Lately”—among 11 compelling originals. The album was recorded at studios both in Vegas and New York and features the brilliant backing of some of each city's top session musicians.
Karon co-wrote the sassy opening blues barnburner “Has A Cat” and the rocker “Hot, Hot Ticket” (which lives up to its name) and is the sole composer of the romantic “I'll Be There (Wedding Vows).” The rest of the songs, from the sweet country-flavored ballads “All Of The Above” and “I Pray Before” to the inspirational “A Dream In The Making” and the wildly energetic “Main Squeeze,” were composed by Wisner, who first met Karon in 2000 after a show she and Allen did during one of their many East Coast engagements.
Ironically, when Wisner's wife approached the singer with the classic opening line, “My husband has written a great new song and you're the only one who can sing it,”--referring to the wistful country tune “I Can't Laugh”-- Karon didn't know the extent of “Wiz”'s incredible career working with some of popular music's all-time great artists.
Mississippi Stardust is the latest of the many brilliant recordings that Wisner' has worked on as a producer, arranger, composer or artist. Working with everyone from Tony Bennett, Iggy Pop, Al Kooper and Tommy James to Carly Simon, Robert Goulet and Barbra Streisand, he has contributed to over 100 hit (including 25 gold and 12 platinum) records that have sold over a hundred million total copies. At one point, Wisner was represented on the Billboard charts with seven hit records out of the Top 100 in a single week! His credits also include being an accompanist and conductor for legendary artists Mel Torme, Carmen McRae, Dakota Staton, and the Hi-Lo's.
The first meeting between Karon and Wisner was just a prelude to what blossomed into a magical working relationship. A few years later, Wisner was in the audience every night during a later return engagement by Karon and Allen in Atlantic City, and boldly told the singer that it was time to do the album. They got down to business with ‘I Can't Laugh' and ‘From Your Lips,' whose country vibe proved irresistible to Karon.
She laughs, “If you grew up on a farm like I did, in a place with beautiful rivers and creeks and where you were shelling corn as you practiced recital pieces, this kind of music was just a part of you. I grew up near Ellisville and still have property down there. Over the years, I have returned there from time to time to escape the crazy entertainment business for periods of time. It's always helped me stay grounded. My family was working the farm but all I thought about were songs, every single day.
“Jimmy kept saying to me, ‘you think you're just going to spend your life doing these shows and that's it, but you're not, you're going to be a recording artist,” she adds. “He felt that when I walked onstage, I had a tremendous energy and he hoped we could harness that for the very different process of making a record. Based on his wonderful history of working with singers, I fully trusted his judgment. When someone is a good producer and has had hits in so many genres, it's easy to trust your instincts. I knew I was in good hands. I know from experience what works onstage but I was new to the studio environment and had to learn an exciting new way to make music. It's a very different dynamic.”
Another challenge was finding time in Karon's whirlwind performance schedule to learn Wisner's songs and schedule recording sessions. Some song suggestions came by phone, with him playing things like “Main Squeeze” for her, and another time, she picked up his demos in New York before boarding a cruise to Bermuda. “There was a hurricane brewing near Bermuda, and so the ship had to drift at sea for a few days before we could dock there,” she says. “But the extra time gave me a chance to learn ‘Main Squeeze,' ‘I Don't Mind (Get Outta My Life!)' and ‘A Dream In The Making.'”
Karon, is looking forward to performing some of her new material before a live audience. “I loved every single minute of working on this album with Jimmy,” she says. “Every time he finished a track, I would listen and say, ‘wow, is that me? I didn't know ‘she' had it in her! I've never had children of my own but this was like giving birth to something magical and watching it grow. That's how I like to see the whole project, like it's a whole new birth for me.”
Marty Allen, her longtime performing partner who can't stop listening to Mississippi Stardust in the car as he tools around Vegas, agrees. “ To me,” he says, “Karon is a triple threat—a vibrant singer, exciting piano player and comedienne who projects to the audience, both men and women, the joy of entertaining. She radiates warmth and love from the audience. In the way she projects this warmth as a straight woman to my comedy in addition to being so versatile with the music, I see her as a female Dean Martin. I love the exciting way the different songs on her album come across. It's really a wonderful gift.”
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