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Vonda Shepard
(born July 7, 1963) is a rock singer who gained popularity in the
1990s. She is probably best known for her regular appearances in the
television show Ally McBeal in which she played a resident performer at
the bar where the show's characters usually drank after work. She plays
piano, guitar, and bass.
Vonda Shepard was born in New York but her family relocated to California when she was fairly young. From an early age she was a keen piano player and after performing as a backing singer for many years she was eventually given her own recording contract. Vonda Shepard's father is the world renowned mime and improv actor, Richard Shepard.
Shepard's first chart appearance was in 1987 when she recorded a duet with Dan Hill entitled 'Can't We Try'. She released her first self-titled album in 1989 with little fanfare. The album did yield one chart single, "Don't Cry Ilene", a mid-tempo, piano-driven jazz-R&B flavored song dealing with the subject matter of interracial dating...in this case, the break-up of a relationship between a black woman and a white man, arising from adult peer pressure. The track is sung from the perspective of the woman's white female friend, who harbors a desire to have the man for herself, but keeps her distance out of respect for her friend. The song peaked at 17 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart and stayed on the charts for 12 weeks.
By her third album however she received strong critical acclaim and was soon signed up to appear on Ally McBeal after being spotted by the show's creator David E Kelley. While on the show she recorded two full soundtrack albums and featured heavily on two other Ally McBeal compilations. The songs Vonda recorded for Ally McBeal soundtrack albums were mainly covers of old songs with lyrics that paralleled what was happening in Ally's life onscreen. Since appearing in the show Vonda has released two more studio albums and more recently a live album.
Vonda is married to music producer Mitchell Froom and they had their first child Jack Froom on April 15 2006.