The Artiscape spoke to celebrated pop/jazz recording artist and multi-Platinum selling songwriter, Ann Hampton Callaway. This is ahead of her two upcoming shows in London, Let’s Fall in Love and Fever!: The Peggy Lee Century.
Callaway will be returning to London on 21 and 22 September with a musical valentine for all seasons in her show, Let’s Fall in Love; a spellbinding and artfully crafted two-act show exploring the many facets of love performed at The Pheasantry Pizza Express.
Callaway has also created an exciting night of songs and stories that she will be debuting in London entitled Fever!: The Peggy Lee Century on 25 and 26 September. The show celebrates her inspiration and one of America’s most beloved artists, Peggy Lee, and will be performed at Pizza Express Jazz Soho.
You have had a very interesting and varied career to date. Can you tell us about how your musical journey began?
Callaway: I come from music – my mother, Shirley Callaway, was a wonderful singer, pianist and voice teacher and would sit me on her lap as a baby, put my hands on the piano keys and sing to me.
My sister Liz and I heard all kinds of great music on the turntable and from her, loved watching movie musicals and were taken to see inspiring artists like Ray Charles and to shows like “Company” on Broadway.
These experiences ignited our passion for music and singing. I “served two years” as an acting major in college but the teachers were brutal so I left and earned enough money to move to NYC and create my own education.
I got a singing job at a piano bar the third night I was there and thus began my long and inspiring life of being a professional singer. I wrote lots of songs and included them in my shows which drew the attention of some influential people.
I’ve worked nonstop through the years and have loved the diverse opportunities I’ve had to sing in every setting- solo shows, trio shows, big band shows, symphony shows, the recording studio, radio, Broadway, TV and film. I’ve shared the stage with some of the finest artists in the world and grown from being in their presence.
I weave many threads of music together- pop, jazz, Broadway and classical to create a colourful and vibrant musical universe. And I’ve had my songs sung by amazing singers like Barbra Streisand who has included my work on seven of her CDs. What a joy it is.
What made you lean towards jazz, blues?
Callaway: My father, John Callaway, was passionate about jazz and growing up, the house was deliciously full of the sound of great singers and instrumentalists like Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Miles Davis, Bill Evans and more.
They captivated my imagination and I started scat singing when I was about three years old and dreaming about the worlds the songs revealed. Growing up in Chicago, jazz and blues were thriving and it simply became part of who I am. Swing, improvisation and emoting both the highs and lows of life are like breathing to me.
You have a very distinctive and powerful singing voice. Were there any specific singers or performers from the past that have inspired your way of singing? And why?
Callaway: When I was 12, a music teacher told me I could be the next Renata Tebaldi, so I studied classically and got a superb vocal education that has saved me through the years of exhausting touring and situations like singing on Broadway while being ill.
But opera wasn’t the life for me. So, the artists I listened to like the ones I mentioned above and singer songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder and Carole King lit a torch for me to follow. And I have to say that the emotions and insights my life has given me have been the fuel towards my unfoldment.
I am a passionate person, so to express the nuanced feelings and tell the stories of the great songs I sing, my sound and style has evolved from the lyric connections I feel. My interpretations always begin with the lyrics. They inspire what colours and power I give them and have shaped me into the singer I am today.
You lived in Chicago, New York and now you live in Arizona. The lyrics to your songs tell captivating stories. How has these different places, if any, inspired your lyric writing?
Callaway: I’ve spend most of my life in two cities where I was exposed to every kind of person, culture, art and music and so I loved telling the stories reflected by my surroundings and relationships. Living in Tucson in a historic home in a setting that feels like a spiritual sanctuary has been great for my songwriting because I can be still enough to hear my inner muse.
In 2020 and 2021 I wrote a poem every day and many of the poems became songs. I love nature and the beauty of the desert so there is the feeling of expansiveness in some of my songs now, inspired by the glorious skies and awe-inspiring mountains that open up my spirit. But the truth is, I am inspired wherever I go and am constantly keeping my eyes and ears open to stories that need to be told.
What excites you about performing again to a London audience?
Callaway: Over the years, I’ve made many wonderful friends in London I need to see regularly and I love the sophistication of the audiences who seem to really “get me.” It always feels like a festive family reunion. All my life I have been an Anglophile and a good chunk of me is English from my dad’s side, so maybe there is something in my DNA that makes me feel I am home there.
Can you tell our audience what they can expect with your two upcoming shows in London Let’s Fall in Love and Fever!: The Peggy Lee Century?
Callaway: “Let’s Fall in Love” is a fun show for me because it explores the nooks and crannies of a subject I have “done a lot of research on”- love. And it is in two parts: the first half consists of songs from the 20’s to the 40’s from “The Great American Songbook” and the second half reflects on love from a more contemporary sensibility- singer/songwriters I love, great movie writers like the Bergmans and my own original songs that reveal my life and what I’ve experienced.
“Fever: The Peggy Lee Century” is an exciting musical portrait of a trailblazing icon who, people will discover, changed many things about music. It covers her early big band days with Benny Goodman, singing in movies and records, her extraordinary songwriting and her hits like “Fever”, “I’m a Woman” and more.
As a fellow pop/jazz singer/songwriter I owe a lot to Peggy Lee and she is going to have quite the festive party in London! Of my many Legacy shows, this one has been especially well received- celebrated jazz author Will Friedwald called it “The best Peggy Lee tribute I’ve ever seen.”
Fever!: The Peggy Lee Century runs from 25 and 26 September Book this event
Let’s Fall in Love runs from 21 and 22 September Book this event
