Jane Olivor
(born May 18, 1947) is an American cabaret singer. She was initially compared, often favorably, to Barbra Streisand and Édith Piaf [1] [2] as well as to Eartha Kitt and Johnny Mathis.
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JANE OLIVOR TICKETS
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Background
Olivor was born in
Brooklyn and grew up with a background in folk music, although her particular influences, she has claimed, were
Johnny Mathis and
Gene Pitney. Pitney appeared on her album,
Love Decides
.
[3]
Renaming herself as
Jane Olivor
(purportedly because she was working as a
temp and noticed the brand name "Olivetti" on her typewriter), Olivor eased her way into the burgeoning New York City cabaret scene in the early 1970s. She appeared at the
Reno Sweeney cabaret, owned and operated by
Lewis Friedman and
Eliot Hubbard and described by
Vito Russo as "the center of the universe during the now-legendary cabaret revival of the early '70s".
[4] It was there that she was discovered.
Clive Davis, then President of the
Columbia Records label, was in the audience at her first appearance on its stage.
[5] Although she appeared to be living out any performer's dream, she knew she wasn't fully prepared for the fame—one factor was that she did not really know the capabilities of her own voice. Her intimidation turned to debilitating stage fright.
Early career
Olivor quickly caught on, playing such venues as Brothers & Sisters and
The Ballroom. She became known, notably among the
gay community, for her interpretations of famous songs such as "
Some Enchanted Evening" from the Broadway musical
South Pacific
and "
Come Softly to Me", the
1959 chart selection by
The Fleetwoods.
Credited as "Janie Olivor, stage performer", an early performance is captured in the film
Saturday Night at the Baths
, an independent film shot at the infamous
Continental Baths where (among others)
Bette Midler got her start. In the film, historically important for its footage both of the bathhouse and of Olivor herself, Olivor sings an early version of "Pretty Girl." Written by Olivor with Kathy Wakefield, "Pretty Girl" would later appear on Olivor's
In Concert
and
Safe Return
recordings.
She became noticeable enough for the
Columbia Records label and the
William Morris Agency to sign her. Her debut album,
First Night
, released in 1976, was named
Stereo Review's Album of the Year.
[6] [7]
In September 1977, her second album,
Chasing Rainbows
, was released to coincide with Olivor's debut at Carnegie Hall. The first pressing of the album contained a one-sided insert 45 RPM single of "
Some Enchanted Evening", re-recorded by Olivor and produced by
Charles Calello (the noted producer of
Laura Nyro's
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession album).
Chasing Rainbows was produced by
Tom Catalano, longtime producer of yet another of Olivor's idols and influences,
Neil Diamond.. This album reached the Top 100 bestsellers, remaining in the charts for three months, and peaked at number 87 on the
Billboard charts.
[8]
Susan Casazza and Norman Dolph wrote and composed "
Stay the Night" specifically for Olivor. As the title track of the 1978
Stay the Night
album, the song was Olivor's best-selling recording for Columbia Records. Olivor's slowed-down version from this release of
The Chiffons' "
He's So Fine", with its sinewy saxophone and multi-tracked Olivor vocals, became the biggest-selling single of her career and charted into Billboard's Top 100, peaking at number 77.
[9]
In between
Stay the Night
and the release of
The Best Side Of Goodbye
, Olivor found herself busy with concerts and also toured as a special guest of
Johnny Mathis. Their duet, "
The Last Time I Felt Like This," was the theme for the 1978 film
Same Time, Next Year
. The song, with music by
Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by
Alan Bergman and
Marilyn Bergman, was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award and an
Academy Award.
[10]
The 51st Academy Awards ceremony in April
1979 (the "Oscars") marked the first time that all five of the nominated songs were performed by the artists who recorded them for the films themselves; Olivor and Mathis performed their duet live at the televised event.
[11]
Olivor's fourth album,
The Best Side Of Goodbye
, produced by Louie Shelton, Michael Masser, and Jason Darrow, was released in
1980 and climbed to number 58 on the Billboard charts.
Inexplicably, Columbia released the song "Don't Let Go Of Me" as the album's only single, rather than the title track which many felt could have propelled Olivor into the Top 100 again.
Jane Olivor in Concert
, her first live album, was released in 1982 and included "Race to the End", a vocal version of the
Vangelis theme from the film
Chariots of Fire
and, again, "Stay the Night" as its singles.
It is unknown whether Columbia Records has unreleased tracks recorded by Olivor during her contract years there, though it would be highly unusual for there not to be additional tracks that were not included in the released recordings. Certainly at the very least, there must be unreleased tracks from the In Concert recording (scarcely more than 30 minutes long), including the
Stephen Schwartz arrangement of the
medley "
The Water is Wide"/"
I Know Where I'm Going", singled out by fans and critics as one of the finest performances ever by Olivor.
Performing hiatus
In 1983, her own stage fright, nervousness at the sudden onrush of fame, and numerous unfavorable experiences with the music industry led Olivor to schedule a one-year hiatus from both performing and the heavy pressures of her too-fast fame. That hiatus would stretch to seven years when, in addition to her other challenges, her husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer six months after they married.
Olivor put her career on hold to care for him until his death in 1986. In the meantime, she had disputes with Columbia Records over money.
Return to performing
After having sought and received treatment for depression in 1989,
Olivor returned to performing in 1990 and discovered that her fan base had remained loyal to her throughout her absence.
Gradually, she became more active, and in 2000 her first album in eighteen years,
Love Decides,
was released, followed in 2001 by
Songs Of The Season
.
On
November 11,
2003, Olivor appeared at the Berklee Performance Center at
Berklee College of Music in
Boston, Massachusetts, where she taped
Safe Return
, a live album of music spanning her entire career. She had recorded her first live album,
Jane Olivor in Concert
, in the same venue in 1982, but had not performed there since.
[13] The concert was recorded as both an album and a DVD, and both were released in
2004.
In June 2004, Columbia Records released her greatest-hits collection, titled
The Best Of Jane Olivor
. It is a compilation of her best-known songs, including the
Academy Award–nominated song
The Last Time I Felt Like This
with
Johnny Mathis. This is the first time that the duet has been issued on a Jane Olivor album.
Charities and public services
Jane Olivor is a staunch supporter of
animal rights, and she has taken an interest in the efforts of the
Marin Humane Society.
Filmography
- Saturday Night at the Baths,
1975, B.T.O. Films [14]
- Safe Return
, (DVD) 2003, Image Entertainment [15]
Discography
- First Night
, Columbia (USA), 1976
- Chasing Rainbows
, Columbia (USA), 1977
- Stay The Night
, Columbia (USA), 1978
- The Best Side Of Goodbye
, Columbia (USA), 1980
- Jane Olivor in Concert
, 1982
- So Fine
, Sony Special Products, 1995
- Love Decides
, Varèse Sarabande (USA), 2000
- Songs Of The Season
, Varèse Sarabande (USA), 2001
- Safe Return
(live), PS Classics, 2004
- The Best Of Jane Olivor
, Legacy Recordings, 2004
References and notes
- JANE OLIVOR CONQUERED FEAR, LOSS TO RESUME CAREER- News Tribune, May 13, 1994
- No More Vanishing Act
- Love Decides, allmusic, retrieved February 27 2008.
- Lewis M. Friedman, The Estate Project for Artists with AIDS, www.artistswithaids.org. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- Jonathan Frank, "Interview with Jane Olivor", Talkin' Broadway Cabaret. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- 2008 Jane Olivor on Coast to Coast Tickets. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- Jane Olivor at corporateartists.com, The Bazel Group. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- Jane Olivor Billboard Albums at allmusic.com. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- Jane Olivor Billboard Singles at allmusic.com. Retrieved January 20, 2008.
- Awards for ''Same Time, Next Year'' at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB). Retrieved January 20, 2008.
- Academy Awards, USA: 1979 at the IMDB. Retrieved Retrieved January 20, 2008.
- Steven M. Housman, Hardly a Plain Jane — Up Close and Very Personal With Jane Olivor, stevenhouseman.com August 2004. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- Liane Hansen, Jane Olivor Sings Again on 'Safe Return', ''Weekend Edition'' (audio), National Public Radio, June 27, 2004. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- ''Saturday Night at the Baths'' at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 20 2008.
- Jane Olivor: Safe Return at the Internet Movie Database. Retrieved January 20 2008.