Vonda Shepard

Vonda Shepard was born on July 7, 1963, in New York City, New York. Her family later moved to California, where she developed an early aptitude for piano. Her father, Richmond Shepard, was a mime and improvisational actor. Shepard began her career as a backup singer and secured her first recording contract, making her initial chart appearance in 1987 with a duet alongside Dan Hill titled “Can’t We Try.” Her self-titled debut album followed in 1989, which featured the single “Don’t Cry Ilene,” reaching number 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and staying for 12 weeks.

Shepard’s career trajectory significantly changed during the promotion of her third studio album, ‘It’s Good, Eve’ in 1996. After a performance at the Key Club in Hollywood, California, she invited Michelle Pfeiffer and David E. Kelley to one of her shows. David E. Kelley subsequently decided to involve Shepard in his upcoming television series, ‘Ally McBeal.’ Shepard contributed to the series by recording the soundtrack and performing as a fictionalized version of herself. Her rendition of the theme song, “Searchin’ My Soul,” originally from her 1992 album ‘The Radical Light,’ became an internationally recognized commercial success.

Throughout her time with ‘Ally McBeal’ from 1997 to 2002, Shepard recorded four soundtrack albums and one compilation album for the show. Her version of Kay Starr’s “(Everybody’s Waitin’ for) The Man with the Bag” also gained popularity after being featured. Beyond her television work, Shepard has released nine solo studio albums and three live albums. In 2004, she married music producer Mitchell Froom, and they had a child in 2006. In 2010, she provided vocals for the track “I Need You” for the film ‘Love & Other Drugs,’ composed by James Newton Howard. She has collaborated with various artists including Al Green, Sting, Robert Downey Jr., Jon Bon Jovi, Gladys Knight, and Jackson Browne. Shepard achieved a Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the ‘Ally McBeal’ cast in 1999 and received a Billboard award for selling the most television soundtrack albums in history.