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Diana Lynn Interview
Diana Lynn is a new talent on the horizon. Her background in acting and
singing make her part of a whole new breed of independent performers making
their presence known in the entertainment business today.
Q. Let's start at the beginning. Your mother was a professional opera
singer. At the age of five, you were studying classical piano. Was there
any pressure put on you to do this?
A. Well that's interesting, there never really was. It was just something
that kind of evolved for me, from all the exposure I had to music growing
up. My mother was influential indirectly I would say, but she was never
a "stage mother". She never pushed me towards that direction.
Q. When you play a club like the Concord or Grossinger's do the audiences
pay much attention to the performer?
A. I've had different experiences. I would say the audiences in the Catskills
are wonderful. They're very attentive. I think they're really into
performers. They're there for the entertainment.
Q. As the leader of your own Top 40 group at one time, how did you keep
the other musicians in line, how did you keep them from showing up drunk,
or missing rehearsals?
A. I had appointed one of the musicians as a leader for the group and
he was responsible for making sure everybody was punctual, and
if they weren't, then obviously it was my responsibility to do something
about it. It's very difficult to wear too many hats, which is why I found
this part of my career particularly frustrating. I was the leader, the band
manager, the electrician, the banker, I was everything. I like to be responsible
for the creative end. I only want to be responsible for the creative end
and I was dealing with the business end and the creative end. And that's
very, very difficult. For me that was just a few years of experience
of training and of background, but it was not something, as I look back,
that I would say was one of the highlights of paying my dues as they say.
Q. How did you get the group to play South America?
A. My group didn't play in South America, I played there myself. Before
I had my group I was traveling as a single and quite extensively. I sang
in Canada and South America. And it was really funny. I had this agent who
was booking me at the time and he had been bugging me to take this job for
a couple of years, and every time he would tell me, I would come up with
a reason why I couldn't do it. I had these misconceptions about what I would
find once I got down there. I'm a young kid, I don't know, I thought there
were gonna be natives down there. I finally ran out of every good excuse
I knew and said I'd go. It took me literally, with the change of planes,
twelve hours to get there. I left early in the morning and didn't get there
till late at night. When you got off the plane, you could feel all that
thick, tropical heat hitting you. There was an eerie feeling. You get off
the plane, into a jeep, and they drive you through the jungle to get to
the hotel. And I thought Oh, my God, I was terrified. I didn't know what
to expect. When we got to the hotel I was singing at, it was one of the
most elegant, luxurious, glamorous, gorgeous hotels I've ever seen in my
life. I was so taken aback I didn't believe it. I was treated royally, like
a queen. It was one of the nicest and most beautiful experiences I can remember.
I was there for two weeks, and I went back the next year.
Q. Why the move from New York to L.A.?
A. I always wanted to come out here. I thought it was a very good creative
environment and I was just looking for an opportunity. Somebody
had heard some of my tapes and was interested in working with, and handling
me, so that was the reason I came out here.
Q. You are now working with Symphony Orchestras.
A. Yes. It's a creative love. I'm working in beautiful, beautiful concert
halls and I am singing with 80 musicians behind me, and I am singing to
audiences who have come because they know Diana Lynn is going to be
singing there, and they want to see me.
Q. Syracuse has a Symphony Orchestra.
A. I know, and I would love to have an opportunity to sing with them.
© Gary James All Rights Reserved
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